The Best American Short Stories 1982, a volume in The Best American Short Stories series, was edited by Shannon Ravenel and by guest editor John Gardner. The volume was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Background The series is considered one of the "best-known annual anthologies of short fiction""Short and Sweet" by Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly, 11/05/99, issue 511, page 73. and has anthologized more than 2,000 short stories, including works by some of the most famous writers in contemporary American literature, curated by well-known guest editors since 1915."The Best American Short Stories of the Century," Publishers Weekly, 3/8/1999, volume 246, issue 10, page 47. Specifically, Amy Hempel considered it and the O. Henry Award's prize anthology to compile "the best short fiction published in American and Canadian magazines during the preceding year."
In particular, the Willa Cather Review wrote that The Best American Short Stories series "became a repository of values" for creative writing programs and literary magazines, specifically with considerable "influence" in college libraries, short fiction courses, and fiction workshops."'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.
Critical reception Kirkus Reviews called John Gardner's curation a death blow to the "Foley legacy" that had previously marked the anthology series. The reviewer concluded that "As a sampling of what moral-crusader Gardner likes in short-story fiction, then, this is certainly informative. But it's hardly a fair reflection of the year's best—and perhaps this series should take on a new title if such unbalanced collections are to be expected in the future."
Le Anne Schreiber, writing in The New York Times, lauded Gardner for "a collection that demonstrates the variety and vigor of American short-story writing far better than any comparable collection in recent years."
Short stories included Author Story SourceRaymond Carver"Cathedral"The Atlantic MonthlyJames Ferry"Dancing Ducks and Talking Anus"The Literary ReviewJoanna Higgins"The Courtship of Widow Sobcek"MSSWilliam Hauptman"Good Rockin' Tonight"PlayboyFred Licht"Shelter the Pilgrim"The Hudson ReviewMary Robison"Coach"The New YorkerCharles Johnson"Exchange Value"ChoiceNicholson Baker"K. 590"The Little MagazineJoyce Renwick"The Dolphin Story"ChoiceLissa Maclaughlin"The Continental Heart"The Massachusetts ReviewAlvin Greenberg"The Power of Language is Such That Even a Single Word Taken Truly to Heart Can Change Everything"StoryQuarterlyRoberta Gupta"The Cafe de Paris "MSSR. E. Smith"The Gift Horse's Mouth"The Texas ReviewCharles Baxter"Harmony of the World"The Michigan Quarterly ReviewEdith Milton"Coming Over"The Yale ReviewAnne Hobson Freeman"The Girl Who Was No Kin to the Marshalls"Virginia Quarterly ReviewAnne F. Rosner"Prize Tomatoes"TriQuarterlyIan MacMillan"Proud Monster—Sketches"The Carolina QuarterlyRosanne Coggeshall"Lamb Says"The South Carolina ReviewJoyce Carol Oates"Theft"The Northwest Review
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