This collection offers twenty-one stories from the literature of America, a nation which has always been particularly at home in this form, and which has produced many of its masters.

Some of the stories included - those by Poe, James and Hemingway for example - are already widely known. Some will be less familiar to the English reader. Taken as a whole, The Penguin Book of American Short Stories is an excellent and entertaining introduction to the rich diversity of pleasures that the American short story at its best can offer.

Preface

Acknowledgements

THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW

YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER

BARTLEBY

THE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBURG

THE OUTCASTS OF POKER PLAT

ONE OF THE MISSING

THE REAL THING

AN UNFINISHED STORY

THE BRIDE COMES TO YELLOW SKY

NEIGHBOR ROSICKY

TO BUILD A FIRE

DEATH IN THE WOODS

Ring Lardner (1885-I933)

WHO DEALT?

FLOWERING JUDAS

THE RICH BOY

DELTA AUTUMN

THE BATTLER

THE JEWBIRD

CHILDREN ON THEIR BIRTHDAYS

WlFE-WOOING