Book – Thirteen Modern English and American short stories

Book – Thirteen Modern English and American short stories

By : Multiple, see details bellow 

Score : overall 6/10 

Year : 1988 

Publisher : Livre de poche

ISBN : 978-2-253-04684-4

Pages : 223* 

Language:  English 

As the title announces, this small book is a collection of 13 short stories by 13 different authors. 

It's even smaller than it looks, because it's part of a series of books created for French college students in the late 1980's, and where each page has a mirror with English vocabulary explained to these students, as well as a final exercice phase after each story. 

This is a rather nice "accident" for me, as I'm late for my goodreads challenge & want to read another 4-6 books before the end of this year. (Indeed, it's my 25th complete book. As one had 3 novels, and my goal's 30, I can be happy with 28 books, but 30 novels and non-fictions.)

The stories are from 1907-1980

Their quality varies greatly. My favorites are by Bradbury, Smith, Webb, Mansfield & Henry, which are the best written in my literary preferences. 
Capote's just okay, and the rest... the rest falls more or less flat, or displeased me for a reason or another. 


Overall score is 6/10. I wish the book had collected stories with a theme, such as the a window to the universe (sci-fi), or some kind of guideline in style, or years of publication- as by 1988, a story from 1907 was a farther away than those of the 1970's, for instance. 
There are also only 2 women (Webb &Mansfield) out of 13 authors, this is one more case where editors don't show gender equality in their choices. 

Before I detail my quick reviews for each, here are the stories, their dates, so you can place in context, and starting page.

1. A piece of wood (Bradbury), 1952 (9)
2. Mr Jones (Capote) 1980, (25)
3. The landlady (Dahl), 1959, (33)
4. I spy (Greene), 1930, (61)
5. Dear Alexandros (Updike), 1959, (71)
6. Telegram (Smith), 1970, (85) 
7. In affection... (Webb), 1929, (105) 
8. Luncheon (Maugham), 1924; (115)
9. The Letter (Malamud), 1968, (129), 
10. Night... (Hughes), 1926, (145)
11. Charity (Flaherty), before 1948?, (155), 
12. The fly (Mansfield), 1922, (167)
13. Last leaf (Henry), 1907, (185)

A piece of Wood starts this book and shows Ray Bradbury's distinctive interest in science-fiction as a tool to convey real social problems of his days, in this tale about a sergeant called-in by his superior, to chose which war front he wants to be assigned, and where all dialogues show Ray's preoccupation with the subject of war.  It's funny and bittersweet at the same time, and finishes with an open-end so the reader can decide how to continue the story. 

I never read anything by Truman Capote, until the short story here, Mr. Jones, this strange person whom the un-named narrator wishes he had met and conversed with while Jones was living in the same Brooklyn rooming house, back in winter of 1945. 

Either I've read / watched too many similar stories, or Roald Dahl's the landlady's too predictable and its macabre humor falls flatter or me... Who it to say? 

I couldn't relate with anything in Graham Greene's I spy, where 12 year old Charlie Stowe went to steal cigarette from his father's company, only to overhear him coming with other men, to smoke in secrecy as well... 

John Updike's Dear Alexandros is presented as a correspondence between Alexandros, a Greek boy, and his American friends. It also feels like a part of a bigger fictional series, or that the short story was a draft to something larger. It's slightly entertaining but I fear that I've been spoiled by Virginia Woolf's writings in short fiction!

Iain Crichton Smith's the telegram is an interesting study of human behavior, concentrating on two women, watching on the village's elder arriving with a telegram, and they worry to whom the message would be delivered - as it is a time of war, where telegrams are synonymous with the deaths of men of this village. The fact that only one of these women is named, and that both are usually referred to as "the fat" and the "thin" woman gives me mixed emotions ; on the one hand, they could be any woman, and their feelings as mothers would be universal. They would want their own kids to be safe, all the whilst worrying about their friend's sons. However, the fat shaming - to be taken in 1970 social context - still rubs me the wrong way.

Mary Webb's In affection and esteem was an interesting read, and though it's style is very different, I find in content is inspired by Virginia Woolf's writing. In this short story, a very lonely woman buys herself flowers for her birthday, and that's all I'll say.

Somerset Maugham's The luncheon is yet another story to take in context, for another fat-shaming content in a rather banal exchange of an author and a woman he meets again after 20 years, and they share a meal, all the whilst the man suffers from budgetary issues and pride.

Bernard Malamud's The letter's supposed to be about the importance of communication, but the repetitive nature and conclusion just fell flat for me. 

Richard Hughes' a night at the cottage is supposed to be scary, but it's barely creepy.

I couldn't relate to anything in O. Flaherty's Charity and disliked both sole characters : a rather heartless priest, receiving a drunkard man from his parish, as the latter wants money. I find both of their actions and words to be contemptible.

I enjoyed the style of Katherine Mansfield's the fly, but the content is rather bleak and not a nice series of actions - though they do represent something. Indeed, Mansfield tended to have very pessimistic (and yet realistic) views on people's attitudes and actions, and this story is a clear example of it. It's very well written, with evident choices in words and prose. 

in O. Henry's the last leaf, the quality of writing is also quite good. It's less predictable than other stories in this collection. Here, a woman lays sick in bed, counting leaves as a sign of her death. When the last one will fall, she will go away too. It's a cool short story about artist protagonists, and their aspirations for masterpieces. 

Table of contents

Introduction 7

Stories           9

Vocabulary in context (explained in French) 205-223