First-prize stories 1919-1966

Alternate Titles

• Prize stories

Description

Contains: 1919: England to America / Margaret Prescott Montague 1920: Each in his generation / Maxwell Struthers Burt 1921: The heart of little Shikara / Edison Marshall 1922: Snake doctor / Irvin S. Cobb 1923: Prelude / Edgar Valentine Smith 1924: The spring flight / Inez Haynes Irwin 1925: Mr. Bisbee's princess / Julian Street 1926: Bubbles / Wilbur Daniel Steele 1927: Child of god / Roark Bradford 1926: The parrot / Walter Duranty 1929: Big blonde / Dorothy Parker 1930: Dressing-up / W.R. Burnett 1931: Can't cross Jordan by myself / Wilbur Daniel Steele 1932: An end to dreams / Stephen Vincent Benet 1933: Gal young un / Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1934: No more trouble for Jedwick / Louise Paul 1935: The white horses of Vienna / Kay Boyle 1936: Total stranger / James Gould Cozzens 1937: The devil and Daniel Webster / Stephen Vincent Benet 1938: The happiest man on earth / Albert Maltz 1939: [Barn burning](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20080279W) / William Faulkner 1940: Freedom's a hard-bought thing / Stephen Vincent Benet 1941: Defeat / Kay Boyle 1942: The wide net / Eudora Welty 1943: Livvie is back / Eudora Welty 1944: Walking wounded / Irwin Shaw 1945: The wind and the snow of winter / Walter Van Tilburg Clark 1946: Bird song / John Mayo Goss 1947: The white circle / John Bell Clayton 1948: Shut a final door / Truman Capote 1949: A courtship / WIlliam Faulkner 1950: The blue-winged teal / Wallace Stegner 1951: The hunters / Harris Downey 1954: The Indian feather / Thomas Mabry 1955: In the zoo / Jean Stafford 1956: The country husband / John Cheever 1957: Greenleaf / Flannery O'Connor 1958: In sickness as in health / Martha Gellhorn 1959: Venus, Cupid, folly and time / Peter Taylor 1960: The ledge / Lawrence Sargent Hall 1961: Tell me a riddle / Tillie Olsen 1962: Holiday / Katherine Anne Porter 1963: Everything that rises must converge / Flannery O'Connor 1964: The embarkment of Cythera / John Cheever 1965: Revelation / Flannery O'Connor 1966: The Bulgarian poetess / John Updike.

Description

The forty-six stories in this book share a common distinction: all of them have been first-prize winners of the annual O. Henry Memorial Awards. Established in 1919 as a tribute to the memory of William Sydney Porter — America's beloved O. Henry — the awards have developed into the most important annual short-story series in America. The editors and judges, all of them distinguished men and women of letters, have chosen from the work of American writers appearing in Ameri- can publications. In their search for stories of exceptional merit they read all the magazines that publish fiction. Inclusion in one of the annual collec- tions means not only that a story has been chosen from hundreds of entries but also that it has passed through many readings. And to be chosen Number One is an honor indeed. Among the writers who have won the first prize in past years are four Pulitzer Prize winners: Stephen Vincent Benét, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Roark Bradford, and James Gould Cozzens. Another, William Faulkner, has re- ceived the Nobel prize. Other notables represented in the collection are Flan- nery O'Connor, Irvin S. Cobb, Walter Duranty, Wilbur Daniel Steele, Wallace Stegner, Kay Boyle, Eudora Welty, Tru• man Capote, Irwin Shaw, and Katherine Anne Porter. Besides serving as a springboard for new and talented writers, the series has been a mirror of our times. The annual editions have reflected the days of two world wars, women's suffrage, the vio- lence of the Roaring Twenties, Prohi- bition, the Depression, and even the vogue of Freudian psychology. Here, in a single volume, is a picture of Ameri- can life over a period of forty-six years. Even the change in the tone of the short story itself as a literary form—its shift from what people do to what they think —is apparent when one reads the stories in their chronological order. And so FIRST-PRIZE STORIES offers not only reading enjoyment of an almost unequaled quality but an intriguing look at ourselves through the eyes of the most gifted writers of nearly five dec- ades. The late John Marquand called these stories ' 'documents of our time... reflecting the doubts, the suspense and the heartbreak of each year." --jacket

Subjects

Series Statement

• O. Henry memorial award

Other Editions

• First-prize stories 1919-1966: from the O. Henry memorial awardsHardcoverDoubleday & Co1966-01-01
• First-prize stories 1919-1966HardcoverDoubleday & Co1966-01-01