The Best American Short Stories 1996

--my viewpoint: So many of these are great works--for both mind and the deep heart-of heart that H. Klemp writes about. Wideman is tuned in to the best of this form!

BASS has its ups and downs, since the senior editor shifts every year. Editor Doctorow offers a balanced and canny selection of stories published in 1999. Best news: the Bill Buford-inspired style of "dirty realism" (stories about the grungy underbelly of the world) are starting to fade. Still, these authors aren't all sweetness and light; witness Junot Diaz's "Nilda" (The New Yorker), whose bystander narrator can do nothing to help a woman whose life is spinning out of control. In fact, few stories here have characters living with much control--if the protagonist has any control, it's usually due to bullying (as with Amy Bloom's funny "The Story" [Story magazine, no longer published]). Percival Everett's "The Fix" (New York Stories) is a clever fantasy about a man who can make any broken thing work--a talent that backfires on him. Kathleen Hill's "The Anointed" (DoubleTake) offers a touching view of childhood. Annie Proulx's Wyoming story, "People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water" (GQ), has one of the best last lines I've read in some time. Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Third and Final Continent" (The New Yorker) reminded me of Flannery O'Connor, with its grotesque characters at the edge of existence. Doctorow offers an erudite introduction; there's no question he's read a great deal and absorbed it all. Katrina Kenison is a heroine of American letters: she reads upwards of 3000 stories annually to cut the list to 120 for the guest editor. Getting the new BASS anthology is a highlight of my year; this series is a mirror for contemporary life (sometimes in a bathroom, sometimes in a funhouse).

Doctorow has excellent taste in short fiction. With only a few exceptions (Junot Diaz and Marilyn Krysl), the stories in this collection are excellent. Amy Bloom's story, "The Story", which i think is a great title, is an interesting story about writing, about the characters in the story, and it is a story about itself.Michael Byers has a great story about obsession and attraction rather than love (though he does go on a page or two too long). Ron Carlson has a wonderful story about about happiness and the ways you can get there. It is one of the best of these stories. There is a story from Raymond Carver, and it is as good as anything he has written. Kiana Davenport's story deals with abuse and family. Everett's "The Fix" is the best story in this anthology, which it's allusion to Christ, in a sort of Kafka-like way. Gautreaux's story about atonement is a winner as always. I remember reading Gurganus' story, "He's at the Office" when it was first published in the new yorker, and i remember thinking at the time that it had to be one of the better stories i'd read that year, so it was a pleasure to see doctorow select it. Aleksandar Hemon and Jhumpa Lahiri both have well told stories about being a foreigner in this country, though one has an uplifting feel and the other is more bleak, but both are a pleasure to read. Annie Proulx's "People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water" is a story you should read. but don't let the title fool you, it doesn't fit the story. Sherwood's story about loss is weak and a better selection could have been made, but it wasn't dull like the two mentioned earlier. i could go on about the stories i haven't mentioned, but there is a space constraint. i've only read best american short stories 2000 and 2001, so i can't say if these selected are better or worse than what is normally picked, but i can say that there are 18 stories here that are fine examples of what a short story should be.

This years "Americas Best Short Stories" is an interesting mix of humor, wit and drama. While many books of this series in the past have had a "hit or miss" quality, every story in this book has, at its core, strong charachters and a believable narrative. Among my favorites would be "The Beautiful Days" aboout a young man who comes to grips with his own vision of self, and how it can change due to the manipulations of others and "Black Elvis", an interesting short that comes to life with vivid charachterization and realistic dialouge. If you are looking for a variety of quality short fiction, you can't go wrong with this book.

I love the "Best American Short Stories" annual collections - if nothing else they let you catch up on all those issues of The New Yorker, Harpers, Atlantic, etc. you didn't buy! The quality of any given year, though, depends both on how good the material was and who the editor is - this year it's E.L. Doctorow and he does a great job (in terms of quality, sequencing, variety of styles - even the short introduction is a nice read). If there's a flaw it's an overreliance on well-established authors (Amy Bloom, Walter Mosley, Jhumpa Lahiri, even Raymond Carver(!)) - I don't know if all these are really up to snuff, but the overall quality is right up there and you can't beat the price. Reader Alert: In my humble opinion, the two best stories appears towards the end: ZZ Packer's "Brownies" - a parable about race and growing-up that's a bit reminicent of, dare I say, Ralph Ellison. And Ha Jin's "The Bridegroom" - a thought provocing morality play about politics of all types. Not to be missed! A bonus in the authors' notes appendix lets the authors comment on their stories or writing in general.