The Best American Short Stories 1956
| Editor | Martha Foley |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | The Best American Short Stories |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | 978-9997371638 |
| Preceded by | The Best American Short Stories 1955 |
| Followed by | The Best American Short Stories 1957 |
The Best American Short Stories 1956 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Roger Angell | "In An Early Winter" | The New Yorker |
| Morris Brown | "The Snow Owl" | Quixote |
| George R. Clay | "We’re All Guests" | New World Writing |
| Robert M. Coates | "In A Foreign City" | The New Yorker |
| Wesley Ford Davis | "The Undertow" | The Pacific Spectator |
| Ward Dorrance | "The Devil on a Hot Afternoon" | The Sewanee Review |
| Harris Downey | "The Hobo" | The Virginia Quarterly Review |
| William Eastlake | "The Quiet Chimneys" | Harper's Magazine |
| George P. Elliot | "Is He Dead?" | Epoch |
| Arthur Granit | "Free The Canaries From Their Cages" | Commentary |
| Marjorie Anaïs Housepian | "How Levon Dai Was Surrendered To The Edemuses" | The Paris Review |
| Shirley Jackson | "One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts" | Fantasy and Science Fiction |
| Jack Kerouac | "The Mexican Girl" | The Paris Review |
| Flannery O'Connor | "Greenleaf" | The Kenyon Review |
| Nathaniel LaMar | "Creole Love Song" | The Atlantic Monthly |
| Augusta Wallace Lyons | "The First Flower" | New Campus Writing |
| Ruth Branning Molloy | "Twenty Below, At The End of a Lane" | Mademoiselle |
| Flannery O'Connor | "The Artificial Nigger" | The Kenyon Review |
| Philip Roth | "The Contest For Aaron Gold" | Epoch |
| John Shepley | "The Machine" | Quixote |
| Christine Weston | "Four Annas" | The Virginia Quarterly Review |
| Samuel Yellen | "Reginald Pomfret Skelton" | The Antioch Review |
References
- ^ Foley, Martha, ed. (June 1, 1956). The Best American Short Stories 1956. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-9997371638.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ^ "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.