''Selected Stories'' is a volume of
short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
by
Alice Munro
Alice Ann Munro (; ; born 10 July 1931) is a Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Munro's work has been described as revolutionizing the architecture of short stories, especially in its tendency to move f ...
, published by
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann.
History
It was found ...
in
1996. The book collects stories from Munro's seven previous books. Upon its release, reviewers generally praised the book's writing style, detail and emotions.
Background
The book collects stories from seven of her eight previously published books as of the time of its original publication; her only book not represented in ''Selected Stories'' was ''
Lives of Girls and Women'', as all of that book's stories revolved around a single character.
Stories
* "Walker Brothers Cowboy"
* "Dance of the Happy Shades"
* "Postcard"
* "Images"
* "Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You"
* "The Ottawa Valley"
* "Material"
* "Royal Beatings"
* "Wild Swans"
* "The Beggar Maid"
* "Simon's Luck"
* "Chaddeleys and Flemings I: The Connection"
* "Chaddeleys and Flemings II: The Stone in the Field"
* "Dulse"
* "The Turkey Season"
* "Labor Day Dinner"
* "The Moons of Jupiter"
* "The Progress of Love"
* "Lichen"
* "Miles City, Montana"
* "White Dump"
* "Fits"
* "Friend of My Youth"
* "Meneseteung"
* "Differently"
* "Carried Away"
* "The Albanian Virgin"
* "A Wilderness Station"
* "Vandals"
Reception
A review from ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' praised the book as an excellent introduction to Munro's work, as its chronological arrangement offers the ability to observe the evolution of her writing style and thematic focus over the course of her career. ''Selected Stories'' also received a starred review from ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'', which described the book as a "literature-lover's feast" and the stories as "trenchant, finely modulated and truly brilliant meditations on peoples' complexities and the emotions they contend with--sometimes ruefully, sometimes in pain, but most often with stoic dignity".
also stated that the stories were "compact and resonant".
James Wood from ''
The London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review o ...
'' also praised the comic detail of the stories, describing some as "delicate". He also complimented the portrayal of communities as realistic and the characters' "self-calibrations and self-protectiveness of small towns against themselves". However, Wood was more critical to the prose, which was "not lavish: it is intelligently starved; not sticky with metaphor, or crowded with detail" but occasionally disappointing.
References
1996 short story collections
Short story collections by Alice Munro
McClelland & Stewart books
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