A Pocket Book of Modern American Short Stories

This is an outstanding short story collection that I really enjoyed. This was published in 1942 and showcased 19 stories written in the 1920s and 1930s. Top tier authors. The editor noted (in 1942) that these stories were already from another era that only lived in their memories. Nearly 80 years further on as I read this now it is like being in a time machine. Two of the stories I knew I had read before, and two or three others maybe, but most were new to me.

Among the famous names are William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eudora Welty and Carson McCullers. The two stories I have read before were Conrad Aiken's 'Silent Snow, Secret Snow' when I was in high school and Hemingway's 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro'. The latter show more is a painful story. More than ever, knowing more about Hemingway's life now, I was aware that Kilimanjaro felt like Hemingway was writing about a version of himself and how he rips the guts out of his real and perceived failings and throws them all over the pages. Oh this is a mean and pain filled story.

Speaking of Silent Snow, Secret Snow, I found it a little strange that I remembered a short story after 50 years. I think it was the repetitive image of the postman walking in the snow that kept the story with me. I do not think that way back when I realized what the story was about. As I read it now I rather quickly realized that the author had created a rather chilling description of a teenaged boy's descent into schizophrenia or some sort of dis-associative disorder. I didn't know about that sort of thing as a teenager myself. An excellent if slightly frightening story.

A couple stories in here were just too strange, like the Erskine Caldwell one, which keeps me from throwing 5 stars on this collection. But there are some excellent ones. I'm not a big fan of Sinclair Lewis but his "Young Man Axelbrod" rather charmed me. F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'Babylon Revisited' was another little treasure in here, a visit to Paris after nearly all the Americans had left it following the crash of '29.

Recommended if you can find it hiding on a friends of the library book sale shelf as I did. Read in 2020 show less

Contents:

Introduction

1- Johnny Pye and the Fool-Killer by Stephen Vincent Benet.
2- The Romance of Rosy Ridge by MacKinlay Kantor.
3- The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway.
4- The Leader of the people by John Steinbeck;
5- Champion by Ring Lardner
6- Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
7- Silent snow, secret snow by Conrad Aiken.
8- Country full of Swedes by Erskine Caldwell.
9- You were perfectly fine by Dorothy Parker.
10- The Night the Ghost got In by James Thurber.
11- Young Man Axelbrod by Sinclair Lewis.
12- That Evening Sun Go Down by William Faulkner.
13- The Explorers by Jerome Weidman.
14- The Happiest Man on Earth by Albert Maltz.
15- That Thee by Katherine Anne Porter.
16- Going Home by William Saroyan.
17- Profession: show more Housewife by Sally Benson.
18- A Visit of Charity by Eudora Welty show less

"... he couldn't stand the squeeze of the four walls ..."