Strowbridge-Short Stories by American Wo

Fourteen short works of fiction by noteworthy American women authors offer entrancing tales of redemption betrayal tradition and rebellion. Dating from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries these narratives range in mood from Heat Joyce Carol Oates's chilling tale of murder to Why I Live at the P.O. Eudora Welty's comic monologue in the Southern Gothic tradition. Other contributors include Flannery O'Connor Kate Chopin and Edna Ferber as well as lesser-known newly rediscovered writers. Edith Wharton examines the issue of divorce and remarriage in The Other Two and Willa Cather explores life among Greenwich Village artists at the turn of the twentieth century in Coming Aphrodite! Stories with modern settings include Alice Walker's Everyday Use an insightful look at the role of heritage in African-American culture and Louise Erdrich's The Shawl a meditation on memory and the transformation of old stories into new ones. Together the tales offer a revealing panorama of perspectives on women's ongoing struggles for dignity and self-sufficiency.