First published 2002
This anthology brings together forty-nine carefully chosen stories that span continents and centuries. American masters like Hemingway, Faulkner, Saul Bellow, and Flannery O'Connor appear alongside European literary giants including Proust, Sartre, Flaubert, Kafka, Mann, Pirandello, Rilke, and Balzac. Russian titans Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, Turgenev, and Chekhov contribute their finest work, while Asian voices like Rabindranath Tagore and Lu Hsun add global perspective. The collection favors lesser-known gems over familiar anthology staples, introducing readers to brilliant but overlooked pieces. Some contributors like Bunin, Lagerlof, Nexo, and Svevo may surprise even seasoned readers. Each story demonstrates rich detail and authentic portrayals of human emotion across diverse cultural settings. The international scope reveals how great writers capture universal truths through distinctly local experiences.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, literary-fiction, anthologies, 20th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, slice-of-life
Setting: Asia, Europe, Russia, United States
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century
576 pages · Paperback · Cooper Square Press