The Best American Short Stories 1981, a volume in The Best American Short Stories series, was edited by Shannon Ravenel and by guest editor Hortense Calisher. 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 the anthology "the weakest in years" due to Hortense Calisher's "safe" approach to curation lying in "many big-name authors and New Yorker contributors," ultimately leading to unusually weak inclusions by legendary writers: "Only five stories out of the 20 here, in fact, seem genuinely outstanding... Very few standouts, much inferior, unflattering work: a definite dip in quality and authority for this usually-solid series."
Short stories included Author Story SourceWalter Abish"The Idea of Switzerland"Partisan ReviewMax Apple"Small Island Republics"Kenyon ReviewAnn Beattie"Winter: 1978"Carolina QuarterlyRobert Coover"A Working Day"The Iowa ReviewVincent G. Dethier"The Moth and the Primrose"The Massachusetts ReviewAndre Dubus"The Winter Father"The Sewanee ReviewMavis Gallant"The Assembly"Harper'sElizabeth Hardwick"The Bookseller"The New YorkerBobbie Ann Mason"Shiloh"The New YorkerJoseph McElroy"The Future"The New YorkerElizabeth McGrath"Fogbound in Avalon"The New YorkerAmelia Moseley"The Mountains Where Cithaeron Is"The Massachusetts ReviewAlice Munro"Wood"The New YorkerJoyce Carol Oates"Presque Isle"The Agni ReviewCynthia Ozick"The Shawl"The New YorkerLouis D. Rubin, Jr."The St. Anthony Chorale"The Southern ReviewRichard Stern"Wissler Remembers"The Atlantic MonthlyElizabeth Tallent"Ice"The New YorkerJohn Updike"Still of Some Use"The New YorkerLarry Woiwode"Change"The New Yorker
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