The classic erotic novel, THE STORY OF O relates the love of a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer for Rene. As part of that intense love, she demands debasement and severe sexual and pychological tests. It is a unique work not to be missed.
REVIEW
Is it hot in here? Maybe not for everyone, but this is one incredible story. Anyone interested in dominance and submission must read this.
The publication of this extraordinary volume firmly established Flannery O'Connor's monumental contribution to American fiction. There are thirty-one stories here in all, including twelve that do not appear in the only two story collections O'Connor put together in her short lifetime--Everything That Rises Must Converge and A Good Man Is Hard to Find.
O'Connor published her first story, "The Geranium," in 1946, while she was working on her master's degree at the University of Iowa. Arranged chronologically, this collection shows that her last story, "Judgement Day"--sent to her publisher shortly before her death—is a brilliantly rewritten and transfigured version of "The Geranium." Taken together, these stories reveal alively, penetrating talent that has given us some of the most powerful and disturbing fiction of the twentieth century. Also included is an introduction by O'Connor's longtime editor and friend, Robert Giroux.
REVIEW
Flannery O'Connor, one twisted sister This was my first introduction to O'Connor's work. Had I known how thoeoughly I would enjoy, I would have read her years ago. I grew up in the South and always thought I got a pretty good education. But I was never introduced to Flannery O'Connor's work. From the dark and stark nature of her unique characters, I suppose I can see why she might have been excluded. Her work shines a bright light on the flaws and foibles that make us human. She does not show the lovely views of gentle Southern living with mint julips on the veranda. She shows the frustrated rednecks and misfits of rural life. A truly excellent read.
An annual collection of the twenty best contemporary short stories selected by series editor Laura Furman from hundreds of literary magazines, The O. Henry Prize Stories 2008 is studded with extraordinary settings and characters: a teenager in survivalist Alaska, the seed keeper of a doomed Chinese village, a young woman trying to save her life in a Ukrainian internet café. Also included are the winning writers' comments on what inspired them, a short essay from each of the three eminent jurors, and an extensive resource list of literary magazines.
REVIEW
Good Read All in all a good read, Some of the stories didn't impact me as much as I would have hoped, but for me the hightlight was Anthony Doerr's piece, it was brilliantly conceived with unforgettable imagery.
O is a young, beautiful fashion photographer in Paris. One day her lover, Rene, takes her to a chateau, where she is enslaved, with Rene's approval, and systematically sexually assaulted by various other men. Later, Rene turns O over to Sir Stephen, an English friend who intensifies the brutality. But the final humiliation is yet to come.
REVIEW
some history when i first read it i was a young teen-ager and it had a profound influence on me. yes i am male, and yes the debasement and torture of O aroused me greatly, but it also had a deep spiritual effect which is difficult to explain. i won't apologize for, try to justify, or write a disclaimer for this book. neither will i speculate as to whether it is pornography or literature, as surely these are not mutually exclusive. nor will i offer the fact that the book was written by a woman (it was) as its justification, as it is better served without any, and because theorizing about the significance of this fact is usually just political point scoring of one sort or other. but what i will do is offer up a little bit of history to dispel some of the misinformation i have seen in other reviews, and then of course my own opinion which is the point of writing a reviews is it not?
in 1994 Dominique Aury (which wasn't even her real name, but yet another pseudonym), a prominent french literary figure and editor finally admitted to having written the book. she wrote it over several months every night in pencil instead of ink, so as not to stain the sheets of her bed where she lay writing. she didn't write any first drafts, did no editing, and every few days sent what she had written to her lover, the French writer and editor Jean Paulhan. he slept around and she wanted to arouse him and keep him interested; it worked.
the novel was published in 1954 under the pseudonym Pauline Reage as a homage to Pauline Borghese and the 19th-century feminist/socialist Pauline Rolan. there was much ado about the book when it was published of course, with bannings and burnings in the U.S. and Britain especially. it was exclaimed that it had to be the work of a man, which just made Dominique laugh. like O, she was deeply in love with Paulhan. she was fascinated by his ability to marvel at both the most terrible and awful, as well as the most cheerful and beautiful things. is the book about spiritual transcendence, or the 'basest' of debauchery? yes of course, it is both of these things. but most of all, in my opinion, it is about affirmation, in the Nietzscheian sense of an 'amor fati', total abandonment and laughter in the face of death and pain, as well as love and joy; a love and respect for the eternal contradictions of life. Dominique once repeated the well known saying that a leopard never changes it's spots, and added something to the effect of: "that we should just let her go with her contradictions". and so we should.
The more than 600 stories written by O. Henry provided an embarrassment of riches for the compilers of this volume. The final selection of the thirty-eight stories in this collection offers for the reader's delight those tales honored almost unanimously by anthologists and those that represent, in variety and balance, the best work of America's favorite storyteller. They are tales in his most mellow, humorous, and ironic moods. They give the full range and flavor of the man born William Sydney Porter but known throughout the world as O. Henry, one of the great masters of the short story.
REVIEW
Good Collection This is a very good collection of my favorite short story author.
It's hard to imagine anyone who hasn't read and loved O. Henry, but if for some reason you have discovered this work yet, this collection is a great place to begin.
A radiant reflection of contemporary fiction at its best, The O. Henry Prize Stories 2006 features stories from locales as diverse as Russia, Zimbabwe, and the rural American South. Series editor Laura Furman considered thousands of stories in hundreds of literary magazines before selecting the winners, which are accompanied here by short essays from each of the three eminent jurors on his or her favorite story, as well as observations from all twenty prize winners on what inspired them. Ranging in tone from arch humor to self-deluding obsessiveness to fairy-tale ingenuousness, these stories are a treasury of potential classics.
REVIEW
Editor Furman's darkest and best collection yet As in her two previous volumes (2003, 2005 - there was no O. Henry Prize volume dated 2004, forever throwing a kink into the collection on my bookshelf), series editor Laura Furman has gravitated toward subject matter that can only be described as dark and depressing. Yet the stories are so well written that the net effect is one of being moved by the power of the written word to experience aspects of the human condition well beyond the everyday. This is what good literature is supposed to do, and I would rank this year's volume as Furman's best so far.
To get an idea of the subject matter covered in this volume, one only has to take a careful look at some of the titles: "Mule Killers", "The Broad Estates of Death", "Disquisition on Tears", "The Plague of Doves", and "Famine". Other titles sound benign, however the subject matter is anything but (e.g. the last two stories, "Letters in the Snow" and "Window" are both about domestic abuse). But in all the stories, the subject matter isn't anywhere near the most important element. These stories expose the thought, logic and emotions that the characters caught in these situations experience, and hence take the reader into interesting places that are best experienced vicariously.
Each reader will no doubt have his/her own list of favorite stories. Mine were:
-- "Window", by Deborah Eisenberg: I agree wholeheartedly with guest editor Francine Prose's assessment that the language, wording and pacing of Eisenberg's story are excellent, and that this story is the best of the best. There is even some humor sprinkled in at appropriate moments.
-- "Wolves", by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer: this is a portrait of the final stage of a long marriage, in which creations of the mind take on a reality of their own (perhaps). Along with Xu Xi's "Famine" and Stephanie Reents' "Disquisition on Tears", which I also enjoyed, Schaeffer's "Wolves" utilizes the fictional form to its fulladvantage.
-- "The Dressmaker's Child", by William Trevor: this story, more than any other, contains an O. Henry-like plot twist at the end, which turns the story into a masterful tale of entrapment.
-- "Girls I Know", by Douglas Trevor: a contemporary story of class differences and how ambition (or lack thereof) can drastically affect outcomes in life.
My least favorite story, and the only one that I would have preferred not to have been included, was Terese Svodoba's "'80's Lilies", a story about what I have always known to be a futile quest: the attempt to seek out a sheltered, idyllic Garden of Eden to escape all the world's problems. The world just doesn't work that way, as these characters also discover (and they were supposed to be smart, educated folk).
I keep hoping that, one of these years, Furman will include some well-written stories that explore more positive aspects of human experience. But if you are willing to take a walk on the dark side, you will be amply rewarded. On the other hand, if you are looking for stories with more popular appeal, then the Best American Stories series is for you. I happen to enjoy both.
Mudlavia Elizabeth Stuckey-French The Brief History of the Dead Kevin Brockmeier The Golden Era of Heartbreak Michael Parker The Hurt Man Wendell Berry The Tutor Nell Freudenberger Fantasy for Eleven Fingers Ben Fountain The High Divide Charles D’Ambrosio
Desolation Gail Jones A Rich Man Edward P. Jones Dues Dale Peck Speckle Trout Ron Rash Sphinxes Timothy Crouse Grace Paula Fox Snowbound Liza Ward Tea Nancy Reisman Christie Caitlin Macy Refuge in London Ruth Prawer Jhabvala The Drowned Woman Frances De Pontes Peebles The Card Trick Tessa Hadley What You Pawn I Will Redeem Sherman Alexie
REVIEW
great collection A collection that is easy to read but hard to put down. For those who have little time on hand, these short stories will captivate you just as much as full length (whatever that means) fictions, but are in the meantime much less consuming. A good diversity in styles, both with respect to form and content. Bonus: a composition of short biographies for each author at the back of the book, which introduces the readers to other work by these authors -- a good place to go for additional reading recommendations.
An arresting collection of contemporary fiction at its best, these stories explore a vast range of subjects, from love and deception to war and the insidious power of class distinctions. However clearly spoken, in voices sophisticated, cunning, or na•ve, here is fiction that consistently defies our expectations. Selected from thousands of stories in hundreds of literary magazines, the twenty prize-winning stories are accompanied by essays from each of the three eminent jurors on which stories they judged the best, and observations from all twenty prizewinners on what inspired them.
“The Room” William Trevor
“The Scent of Cinnamon” Charles Lambert
“Cherubs” Justine Dymond
“Galveston Bay, 1826” Eddie Chuculate
“The Gift of Years” Vu Tran
“The Diarist” Richard McCann
“War Buddies” Joan Silber
“Djamilla” Tony D’Souza
“In a Bear’s Eye” Yannick Murphy
“Summer, with Twins” Rebecca Curtis
“Mudder Tongue” Brian Evenson
“Companion” Sana Krasikov
“A Stone House” Bay Anapol
“The Company of Men” Jan Ellison
“City Visit” Adam Haslett
“The Duchess of Albany” Christine Schutt
“A New Kind of Gravity” Andrew Foster Altschul
“Gringos” Ariel Dorfman
“El Ojo de Agua” Susan Straight
“The View from Castle Rock” Alice Munro
REVIEW
Another prize winner Since 1919, the O. Henry Prize has meant excellence in literary short fiction. To win an O. Henry is the pinnacle achievement in a short story author's life. Named after William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), better known to readers as O. Henry, the prize was conceived in 1918 by his friends, members of the elite Twilight Club, later renamed the Society of Arts and Letters, in order to honor him and strengthen the art of the short story.
The O. Henry Prize Stories for 2007 are some of the best literary fiction in North America. These authors convey more emotion in a single paragraph than many authors do in an entire book. Take for example,
-- The Scent of Cinnamon by Charles Lambert. The author explores the themes of loneliness and the abandonment of dreams even while embracing them.
-- In a Bear's Eye by Yannick Murphy, grief, loss and acceptance are explored in a style made all the more heart wrenching by its simplicity.
-- In The Gift of Years by Vu Tran, a father returns from battle only to see the unsettling changes the war and his own absence wrought on his family. But with distance also comes insight, however unwelcome.
The selected stories encapsulate the human experience in both shocking and poignant terms. Clever and deft at their craft, the authors of these stories exemplify the absolute best in the written word.
Armchair Interviews says: Lucky are those who love outstanding short stories!
Selected Stories of O. Henry, by O. Henry, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classicsseries, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship,thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:
New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.
O. Henry mastered the art of the humorous, energetic tale that ends with a sudden, ironic twist. In “After Twenty Years,” for example, two boys agree to meet at a particular spot exactly twenty years later. Both are faithful, but in the intervening years one boy has turned into a criminal, the other into a policeman. Behind the rendezvous lurks a powerful dramatic situation with a fascinating moral dilemma—all dealt with in a few brief pages.
This is just one of the many literary gems in Selected Stories of O. Henry, a collection of 45 of O. Henry’s most renowned and entertaining short stories. Each one offers insights into human nature and the ways it is affected by love, hate, wealth, poverty, gentility, disguise, and crime—themes that ran through the author’s own life. Born William Sidney Porter, O. Henry started writing while in prison for embezzlement. Later he moved to New York, and his tales romanticizing the commonplace, particularly the life of ordinary New Yorkers, became highly popular. The most widely read author of his time, O. Henry died penniless but left behind a wealth of short stories that endure as classics of the genre.
Victoria Blake is a freelance writer. She has worked at The Paris Review and contributed to the Boulder Daily Camera, small literary presses in the United States, and English-language publications in Bangkok, Thailand. She currently lives and works in San Diego, California.
REVIEW
Sanity and tragicomedy. G. K Chesterton observed, "He is a sane man who can have tragedy in his heart and comedy in his head." If that is true, the O. Henry is probably the only sane man in the history of the world. His optimism and sense of providence in guiding us foolish creatures to an unexpected (but happy) ending is his enduring and endearing legacy.
This collection has the well-know favorites--"Ransom of Red Chief", "Gift of the Magi", "After Twenty Years"--plus many of the lesser known tales. This is an acceptable mixer, giving you want you want, and exposing you to things you didn't know that you needed.
So why is O. Henry so endearing? In addition toreaffirming the divine, guiding province, these stories capture a moment in time. We get a second look on the world at the turn of the twentieth century. This is the world of the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, and the Great Gatsby. We see the trailing edge of the Gay 90's, prior to the disillusioning horror of the World War I Lost Generation. To coin a phrase, this is the carefree--even garish--dawn before the darkness.
Style-wise, O. Henry's gift is also a curse. He is an unquestioned genius of the short story. He has vibrant prose, charming characters, and a flair for ironic dénouements. Additionally, His eye for both the gritty realities of high and low society, the twisty affairs of the heart, and a soft touch for the happy ending is unparalleled. You always finish his stories with a smile.
His curse is that his stories are formulaic. Now, I admit that his formula works. But if you read more than three of his stories in a row for a week, then midway, you can guess the ending, which destroys his punch line.
So when reading this book, nibble one or two stories, then set it aside for a month, and then return. This will give you enough time to forget his formula, and experience his style fresh. With 45 stories, you will have plenty of time to savor these stories and laugh.
When Story of O was first published in 1954 in Paris by Jean-Jacques Pauvert, it became the most widely translated French novel in the world. Now Doris Kloster, a photographer specializing in issues of womens sexuality and power, has realized a long-standing dream by creating a photographic representation of one of the most famous and controversial erotic novels ever published.
REVIEW
A Coffee Table Story of O Most of us have read the familar white cover paperback version of this erotic classic. Ms. Kloster has excerpted quite a bit of the text and illustrated it with photographs taken on location in Paris. The full color photographs exude a rich sumptioness of color and texture that would befit a fashion shoot. The models are uniformly pleasing to the eye - the women nicely built with an air of erotic fear; the men with a sexual menace. The photos (and text) follow O as she is introduced to Roissy where her lover, Rene, has taken her to learn the ways of sexual servitude. We see how she is made to perform for several "masters" and is chastized by them. Later after leaving Roissy, Rene introduces O to his older half brother Sir Stephen. Sir Stephen eventually takes over ownership of O and delivers her to Ann Marie (in a very delightful photo) where her training will be consumated. There O has her labia pierced with a ring and her buttocks branded by Sir Stephen. Along the way, she is whipped by another girl while tied upright to a column(rather than spread eagle on a dias; this is one area where Ms. Kloster's photography does not follow the original text).The book concludes with O being presented to a group of party goers - led naked by a leash attached to the ring in her genitals. Overall, a good read and quite erotic. One can only wish that Ms. Kloster had even more photographs to illustrate this "Story of O."
