The Best American Short Stories 1942
| Editor | Martha Foley |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | The Best American Short Stories |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | 978-9997371195 |
| Preceded by | The Best American Short Stories 1941 |
| Followed by | The Best American Short Stories 1943 |
The Best American Short Stories 1942 is a volume in The Best American Short Stories series edited by Martha Foley. The volume was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.[1]
Background
The series is considered one of the "best-known annual anthologies of short fiction"[2] and has anthologized more than 2,000 short stories, including works by some of the most famous writers in contemporary American literature.[3][4][5]
In particular, the Willa Cather Review wrote that The Best American Short Stories series "became a repository of values" for creative writing programs, college libraries, and literary magazines.[6] The Los Angeles Times, reflecting on the hundred-year anniversary of the series, noted that it eventually became an "institution" itself, often being taught in classrooms.[7]
Short stories included
| Author | Story | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Nelson Algren | "Biceps" | The Southern Review |
| Ludwig Bemelmans | "The Valet of the Splendide" | The New Yorker |
| Sally Benson | "5135 Kensington: August, 1903" | The New Yorker |
| Kay Boyle | "Nothing Ever Breaks Except the Heart" | The New Yorker |
| Jack Y. Bryan | "For Each of Us" | American Prefaces |
| Walter Van Tilburg Clark | "The Portable Phonograph" | Yale Review |
| David Cornel DeJong | "That Frozen Hour" | Harper's Bazaar |
| Boyce Eakin | "Prairies" | The New Mexico Quarterly Review |
| Morton Fineman | "Tell Him I Waited" | Story |
| Robert Gibbons | "A Loaf of Bread" | The New Republic |
| Nancy Hale | "Those Are As Brothers" | Mademoiselle |
| MacKinlay Kantor | "That Greek Dog" | Saturday Evening Post |
| Eric Knight | "Sam Small's Better Half" | Story |
| Mary Medearis | "Death of a Country Doctor" | Story |
| Edita Morris | "Caput Mortuum" | Harper's Bazaar |
| Mary O' Hara | "My Friend Flicka" | Story |
| Margaret Rhodes Peattie | "The Green Village" | Saturday Evening Post |
| William Saroyan | "The Hummingbird That Lived Through Winter" | Harper's Bazaar |
| Michael Seide | "Sacrifice of Isaac" | American Prefaces |
| Budd Wilson Schulberg | "The Real Viennese Schmalz" | Esquire |
| Irwin Shaw | "Search Through the Streets of the City" | The New Yorker |
| Wallace Stegner | "In the Twilight" | Mademoiselle |
| John Steinbeck | "How Edith McGillcuddy Met R. L. Stevenson" | Harper's Magazine |
| Jesse Stuart | "The Storm" | The Household Magazine |
| Peter Taylor | "The Fancy Woman" | The Southern Review |
| Dorothy Thomas | "My Pigeon Pair" | Harper's Magazine |
| James Thurber | "You Could Look It Up" | Saturday Evening Post |
| Joan Vatsek | "The Bees" | Story |
| Mary Lavin | "At Sallygap" | Atlantic Monthly |
| Marjorie Worthington | "Hunger" | Harper's Bazaar |
References
- ^ Foley, Martha, ed. (January 1, 1942). The Best American Short Stories 1942. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
- ^ "Short and Sweet" by Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly, 11/05/99, issue 511, page 73.
- ^ "The Best American Short Stories of the Century," Publishers Weekly, 3/8/1999, volume 246, issue 10, page 47.
- ^ Hempel, Amy (1986-02-09). "The Best American Short Stories 1985 : edited by Gail Godwin with Shannon Ravenel (Houghton Mifflin; $14.95, hardcover; $8.95, paperback; 300 pp.)". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-04-08.
- ^ "Best Stories of the Century? Not Quite, but Close Enough". Observer. 1999-05-10. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ "'Long-Cellared Wine': 'Double Birthday,' Edward J. H. O'Brien, and the Best American Short Stories Series" by Timothy W. Bintrim and Scott Riner, Willa Cather Review, spring 2023, volume 64, issue 1, page 18.
- ^ "Review: '100 Years of Best American Short Stories' is vital yet flawed for loading the canon". Los Angeles Times. 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2025-04-10.