Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Preface ix
4. Acknowledgments xiii
5. “The Fourth Alarm” by John Cheever 1
6. “A Father’s Story” by Andre Dubus 6
7. “Use of Force” by William Carlos Williams 12
8. “Leaving the Colonel” by Molly Giles 20
9. “A Cautionary Tale” by Deborah Eisenberg 25
10. “The Wounded Soldier” by George Garrett 29
11. “Consolation” by Richard Bausch 36
12. “Where Is the Voice Coming From?” by Eudora Welty 43
13. “How Can I Tell You?” by John O’Hara 51
14. “Triumph Over the Grave” by Denis Johnson 60
15. “No One’s a Mystery” by Elizabeth Tallent 66
16. “Who Is It Can Tell Me Who I Am?” by Gina Berriault 73
17. “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver 82
18. “The Magic Barrel” by Bernard Malamud 87
19. “Dare’s Gift” by Ellen Glasgow 98
20. “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien 112
21. “In Another Country” by Ernest Hemingway 117
22. “Like Life” by Lorrie Moore 128
23. “Ghost and Flesh, Water and Dirt” by William Goyen 135
24. “The Tree of Knowledge” by Henry James 141
25. “Sur” by Ursula Le Guin 149
26. “FRAGO” by Phil Klay 152
27. “My Father Sits in the Dark” by Jerome Weidman 162
28. “Th e Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter 168
29. “The Bridegroom’s Body” by Kay Boyle 177
30. “The Doorbell” by Vladimir Nabokov 185
31. “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor 195
32. “Jubilee” by Kirstin Valdez Quade 202
33. “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald 209
34. “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities” by Delmore Schwartz 219
35. “Goodbye and Good Luck” by Grace Paley 226
36. “Flight” by John Updike 233
37. “A Silver Dish” by Saul Bellow 239
38. “Flying Home” by Ralph Ellison 245
39. “Blessed Assurance” by Langston Hughes 253
40. “Big Black Good Man” by Richard Wright 260
41. “Travelin Man” by Peter Matthiessen 268
42. “Pet Milk” by Stuart Dybek 276
43. “The Pedersen Kid” by William H. Gass 283
44. “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville 290
45. “Old Boys, Old Girls” by Edward P. Jones 297
46. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Th urber 304
47. “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin 309
48. “The Laughing Man” by J. D. Salinger 316
49. “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid 326
50. “Fatherland” by Viet Thanh Nguyen 329
51. “The Pura Principle” by Junot Diaz 335
52. “Honeydew” by Edith Pearlman 343