Product Description

A compilation of acclaimed short stories that each take place within a single scene

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #198740 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From the Inside Flap
What is a single scene short story? It is a short work of fiction with a specific remarkable quality-the whole of the story takes place in one scene, one geographical coordinate, one window of time. To think of it dramatically, it is a story presented on a stage with no change of setting or costume, no voice-over summarizing or carrying the viewer from here to there. This collection contains some of the best single scene short stories ever written, the modern classics of the form.
Single Scene Short Stories includes the works of such well-known writers as Michael Chabon, Anton Chekhov, Raymond Carver, Mary Gaitskill, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Guy de Maupassant, Joyce Carol Oates, Flannery O'Connor, Dorothy Parker, Katherine Anne Porter, John Updike, William Carlos Williams, Tobias Wolff, and many others. These stories will rivet you, move you, and unfold in you an awakening and recognition of what it is to be human. With the barest allowable back story-just a thin line here or there to locate you to the character or situation-these stories give us in a brief glimpse all the best that fiction has to offer.
Margaret Bishop received a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from George Mason University. She lives and writes in northern Virginia. Single Scene Short Stories is her first book.
Single Scene Short Stories includes works by the following:
John Barth
Jorge Luis Borges
T. Coraghessan Boyle
Fred Busch
Robert Olen Butler
Ron Carlson
Raymond Carver
Michael Chabon
Anton Chekhov
Colette
Ernest Hemingway
Amy Hempel
James Joyce
Doris Lessing
Jack London
Katherine Mansfield
Guy de Maupassant
Lorrie Moore
Joyce Carol Oates
Dorothy Parker
Grace Paley
Katherine Anne Porter
Mary Robison
James Salter
John Updike
William Carlos Williams
Tobias Wolff

From the Back Cover
Single Scene Short Stories includes works by the following:
John Barth
Jorge Luis Borges
T. Coraghessan Boyle
Fred Busch
Robert Olen Butler
Ron Carlson
Raymond Carver
Michael Chabon
Anton Chekhov
Colette
Ernest Hemingway
Amy Hempel
James Joyce
Doris Lessing
Jack London
Katherine Mansfield
Guy de Maupassant
Lorrie Moore
Joyce Carol Oates
Dorothy Parker
Grace Paley
Katherine Anne Porter
Mary Robison
James Salter
John Updike
William Carlos Williams
Tobias Wolff

About the Author
Margaret Bishop received a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from George Mason University. She lives and writes in northern Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Great Anthology for Writing Teachers
The short stories Margaret Bishop has assembled in this collection are not only wonderful to read, but are also perfect stories for writing teachers who want to show, not tell, their students how to create effective scenes. Each of the thirty-two stories included in the anthology was chosen for "unity of effect." While all of the stories pack an emotional punch, the techniques the writers use to achieve this end are wide-ranging. Richard Bausch's story, "The Voices from the Other Room," is written solely in dialogue, giving the story a sense of urgency. In his story, "Eveline," James Joyce pulls back from the moment, using memory to uncover his protagonist's plight. Jack London employs numerous details to reveal his character's circumstance in "To Build a Fire," whereas Amy Hempel selects but a few piercing details to expose her character in "San Francisco." In terms of tone, Dorothy Parker charms the reader with "Mrs. Carrington and Mrs. Crane," while Joyce Carol Oates chills with her story, "In the Warehouse." Using various methods for centering on the precise moment in which the protagonist reveals her or his true nature, either wittingly or unwittingly, to the reader, the authors of each story in this collection provide models worthy of emulation.