A more expansive and adventurous array of classic and contemporary stories, with 50 new stories (out of 148) including Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” Lynda Barry’s “San Francisco,” and Edward P. Jones’s “Bad Neighbors.”
A new emphasis on short, short fiction, including 11 new short, short stories (of 3 pages or less) and commentaries about the genre by Lydia Davis and Russell Banks.
24 new commentaries, among them Anne Lamott on “Finding Your Voice,” David Foster Wallace on “Kafka’s Funniness,” and Will Eisner’s graphic interpretation of “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
New Casebooks highlight popular stories and include contextual images and commentaries on: James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Interpreter of Maladies,” and Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
More emphasis on graphic storytelling, with selections sprinkled throughout the anthology and a casebook of commentaries by respected writers in the field like Alison Bechdel and Joe Sacco, making the innovative form more accessible — and teachable.