The American Short Story - Volume 6

The American literary tradition has, in a far shorter span of time than others throughout history, achieved a glowing and glittering reputation. From its transatlantic roots it has absorbed the sons and daughters of other cultures, other lands and made them part of her own. America prides itself on liberty, on justice for all and, if you are a wealthy white man, that is essentially true. Sadly, many other segments of society find it difficult to feel or become part of this endeavour. Within this chronological history of the American short story, that prejudice has helped shape the borders of those two endless questions about any anthology. Why that story? Why that Author? We made some hard choices. We start with Uriah Derrick Dárcy, an unlikely American name and, to all intents, it appears to be a pseudonym, about whom little is known or can be verified. He leads our literary parade. From here leviathans appear on a regular basis: Hawthorne, Poe, Melville, Twain but also note how many