A very nice short story collection, published in 1953. Say the editors in the Preface, "This anthology has been designed for courses in Introduction to Literature, Freshman English, Crditic Reading, the Short Story, Modern Fiction, and Creative Writing. With these in mind, the edtors have selected stories for their artistic merit and their readability."

Lit course or not, this is a very fine short story collection, arranged more or less chronologically, from Goldsmith, Hardy and Hawthrone to Angus Wilson and Paul Bowles. There are many classics of the genre here, including "Bartleby the Scrivener," "Flowering Judas," "The Rocking Horse Winner" and "The Dead." Reading through this collection presented me with the always welcome enticement to reread "Heart of Darkness" for about the zillionth time. And there were also some fine stories by authors I'd never heard of. ( )