The Story and Its Writer compiles a good amount of newly recognized and classic short stories that cover an array of view points, topics and genres. There are handy commentaries in the back of the anthology which convey further meaning to the stories by correlating the times in which each work was written to events in the author's life and provide insight into other viewpoints on the text itself. Furthermore, before each section in the book, the reader is given a short biography about the aut... (show more)

The Story and Its Writer compiles a good amount of newly recognized and classic short stories that cover an array of view points, topics and genres. There are handy commentaries in the back of the anthology which convey further meaning to the stories by correlating the times in which each work was written to events in the author's life and provide insight into other viewpoints on the text itself. Furthermore, before each section in the book, the reader is given a short biography about the author which helps to provide some context for the story before actually reading it. I highly recommend this book to any person who is interested in writing short fiction or studying its structure. One will find that some narratives follow Freytag's Pyramid and others are interpreted much like a lengthy poem. Notable authors and works include Alexi, Burges, Kafka, "A Rose for Emily," and "The Yellow Wallpaper." (show less)