The Best Short Stories Volume II: Chosen in 1914 by the Most Prominent Authors of the Day
Description
Have you read the 50 best short stories of all time? In 1914, a critical moment in literature, The New York Times asked the most highly regarded authors of the day to name the best short story in the English language. Many of their responses have maintained consistent fame through time. Others have become hidden gems. All are essential literary experiences that will make you love to read again. These masterpieces are collected here for the first time, masterfully copyedited and with an introduction by Martin Hill Ortiz, PhD. This volume includes: Introduction * Markheim by Robert Louis Stevenson * Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson * The Luck of Roaring Camp by Bret Harte * The Brushwood Boy by Rudyard Kipling * Doctor Marigold by Charles Dickens * Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving * An Unfinished Story by O. Henry * The Claws of the Tiger by Gouverneur Morris IV * The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe * Providence and the Guitar by Robert Louis Stevenson * Bread Upon the Waters by Rudyard Kipling * Marjorie Daw by Thomas Bailey Aldrich * Love in a Mist by A. Neil Lyons * His Wife by Stephen French Whitman * Rebecca and Rowena by William Makepeace Thackeray * Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy * The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant * The Piece of String by Guy de Maupassant * Cinderella by the Brothers Grimm * The Story of Ruth Anonymous * "What is the Best Short Story?" The original article as presented in The New York TimesProduct Details
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About the Author
O. Henry (1862-1910) was an American short story writer. Born and raised in North Carolina, O. Henry--whose real name was William Sydney Porter--moved to Texas in 1882 in search of work. He met and married Athol Estes in Austin, where he became well known as a musician and socialite. In 1888, Athol gave birth to a son who died soon after, and in 1889 a daughter named Margaret was born. Porter began working as a teller and bookkeeper at the First National Bank of Austin in 1890 and was fired four years later and accused of embezzlement. Afterward, he began publishing a satirical weekly called The Rolling Stone, but in 1895 he was arrested in Houston following an audit of his former employer. While waiting to stand trial, Henry fled to Honduras, where he lived for six months before returning to Texas to surrender himself upon hearing of Athol's declining health. She died in July of 1897 from tuberculosis, and Porter served three years at the Ohio Penitentiary before moving to Pittsburgh to care for his daughter. While in prison, he began publishing stories under the pseudonym "O. Henry," finding some success and launching a career that would blossom upon his release with such short stories as "The Gift of the Magi" (1905) and "The Ransom of Red Chief" (1907). He is recognized as one of America's leading writers of short fiction, and the annual O. Henry Award--which has been won by such writers as William Faulkner, John Updike, and Eudora Welty--remains one of America's most prestigious literary prizes.
