I was going to call this post 'Found in the Stacks' since I happened across this lovely NYRB reissue of the 1958 classic, Randall Jarrell's Book of Stories, purely by chance. I was pulling books to put on display yesterday (display theme: short stories!), and was in a section that had a number of interesting-looking anthologies. This caught my eye, but I had intended it for my display. Back at my desk to change the book locations (and oh, so many lovely short story collections I assembled), and I had a moment to actually look at it, and decided it needed to come home with me instead. For some reason I thought this was a collection of stories by Randall Jarrell, but it's an anthology of various short story writers as selected by Jarrell. I'd heard of Jarrell, but didn't know anything about him. He was a poet, novelist, translator, critic, and children's book author from Tennessee.
I'm told Jarrell was a good friend of poet Robert Lowell, and that Jarrell was Poet Laureate (or at least what is now known as Poet Laureate). Poetry is another gaping (very much gaping) hole in my reading repetoire that I swear one day I am going to address.
Anyway, it's the blurbs that sold me.
"My favorite short-story anthology is Randall Jarrell's, with a brilliant essay as a preface." --Michael Dirda, Washington Post
"Long out of print, this landmark volume--and the sweeping essay at the front--may change how you think about fiction. (It may also change how you think about your own life.) This is a book to return to, and to keep."--Stephen Burt
Brad Leithauser calls the anthology "as fine an entry into the art of the short story as any I know." How could I possibly pass it up. Besides, I'm an easy sell when it comes to short stories. I love short stories, though I don't read enough of them. This book, I plan on reading. I'm starting with that much lauded introductory essay of course (and may share my findings here).
I bet you're curious to know who Jarrell has chosen for inclusion in the book, right?
Franz Kafka, Anton Chekhov, Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Frost, Giovanni Verga, Nikolai Gogol, Elizabeth Bowen, Ludwig Tieck, Bertolt Brecht, Leo Tolstoy, Peter Taylor, Hans Christian Andersen, Katherine Anne Porter, the Bothers Grimm, E.M. Forster, the Book of Jonah, Saint-Simon, Isaac Babel, Chuang Tzu, Hugo Von Hofmannsthal, William Blake, D.H. Lawrence, Ivan Turgenev, William Wordsworth, Frank O'Connor, and Isak Dinesen.
Okay, so a little thin on women writers, but as someone else mentioned in a review it is an idiosyncratic and eclectic selection, so I'm willing to go with his choices. I'm very excited about my find and am going to start reading this weekend! First story is "A Country Doctor" by Franz Kafka. Yay for short stories.
I think the cover alone would make me want to read it.
Wordsworth??? I'll be fascinated to know where he got a Wordsworth short story. Perhaps Jarrell turned one of the poems into one. Some, like The Prelude, are in effect short stories in poetry format.
Posted by: scriptorsenex | June 01, 2012 at 11:41 PM
Interesting! After a brief period of reading short stories a few years back (Katherine Mansfield) I sort of forgot about them again, although I do remember liking those very much.
Posted by: catharina | June 02, 2012 at 08:42 AM
At first glance I would have thought it was a collection of Jarrell's own stories, too. Most of the authors in that list I recognize and am fond of; the others I'm sure are just as good!
Posted by: Jeane | June 02, 2012 at 05:57 PM
This one sounds very interesting. I too am a big fan of short stories. Off to see if the library has a copy.
Posted by: Carl V. | June 02, 2012 at 07:50 PM
Scriptorsenex--Isn't that a great cover? I meant to mention it as well! I think I might buy this one as it is worth owning. As for the Wordsworth--I looked and yes, you're right! It is a very long poem called The Ruined Cottage. There is also an excerpt from the Bible, so this is indeed an idiosyncratic collection! But I think I like it all the more for that fact.
Catharina--There was a time I would not have considered reading a short story. If I did it was more of an accident than anything else. I might pick up a book advertised as a novel, but was in reality a collection of interlinked stories. But then one year I read one a week and found that I really enjoyed the format. Now I love to read them when I can but admit I tend to pick up novels far more than short stories. I want to get back into the short story habit however.
Jeane--I was just randomly picking books from the shelves--It was the NYRB on the spine that caught my eye, but when I looked it over more closely and read the blurb I knew I wanted it for me! :)
Carl--I hope your library has it. I am looking forward to reading that intro and the stories, of course. I need to get back into the habit of reading at least one a week and maybe writing about it. Maybe that's what I'll do for the second half of the year.
Posted by: Danielle | June 02, 2012 at 09:58 PM
I have bought a lot of short story anthologies recently but I find I prefer either collections by one author only or a guiding theme. I have a few like this one by Jarrell but I just like it much better when they are either from the same country, period or genre or dedicated to something. WWII, love stories etc. But I would love to read his introduction.
Posted by: Caroline | June 03, 2012 at 01:05 AM
Caroline--I'm curious what he has to say in the introductory essay as well and hope to find time this afternoon to read it. I think I tend also to read collections by just one author or with a unifying theme, but I don't mind anthologies like this one--it makes it easy to just pick up on a whim and read and not feel bad about setting it down a few days in fear of losing the thread.
Posted by: Danielle | June 03, 2012 at 12:15 PM
What a fun find! I can see why it had to go home with you. And an interesting list of authors he includes. Robert Frost wrote short stories? I only know him as a poet. Same with William Wordsworth. Who knew?
Posted by: Stefanie | June 04, 2012 at 10:45 AM
Stefanie--I thought the addition of Frost on the list was interesting, but now I will have to look and see exactly what by Frost he selected. The Wordsworth is a long poem, so that may be the case for the Frost as well. The blurb did call this collection eclectic--I'm looking forward to it.
Posted by: Danielle | June 04, 2012 at 09:16 PM
I knew once I got back to reading book blogs again, I'd start ordering more books. Congratulations. You've made me order this one ;)
Posted by: Amy Brandon | June 06, 2012 at 12:48 PM
Amy--It is very dangerous making the blog rounds, isn't it?! I'm going to buy this one, too.
Posted by: Danielle | June 06, 2012 at 10:40 PM
Oh I would love to read Randall Jarrell but he's hard to get hold of over here. I'd be very interested to know how you get on with the short stories!
Posted by: litlove | June 12, 2012 at 02:28 PM
Litlove--He sits patiently for me on my nightstand. As usual I am reaching first for novels, even though I know I will enjoy the short stories. I will probably have to just buy the book at the rate I'm going.
Posted by: Danielle | June 12, 2012 at 10:36 PM