Ten Modern American Short Stories, Edited by David A. Sohn: Funny, Strange and Unsettling Tales for Young Readers
A collection of notable stories that have been very popular in America, chosen by the editor David A. Sohn. These are short tales full of mystery and suspense that have meant a great deal to generations of young North American readers.
Editor: David A. Sohn
Title: Ten Modern American Short Stories
Format: English mass-market paperback (Bantam Books)
Scope: Anthology of American short fiction for young readers
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/0553245996 (ASIN 0553245996)
Stories Full of Emotion
Some of the stories will make the reader laugh; others will leave them puzzled, or with a lingering feeling of unease. They are short stories full of emotion, and each one can be read in a single sitting.
A Tested Selection
The anthology presents itself as a bright, fresh and original selection of popular stories, tried and tested in classrooms over the decades before it was published. Sohn was an American teacher and editor who compiled several anthologies for school use, and this collection was designed to get teenagers reading.
Who Is It For?
Teenagers and young adults, teachers looking for short texts to discuss in class, and learners of English who want authentic American fiction in manageable doses.
What Is Inside
Published by Bantam in 1965, the anthology brings together stories by well-known American writers of the mid-twentieth century. According to the book’s listing, the contents include John Updike’s "A Sense of Shelter", Carson McCullers’s "Sucker", John Knowles’s "A Turn with the Sun", Borden Deal’s "Antaeus", Reynolds Price’s "Michael Egerton" and a story by Pearl S. Buck. Many of them deal with adolescence: first love, friendship, rivalry and the painful moment of growing up.
Stories About Growing Up
That focus explains the anthology’s long success in schools. Teenage readers recognise themselves in these characters, the shy boy in Updike’s story, the younger cousin in McCullers’s "Sucker" whose admiration turns to bitterness, the boys in "Antaeus" fighting to keep a rooftop garden. The stories are short and accessible, but they are real literature, written by some of the most admired American authors of their generation.
Discovering Authors
For many readers, a story here is the first encounter with a writer they go on to love. Knowles is best known for his novel A Separate Peace, McCullers for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Updike for the Rabbit novels and Buck for The Good Earth. Reading their short fiction is an excellent way to sample their styles before tackling the longer books.
For Learners of English
Advanced learners will find the language natural and varied, with plenty of American idiom, and the stories are short enough to reread. Each one offers a good starting point for discussion.
Using It in Class
The collection lends itself naturally to discussion. Each story raises questions that work well in a classroom: why does a character act the way he does, what has he learned by the end, would you have done the same? Teachers can pair stories with similar themes, such as "Sucker" and "A Sense of Shelter", which both deal with rejection and first love, and ask students to compare how two writers handle them.
Finding a Copy
The anthology is long out of print, but used copies of the Bantam paperback turn up regularly at modest prices. Check that the copy is complete: old mass-market paperbacks often lose pages, and their yellowed paper can be fragile.
It is worth the search.
Happy hunting.
Online second-hand sellers are the best place to look.
Why Read It
Anthologies like this one are a great way to discover authors you might never have picked up otherwise. Short, varied and easy to dip into, it is an old paperback well worth tracking down.
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