Thematic Guide to Popular Short Stories

Front Cover
Bloomsbury Academic, Oct 30, 2002 - Literary Criticism - 318 pages

Providing easy access to information on nearly 450 short stories, this unique guide surveys a wide spectrum of world literature, canonical works, and contemporary fiction. Librarians and teachers will find multiple purposes for this expertly-compiled resource, which can be employed in much the same way as a standard bibliography. Educators will appreciate the concise annotations, arranged alphabetically by author, that form the core of this work. Insightful critical statements synthesize plot summaries and identify the thematic content of each short story.

A theme guide utilizes the nearly 100 theme headings matching those at the start of each entry, allowing the user to quickly locate story titles on related themes and construct reading lists based on individual interests and needs. Another component designed to aid librarians offers one bibliography that lists the anthologies from which the stories are drawn (Works Cited) and one comprised of a number of recent anthologies that can be adapted for the classroom (Further Reading). In addition to the theme index, the general subject and author indexes make this a user-friendly and invaluable resource.

About the author (2002)

PATRICK A. SMITH is on faculty in the Department of English at Bainbridge College in Bainbridge, Georgia. His most recent work is The True Bones of My Life: Essays on the Fiction of Jim Harrison (2002).

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