From Chinua Achebe and Sherwood Anderson to Edith Wharton and Virginia Woolf, The Art of the Short Story presents masterpieces of short fiction from 52 classic, contemporary and new voices. No other collection of short stories encompasses such a vast and enriching global and historical mix. This book's unique integration of biographical, literary and critical material gives readers a fascinating and intimate knowledge of literature and literary creativity.To accompany the fiction, a unique feature called "Author's Perspectives" provides lively statements from each author, giving readers insight into the writing process while commenting on the works themselves. A section called "Critical Approaches to Literature" explains how to take an informed, critical stance when reading literature, and a glossary of literary terms further enhances the experience of reading these great works.

Author Biography: Dana Gioia, a poet, critic, and teacher, has published three collections of poetry-Daily Horoscope (1986), The Gods of Winter (1991), and Interrogations at Noon (2001)-an influential study of poetry's place in contemporary America, Can Poetry Matter? (1992), and has edited several anthologies. He currently serves as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. R. S. Gwynn is the author of five collections of poetry and has edited two volumes of the Dictionary of Literary Biography. He has also authored The Advocates of Poetry: A Reader of American Poet-Critics of the Modernist Era, New Expansive Poetry: Theory, Criticism, and History, and Fiction and Poetry for the Longman Pocket Anthology Series.