A review by atticmoth
Great Short Stories by American Women by Candace Ward
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is just another random anthology I picked up for $2 at Half Price Books (ironically the list price is a dollar). I’m constantly on the lookout for good source material for my next film, but unfortunately this book had nothing on the same level as “Lilacs” by Kate Chopin or “The Standard of Living” by Dorothy Parker. It’s organized roughly chronologically, but genre-wise covers mostly just regionalists and modernists. I’d say a short story collection is skippable when the best one in it is one I’ve already read (and I’m sure everyone here has too: “The Yellow Wallpaper”). The one story that felt fresh to me was “The Stones of the Village” by Alice Dunbar-Nelson; I had never even heard of her, but this story was definitely the centerpiece of the collection. Seek it out on its own if you can, but skip the rest.
“Life in the Iron-Mills” by Rebecca Harding Davis
A classic example of short fiction written to draw awareness to a social issue: the welfare of millworkers in the 1860s. Not much depth besides this. “If you could go into the mill where Deborah lay… no ghost Horror would terrify you more.” I found it exceedingly difficult to get through, because it’s written in the dialect of first-generation Irish and Welsh immigrants.
“Transcendental Wild Oats” by Louisa May Alcott
Veganism taken too far. Pretty effective satire, but some of it left me wondering whether or not it was supposed to be funny.
“A White Heron” by Sarah One Jewett
Decent sentimentalist prose on nature. It comes together cleanly, the way a short story should.
“A New England Nun” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
I was disappointed that this story was not, in fact, about a nun, unless you count the metaphorical discussion of nuns. Still, this is a good early example of the psychological story; it’s the first in the collection with characters that actually feel like real people with complex internal lives. Interesting meditation on solitude, nature, and spinsterism.
“The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
This short story needs no introduction. Probably everyone has read it, but it was nice to revisit it for the first time since high school. One of the most creepy things I’ve ever read; if you’ve somehow not read it yet, it’s an early feminist horror story and that’s all I’ll say. Probably one of the best short stories ever written.
“The Storm” by Kate Chopin
Another that I had read before. A very necessary challenge to the moralism of the time, but tame by today’s standards. I’m very glad this collection included a Chopin story, even if it’s not my favorite, because her style is so distinct from her predecessors: almost all the action is external, revealing the characters’ psychological motives in a very cinematic way (before cinema even existed!) That’s the reason she’s one of my favorite authors.
“The Angel at the Grave” by Edith Wharton
Thematically similar to The House of Mirth: the claustrophobia of a dying upper class, mourning a bygone era. Altogether too much tell and not enough show.
“Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather
Paul has some of the DNA of Max Fischer from Rushmore, or perhaps Holden Caufield from The Catcher in the Rye, but not as compelling as either of these works.
“The Stones of the Village” by Alice Dunbar-Nelson
One of the more powerful of the collection so far, similar in theme to Passing by Nella Larsen or “Desirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin. Dunbar-Nelson’s prose is extremely readable and the story was absolutely riveting — spanning decades, it probably would have made a good novel, too.
“A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell
If any of the stories in this collection befitted a film adaptation, this would be the one, though it appears Alfred Hitchcock beat me to it. Perhaps this is because it was apparently based on a stage play? It’s a very neat feminist murder mystery, solved through knowledge of the women’s work that men so often deride.
“Smoke” by Djuna Barnes
Very dense prose that recalls Virginia Woolf a bit. So much is packed into just three pages! For that reason, I found this actually pretty hard to understand.
“Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston
The most “Southern Gothic” of all the stories in this book. Despite Hurston’s prose being crystal clear, I found this a little hard to understand because of the way the dialogue is written.
“Sanctuary” by Nella Larsen
It’s such a tragedy that Larsen’s literary career was cut short, because the prose here is just as gorgeous as Passing. Though possibly too short to develop its themes, this story has the requisite jaw-dropping irony that makes a good short story.
“Life in the Iron-Mills” by Rebecca Harding Davis
A classic example of short fiction written to draw awareness to a social issue: the welfare of millworkers in the 1860s. Not much depth besides this. “If you could go into the mill where Deborah lay… no ghost Horror would terrify you more.” I found it exceedingly difficult to get through, because it’s written in the dialect of first-generation Irish and Welsh immigrants.
“Transcendental Wild Oats” by Louisa May Alcott
Veganism taken too far. Pretty effective satire, but some of it left me wondering whether or not it was supposed to be funny.
“A White Heron” by Sarah One Jewett
Decent sentimentalist prose on nature. It comes together cleanly, the way a short story should.
“A New England Nun” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
I was disappointed that this story was not, in fact, about a nun, unless you count the metaphorical discussion of nuns. Still, this is a good early example of the psychological story; it’s the first in the collection with characters that actually feel like real people with complex internal lives. Interesting meditation on solitude, nature, and spinsterism.
“The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
This short story needs no introduction. Probably everyone has read it, but it was nice to revisit it for the first time since high school. One of the most creepy things I’ve ever read; if you’ve somehow not read it yet, it’s an early feminist horror story and that’s all I’ll say. Probably one of the best short stories ever written.
“The Storm” by Kate Chopin
Another that I had read before. A very necessary challenge to the moralism of the time, but tame by today’s standards. I’m very glad this collection included a Chopin story, even if it’s not my favorite, because her style is so distinct from her predecessors: almost all the action is external, revealing the characters’ psychological motives in a very cinematic way (before cinema even existed!) That’s the reason she’s one of my favorite authors.
“The Angel at the Grave” by Edith Wharton
Thematically similar to The House of Mirth: the claustrophobia of a dying upper class, mourning a bygone era. Altogether too much tell and not enough show.
“Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather
Paul has some of the DNA of Max Fischer from Rushmore, or perhaps Holden Caufield from The Catcher in the Rye, but not as compelling as either of these works.
“The Stones of the Village” by Alice Dunbar-Nelson
One of the more powerful of the collection so far, similar in theme to Passing by Nella Larsen or “Desirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin. Dunbar-Nelson’s prose is extremely readable and the story was absolutely riveting — spanning decades, it probably would have made a good novel, too.
“A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell
If any of the stories in this collection befitted a film adaptation, this would be the one, though it appears Alfred Hitchcock beat me to it. Perhaps this is because it was apparently based on a stage play? It’s a very neat feminist murder mystery, solved through knowledge of the women’s work that men so often deride.
“Smoke” by Djuna Barnes
Very dense prose that recalls Virginia Woolf a bit. So much is packed into just three pages! For that reason, I found this actually pretty hard to understand.
“Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston
The most “Southern Gothic” of all the stories in this book. Despite Hurston’s prose being crystal clear, I found this a little hard to understand because of the way the dialogue is written.
“Sanctuary” by Nella Larsen
It’s such a tragedy that Larsen’s literary career was cut short, because the prose here is just as gorgeous as Passing. Though possibly too short to develop its themes, this story has the requisite jaw-dropping irony that makes a good short story.