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- Contains some of the best short stories I have ever read.
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American Short Story Masterpieces
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75 Short Masterpieces
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Fifty Great Short Stories
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The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories
ASIN: 0440204232
Release Date: 1989-04-02 |
Customer Reviews:
Best Bang for the Buck.......2004-05-11
Perhaps I am biased by nostalgia since this was the text used way back in my high school creative writing class, but this sublime anthology is pound for pound the best collection of short fiction around. There are other excellent collections -- Scribner's Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction comes to mind -- but ASS masterpieces (as we called it back then) has a splendid mix of short story classics in addition to an absurd number of gems. On the all-time classic side, there is "Sonny's Blues," "Rock Springs," "Where are you Going, Where Have you Been?", "A Good Man is Hard to Find," "The Conversion of the Jews," and "The Liar" just to name a few. It's already a terrific list; how many other collections have all these under one roof? But then there are a whole host of lesser-known stories that push this sucker over the top. "1/3, 1/3, 1/3," "A Poetics for Bullies," "The Ledge," "The Heavenly Animal" ... all first-rate stories. And it's only $8.00! Forget Best American Short Stories of the Century. Forget the Norton Anthology. If you can only have one fiction anthology on your shelf, this should be the one.
Contains some of the best short stories I have ever read........2003-05-22
I read "Midair" standing up in the bookstore. This book contains some true classics in short story writing.
Great book.......2000-05-05
This book will boggle your mind. The words used to describe the situations in the short stories. There are more that many excellent stories in this book. I find it more enjoyable that a single novel. Advanced school programs use this as a learning experience. It is a 4 star book.
Customer Reviews:
Echoing first reviewer.......2005-12-02
For starters, it's a mix of "very short stories" and "very short excerpts" from longer works (such as "Winesburg, Ohio"). Personally I find that when you get samplings of long works served to you in this way, you lose the larger context that surrounds the piece.
The exercises are disappointing - it's just a list of single sentences prompts for writing about common life events. "Write about an argument," "write about going to college, either deciding to go or not go."
Most of the stories feature commentary at the end of each one, but it's not doled out evenly for each story. It's a mixed bag of literary cricism and/or author insight that may be a little or a lot, depending on the story.
The stories themselves are laid out alphabetically by author with a second table of contents where they're grouped by things like voice, point of view, etc.
I was looking for very short stories with more discussion on techniques and concepts specific to short-shorts. It's more like a literary sampler with a side of literary criticism and a dash of instruction.
A pleasant surprise........2005-07-24
This was a required text for a college course. It has been like visiting old friends. The "classic" authors and others I'd never heard of provide a very good read, and the insights into writing by some of the authors is helpful.
More than Expected.......2004-11-11
While looking for an anthology of short stories, I came across this "textbook" and the most diverse assortment of short story writers I have ever seen. For those who appreciate the poetry of judicious prose this is a find.
Also liked the sections categorizing voice, point-of-view, and setting. Great technical examples that show rather than tell you the differences. Bought it, kept it, still using it, and now even recommending it. Respectful creative writing that will help keep the genre thriving.
Save your money.......2004-10-17
If you are looking for tips to improve your writing, look elsewhere.
The 'instructions' could all fit on one page and consist of such helpful hints as "choose your voice, point of view, and setting...the choice is entirely up to you". "Write a rough draft..." "Edit your draft for logic, clarity, and plausibility." "Continually read excellent fiction."
The section of exercises is simply a list of 20 topics with this instruction: "Write a very short story about one of the following:"
The glossary is less than two pages long and has no examples.
I was expecting each story to have an introduction that told me why it is a masterpiece and what to look for. There is an index of stories by voice, point of view and setting. Those are fairly obvious.
Another sad lesson in not judging a book by its cover.
Amazon.com
Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century may not include every reader's choices for the top science fiction of the 20th century, but it lives up to its title. Editor Orson Scott Card has assembled 27 standout stories by the biggest names and best writers in the genre. Not surprisingly, most of these stories have been anthologized or collected elsewhere, and some (like Arthur C. Clarke's "Nine Billion Names of God," Harlan Ellison's "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman," and Robert A. Heinlein's "All You Zombies--") have been reprinted innumerable times. In addition, Card has previously placed some of these selections in his retrospective 1980s anthology Future on Ice.
While some stories in Masterpieces lack fine prose and well-rounded characters, they are solid and engrossing entertainments. Other selections combine literary and science fiction virtues to produce a superior blend, and some of these stories--"Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson, "Snow" by John Crowley, "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison, "Face Value" by Karen Joy Fowler, "Tourists" by Lisa Goldstein, and "The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin--are art.
Masterpieces isn't an anthology for the well-read fan. However, it is a great book for the new or intermediate science fiction reader. --Cynthia Ward
Book Description
An overview of the best science fiction short stories of the 20th century as selected and evaluated by critically-acclaimed author Orson Scott Card.
Featuring stories from the genre's greatest authors:
Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ray Bradbury, Frederik Pohl, Harlan Ellison, George Alec Effinger, Brian W. Aldiss, William Gibson & Michael Swanwick, Theodore Sturgeon, Larry Niven, Robert Silverberg, Harry Turtledove, James Blish, George R. R. Martin, James Patrick Kelly, Karen Joy Fowler, Lloyd Biggle, Jr., Terry Bisson, Poul Anderson, John Kessel, R.A. Lafferty, C.J. Cherryh, Lisa Goldstein, and Edmond Hamilton
Download Description
"A virtual who's who in a century of imaginative fiction, this new hardcover collection includes classic and influential stories by: Brian W. Aldiss * Isaac Asimov * Greg Bear * Gregory Benford * Octavia E. Butler * Arthur C. Clarke * Philip K. Dick * William Gibson * Joe Haldeman * Robert A. Heinlein * Ursula K. Le Guin * Anne McCaffrey * Frederik Pohl * Mike Resnick * Kim Stanley Robinson * Pamela Sargent * Robert Silverberg * Clifford D. Simak * John Varley * Roger Zelazny With a new critical essay by Orson Scott Card, Masterpieces is a glimpse of the greatest works that mixed science with fiction...and changed the way we think about ourselves, our future, and our place in the universe. Featuring bold, brave, and breathtaking stories, this definitive collection will stand the test of time in this century and in those to come."
Customer Reviews:
How could I be disappointed?.......2004-11-06
Look at the names on that list. Each is like revisiting an old friend. I recommend this collection for anybody seeking a book to introduce another to really good science fiction.
Some Outstanding, but not all are true masterpieces.......2004-06-04
There are some excellent stories in here; some of them are amongst the best science fiction tales ever spun. Unfortunately there is a lot of "fine" and even mediocre examples as well. One could easily rate the individual stories here at between one and five stars. I give it a generous four stars due to a few of the standouts in the collection.
Several key authors are missing entirely from the book (and Card apologizes for this in his Introduction). The "Media Generation" chapter includes a couple of stories ("Bears Discover Fire" by Bisson and "Tourists" by Goldstein), that, while fine stores, are not science fiction under almost anyones' definition. I think Card could have chosen better stories by Asimov and Bradbury.
There are enough good stories to make the book worth purchasing. Of these, I include: "A Saucer of Loneliness," by Theodore Sturgeon, "The Nine Billion Names of God," by Arthur C. Clarke, "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison, "Passengers," by Robert Silverberg, "Inconstant Moon," by Larry Niven, "Sandkings," by George R. R. Martin--and the superlative story "Pots" by C. J. Cherryh.
The net of this is that I think there is some excellent material here, but that it is neither a comprehensive sampling of twentieth century science fiction nor a true set of masterpieces. Of course, Card chose stories that affected him deeply, without turning this into another compilation driven by awards, and one has to respect that as well.
Perhaps "Fine Pieces" Rather Than "Masterpieces".......2003-06-27
This is a much better than average Ace anthology. Typically Ace, it doesn't quite live up to its hype. The twenty six stories collected here are not the "Best Science Fiction of the Century" by anybody's count, even Orson Scott Card's own. Card himself describes his selection process in the Introduction: these are stories he loved at the first reading, enjoys on repeat readings, and "[a]bove all, these are stories that I cannot forget."
I, however, *can* forget several of these stories - and already have, a mere few days after reading them. Most of the forgettable stories are the more recent ones, which is probably not a coincidence. Early science fiction (pre-1960s, let's say) is almost inherently more worthwhile than most later science fiction, and the stories selected here are cases in point. Terry Bisson's "Bears Discover Fire" is a meandering inanity. "Dog Fight" by William Gibson and Michael Swanwick is a drugs and sex tale, "appealing" only in the way that Trainspotting was "appealing." "Rat" by James Patrick Kelly is similar.
There are, however, some truly, truly great stories here, which more than merit four stars. "The Tunnel Under the World" by Frederick Pohl, for example, ends with a revelation worth the price of admission. "Inconstant Moon" by Larry Niven is full of emotional impact as two individuals adjust to the thought of the sun going nova. George R. R. Martin's "Sandkings", despite being relatively recent, is a story that would might expect from Stephen King at the top of his game. Heinlein's "All You Zombies-" is a time-travel story to make the head spin. James Blish's "A Work of Art" puts Richard Strauss into the 22d century. Perhaps the most enjoyable of all is "Tunesmith" by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Biggle, writing in 1957, the dawn of the television age, predicts a society where commercials have subsumed all other forms of art, until a gifted musician appears to save society. A surprisingly moving story, and finely crafted, skilfully bringing the reader full circle without the reader ever suspecting that he was moving.
...if you truly want "masterpieces," you should pick up Silverberg's Science Fiction Hall of Fame, volume one, or even the Best of the Nebulas edited by Ben Bova. But if you want several excellent stories by talented writers, you would do much worse than this collection of Card's favorites.
A few masterpieces........2003-03-25
This title of the book is wrongly chosen, which I don't believe, or some people wanted to betray other people.
It's of course a tricky business to choose _the_ masterpieces of the century. I think that Card could/should have invested more time in seeking pieces that actually deserve the title best.
I have nothing against Card, but I hope that some editor will soon make a defining best of anthology.
Still three stars. Why? Let me explain. This isn't all mediocre.
The good: Call me Joe, All You Zombies, Nine Billion Names, Repent, Eurema's Dam, Passengers, Who Can Replace, Le Guin story, Niven story, SANDKINGS, dogfight and Snow of Crowley.
That's a lot of good stories. I didn't like the recent ones.
Most others were very readable. If this anthology wouldn't have featured such a title it would get four stars.
If somebody would lower the price and remove some stories from this book it would get five stars.
Now, if I would create an anthology bearing this name your eyes would roll out of their sockets. It would include Cordwainer Smith, Henry Kuttner, Kornbluth, brown etc. My reference book will therefore remain The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, vol. one, ed. by Silverberg. For now.
If you really want to own these stories then by all means buy this book. But remember its setup. The editor and publisher lured you to buy this book. Don't stink into it. Look beyond the sausage and go hunt some other best of....
Just my thoughts. Hey, just to keep things straight: I didn't buy this book. I know its contents.
The Best Anthology of the Century.......2002-01-15
Masterpieces is the most accessible anthology of great science fiction short stories I have ever read. Every piece was easy to get into, yet not lacking in depth. Only the Niven and Asimov pieces were even vaguely familiar -- well, I've read absolutely ALL of Asimov. Each author was carefully and, in my opinion, well selected. I was especially impressed by George R.R. Martin's menacing "Sandkings", C.J. Cherryh's "Pots", set in yet another invented universe, and by "Dogfight", the most readable Gibson (written with Michael Swanwick) I've ever encountered, but still illuminated by narrative from within cyberspace. I thoroughly enjoyed every story.
Customer Reviews:
Save Your Money.......2007-08-30
I read all of the short stories thinking they had to get better. Guess what? They don't. A waste of paper.
And what about an anthology of the short short short story? .......2004-10-24
I decided that I would read a story every night before going to sleep. I picked up the Goodman Anthology of 'Seventy Five Short Short stories' I read one each night for seventy- five nights. I do not remember which bored me and which excited me and which seemed so important to me that they tempted me to change my life. If I remember rightly there was not even one single story which said "This is what a story should be, what it must be.This is the one story you would write if you could write one story' There was no such story. But there was entertainment and a variety of events and incidents. And there was too the wonder if perhaps a slightly larger space was needed to create a character for which one had real human sympathy . And this when I could think of how in various stories or novels a character had come to life in a single line or paragraph.
Anyway I know no other anthology of seventy- five short - short stories. So for the time being if you want to read one short- short story a night for seventy- five nights this is the one.
As for me when I reread myself to sleep tonight I will take Singer's ' Gimpel the Fool' or Hemingway's " A Clean- Lighted Place " or Salinger's "From Esme with Love and Squalor" and read that.
It may be that ' short short' is simply not long enough.
what a fantastic group of stories.......2003-09-23
I was just cleaning out my bookcase and found an old, tattered copy of this great book. I am so glad i found it again and ecstatic that I can order a fresh copy as the old one is practically a collection of loose, brittle paper at this point. All the stories are quite short (buy it and put it in the bathroom) and all are lovely reads. A wonderful example of what can be achieved in a handful of pages.
A MUST READ !!!!!.......2002-05-20
What a glorious collection of some of the best short stories in the world. My father was an English teacher before going into law and this is one of the books I "borrowed" (heh heh...never seem to return anything you "borrow" from your parents, do you?!) from him years ago. I'm 29 now, married and with 7 and 4 year-old sons and I dug through one of my bookcases so that I could read them THE BOY WHO DREW CATS by Lafcadio Hearn and especially CHARLES, a short story by Shirley Jackson that should be a prerequisite read for **ALL** parents of children entering kindergarten! From THE SNIPER by Liam O'Flaherty and THE LOTTERY TICKET by Ventura Calderon to THE SCOOP by James Farrell and THE HEAVENLY CHRISTMAS TREE by Fyodor Dostoevsky, this book contains stories that are an honest reminder of human nature, refreshingly unclouded by most of the politically-correct rhetoric often found today that does nothing but obscure the truth and then attempt to re-serve it in the designer, p.c. soup-de-jour. Bah! -- the stuff taught now in Academia by English "professors" pales by comparison! THIS is a timeless collection of substantival "reads"; the title is an accurate description of what's within.
one of the best collections ever done.......1998-05-14
What a delight to see this back in print. The stories are VERY short and delightfully blend works by classic and contemporary writers both from the U.S. and abroad. There are other collections more famous, but none better.
Average customer rating:
- A word on these stories over fifty years after publication date
- A Classic Anthology of Fresh and Surprising Choices
- Good, but hard to understand book.
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Short Story Masterpieces
Robert Penn Warren , and
Albert Erskine
Manufacturer: Dell
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Similar Items:
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Fifty Great Short Stories
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75 Short Masterpieces
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American Short Story Masterpieces
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Best Short Stories of the Modern Age
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The Best American Short Stories of the Century (The Best American Series)
ASIN: 0440378648
Release Date: 1954-03-15 |
Book Description
With works by Henry James, Stephen Crane, John Cheever, James Joyce and many others, this outstanding collection of 35 American and British short pieces of fiction from the first half of the 20th century is one of the bestselling collections of our time.
Customer Reviews:
A word on these stories over fifty years after publication date.......2006-10-05
This mass- market collection of stories was published in 1954. It was thus an educational tool for many of us who wanted to know the 'story as a form'. It has some truly wonderful stories, Hemingway's 'Soldier's Home' Faulkner's 'Barn Burning' Joyce's 'The Boarding House' Sherwood Anderson's ' Egg', and one of my all - time favorite's Irwin Shaw's 'Eighty- Yard Run'.
It is a very rich and rewarding collection.
Had a similar anthology been published today it would include other names,certainly Salinger, Raymond Carver, and my all- time favorite short story- writer Isaac Bashevis Singer.
A Classic Anthology of Fresh and Surprising Choices.......2006-08-25
The title is no lie. These are masterpieces, one and all. The editors, Warren and Erskine, display a fine discernment in their choices. Every story is great. There isn't a single dud, not even the one by Mister Sominex himself, Henry James. And the editors didn't just round up the usual suspects - their choices are fresh and surprising. Instead of Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited," they give us "Winter Dreams." Instead of Aiken's "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," they give us "Impulse." Instead of Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums," they give us "Flight." Instead of Lardner's "The Golden Honeymoon," and McCuller's "A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.," they give us "Liberty Hall" and "The Sojourner." Instead of almost anything else by Hemingway, they give us "Soldier's Home." In other words, these are not the over-anthologized pieces you would expect. And in what other American anthology would you find a story by Elizabeth Taylor? (No, not THAT Elizabeth Taylor, the other one, the British writer.) Also, at the risk of revealing that my college English Lit days were in the turbulent 70s, I must say that there's an advantage to the fact that this book was originally published in the 1950s: It predates and thus thankfully precludes the post-modernist experiments of the Barth-Barthelme-Coover school of metafiction and anti-story, a literary blind alley if ever there was one. But I do have one quibble about this book: The latest edition of this 1950s classic, the one you would buy new from Amazon, lacks the original's J.D. Salinger story. Apparently the Zen anchorite withdrew his permission to reprint "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." (Which again was a good choice by Warren and Erskine. Most short story collections of that time would have instead included Salinger's "For Esme -- with Love and Squalor.")
Good, but hard to understand book........1999-11-16
I am a student who was assigned to read this book. The best part of reading it was not the actual reading but the reflection on the various meanings conveyed by the stories. It took me a very long time to read because most of the stories required that you read between the lines to understand the full meaning of the story. Overall, an average book
Book Description
A New York Review Books Original
One of Honoré de Balzac's most celebrated tales, "The Unknown Masterpiece" is the story of a painter who, depending on one's perspective, is either an abject failure or a transcendental genius—or both. The story, which has served as an inspiration to artists as various as Cézanne, Henry James, Picasso, and New Wave director Jacques Rivette, is, in critic Dore Ashton's words, a "fable of modern art."
Published here in a new translation by poet Richard Howard, "The Unknown Masterpiece" appears, as Balzac intended, with "Gambara," a grotesque and tragic novella about a musician undone by his dreams.
Customer Reviews:
BORING ARGUMENTS ABOUT ART.......2005-11-28
The effect of reading the two short works in this book is one of overhearing two snobbish and conceited intellectuals arguing about painting and music in a wanna-be hip cafe. Being that, The Unknown Masterpiece is not only annoying, it's boring. Set in Paris in 1612, a young unproven painter named Nicolas Poussin has come to the city to make a name for himself by studying under the great master Frenhofer. Frenhofer has been holed up in his studio for years working on his great masterwork, a portrait of a woman who he has disturbingly started referring to as his wife. The problem is that he hasn't found a suitable model for him to be able to finish the work. "Gambara", the novella that is also in this book, also concerns an artist that can never quite find the X-factor that would allow him to finish his work. Signor Gambara is a composer of music, whose grand operas come out as random noise to all those that listen, except when he's drunk, then his music turns beautiful, as if he can only communicate his divine music when his conscious mind is gone. A young playboy Count is meanwhile trying to steal Gambara's beautiful wife Marianna.
This book was awful and is a poor example of Balzac's genius. Even for his big fans like me. I don't know why Richard Howard even went to the trouble of translating this. Supposedly "Masterpiece" has had a profound effect on painters like Picasso who identified with the character Frenhofer. So what? It's just the same blithering romantic notion of capturing the unattainable that we've heard for centuries. "Gambara" is even worse. In a normal Balzac work, he would have focused on the characters of the Count and the Gambaras, but here he focuses on chord names and arguments and analyses of operas that I had to literally slog through with my eyes. If these had been longer pieces I would not have finished the book. Steer clear. It's a shame because probably only about 10% of Balzac's novels are available in English so why waste time printing this sub-minor work?
If you want to see Balzac's true genius, check out any of the Penguin editions of his works.
Artists are not gods.......2004-05-03
Balzac's The Unknown Masterpiece is not about abstract art! It is about the destructive power of obsession for perfection. The artist Frenhofer over-paints and touches-up his masterpiece until it is not recognizable as anything but a mess. Balzac's Gambarra was too wordy but it does have the interesting theme of an artist, totally consumed by his personal vision, and thus not able to recognize the sacrifices and motivations of those around him. He writes an opera about the beginnings of Islam and the sacrifice of a woman for the man she loves. Yet Gambarra can not see this same pattern being played out with his wife and thus his single minded vision destroys his marriage. He is both a genius and a fool. His atonal compositions were 100 years before their time. His inability to empathize and get out of his own visions results in his wife's running off with an Italian count who plots to steal Gambarra's wife after he sees the composer's Achille's heel. I don't think I would recommend these books to anyone but artists. They reveal the artistic feet of clay which we so often overlook.
Great Tales About Artists Struggling To Create Masterpieces.......2004-01-24
At first glance "The Unknown Masterpiece" and "Gambarra" are dissimilar tales about a painter and a composer. Yet they share in common the main protagonist's struggle to make a masterpiece; the finest painting and opera ever conceived. Unfortunately in "The Unknown Masterpiece" the painter Frenhofer is so dissatisfied with his work that he paints it anew, and it is seen by his friends, with disastrous consequences for all. In "Gambarra" the composer of the same name struggles to finish an opera on the early history of Islam, which he promises will be more glorious than any by Mozart. Such lofty ambitions remain unrealized, leaving the composer impoverished. Without question two of the greatest tales ever written by Balzac, influencing generations of painters, writers and other artists.
The birth of the modern.......2001-11-27
It's amazing that the author was able to create an essay on 20th century abstract art in 1834. But this story is much more than that. It is a commentary on the parallels between art and human psychology, and the unreality of both... also, a character study, a mystery, an allegorical tale... all within 40 pages. In keeping with its theme, The Unknown Masterpiece is, on the other hand, none of those things. In keeping with its title... at least in this country.
A writer expressing the life of the artist.......2001-10-19
I dig Balzac telling us about his views of art through the stories of a painter ("The Unknown Masterpiece") and a musician ("Gambara"). You can't go wrong with this one. Terrific translation; I wish I read French well enough to dig the original.
Book Description
The Masterpiece is the most autobiographical of the twenty novels in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series. Set in the 1860s and 1870s, it provides a unique insight into his career as a writer and his relationship with Cezanne, a friend since their schooldays in Aix-en-Provence. It also presents a well-documented account of the turbulent Bohemian world in which the Impressionists came to prominence despite the conservatism of the Academy and the ridicule of the general public.
Customer Reviews:
YThe Masterpiece.......2007-03-09
An easy and enjoyable read. Vividly evokes the atmosphere of late-19th century bohemia in Paris,
Superb.......2007-01-11
Given that Zola lived through the whole period of when the Impressionists turned the Salon's on their heads this is almost a biographical piece. For the various characters Zola merely drew from his friends that he would frequent the cafes and bars with. The lead character, Claude, is primarily based on Manet and Cezanne - both of which wouldn't forgive him doing so. Zola wasn't too enamoured with the impressionist and post-impressionist movements, this attitude he uses to great effect when depicting the derision with which the artists work was met. The opening piece which Claude has displayed in the Salon is in effect Manet's "Le Dejeuner Sur l'herbe" (1963).
The book opens with Claude finding a woman drenched on his doorstep, Christine. She has just arrived in Paris and through one thing and another becomes lost and shelters from the rain in Claude's doorway. She is the impetus for the figure in his painting. The story unfolds with their romance, Claude trying to get his artwork accepted by the art intelligensia, succumbing to the desire to paint THE painting, etc.
A number of characters share the stage, again most likely based on artisans that Zola knew: architects, artists, writers, critics.
The book conveys quite well what it must have been for them all struggling to get a toehold and make an impression on the Paris art scene.
The tone of the book is somewhat bleak but Zola captures the Paris of the late 1800's well. I've never been to Paris but for those that have, the book is replete with names of various streets and districts across the city.
This was the first Zola novel I've read. Being an artist this book obviously struck a chord with me. It is well written and I'd certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys art, particularly from this period.
Bohemian Life during the Second Empire.......2007-01-08
It is an interesting study of the painter's tormented soul. It is hardly the heredity that made Claude Launtier the way he was, because we know from the novel "l'Assomoir/the Drum Shop" where he was coming from, but rather the decadent environment of the Second Empire. The novel abounds with examples of grotesque and tasteless art trends at that time, not only in painting, but in sculpture and literature as well. An interesting thing is that this is the novel with a character whom Zola modeled after himself, namely the writer Pierre Sandoz, whose Spanish ancestry alludes to Zola's foreign (Italian-Greek) ancestry. The interesting thing happens on Claude's funeral, where only two of his relatives show up; their names are not reveiled, but one can easily figure out from the description that they were Sidonie Rougon from "La Cur(e')e/the Kill" and Octave Mouret from "Pot-Bouille/Pot Lock" and "Au Bonheur des Dammes/The Ladies' Delight". The fact that Octave, unlike Sidone, stayed throughout the funeral process of the relative he hardly knew and showed his gratitude to all the funeral presentees, who knew Claude intimately, is a vivid display of his diplomatic skills, that enabled him to become the owner of a large store.
Not quite a masterpiece, but close.......2005-05-04
L'Oeuvre (aka The Masterpiece) tells the story of Claude Lantier, a gifted but unorthodox artist scratching out a bohemian existence in Paris. Claude's innovative painting style is years ahead of its time. It frustrates him that he is not getting the acceptance from the cultural establishment that he feels he deserves. Determined to create a masterpiece that will earn acclaim in the annual Paris salon exhibition, he becomes obsessed with his art, abandoning his friends, his family, and his sanity.
This is the 14th book in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series, and one of Zola's most autobiographical novels. Claude is a surrogate for Zola's childhood friend Cézanne, and Claude's best friend Pierre Sandoz stands in for the author himself. Zola vividly depicts the bohemian lifestyle of his young adulthood in Paris. Claude, Sandoz, and their gang of artist friends struggle to make their fortunes as painters, writers, sculptors. They enjoy each other's camaraderie, encouraging and challenging one another over drinks in a cafe where they debate the meaning and value of art. The reader can't help but share in the excitement of their contagious determination to change the world. As an artist myself, I found Zola's vivid description of the annual salon exhibition--the submission process, the back room politics governing the selection of works, the opening day festivities--particularly fascinating. As the young men grow up, they drift apart somewhat and begin to lead more settled, adult lives. Claude's love interest, Christine, takes on a larger role in his life, and becomes an equally prominent character in the novel. Zola delves deeply into the dynamics of Claude's marriage, and the toll his art takes on the relationship.
The least interesting scenes of the book are the extensive descriptions of the "masterpiece" itself. The specifics of the work don't add much to our understanding of the artist's obsession. Though this book engages the reader from the beginning, it falters towards the end as it becomes more and more divorced from reality. In order to prove a point about the intrinsic inseparability of art and artist, Zola exaggerates Claude's compulsion until it defies believability. Despite these few complaints, overall this is an excellent novel and a great window into the artistic world of Paris at a time when exciting changes took place. Zola fans will find it a valuable read, as will anyone interested in the art world of turn-of-the-century (last century, that is) France.
Sacrifice on the altar of canvas.......2004-11-29
"The Masterpiece" is, on the one hand, Emile Zola's depiction of Paris's community of avant garde artists in the 1860s and 1870s, but more thematically it is the story of a man who believes passionately in his unorthodox artistic vision and gives everything he's got to realize his "masterpiece" only to get nothing, not even the self-satisfaction of completion, in return. This is the situation of Claude Lantier, Zola's protagonist, a demon of the palette who is so obsessed with the perfection of his art that his wife, who has chosen to suffer poverty with him, laments that she is only his mistress, that he is truly married to the painted women on his canvases.
Claude's temperamental, dour personality is based loosely on that of Zola's own friend Paul Cezanne, a pioneering postimpressionist who achieved a level of fame and respect nobody in Zola's time could have foreseen, one which Claude is not destined to attain. Indeed, his efforts to forge a new style of painting conflicts with the conventional sensibilities of bourgeois Paris and the eponymous Salon, apparently the sole arbiters of the city's artistic taste. He is increasingly frustrated, but ever more determined, by the ridicule directed by the public at large towards his harshly rendered paintings, displayed in the rejects' gallery. "We are the future!...the day will come when we'll kill their Salon stone dead," Claude vows to his circle of sympathetic friends.
Friends are what Claude needs. His two boyhood chums--Pierre Sandoz, a novelist supposed to represent Zola himself, and Louis Dubuche, an architecture student--become financially successful in very different ways (Sandoz by writing a popular series of Zola-esque novels about members of a Parisian family in various strata of society, Dubuche by marrying a sickly heiress), while Claude labors obscurely in an austere apartment, living on a meager stipend from a generous benefactor and making a little extra cash by selling some of his less objectionable paintings to a dealer. He has another friend who is his antithesis of a sort, a traditional painter of genteel portraits named Fagerolles, who wins the money and even the critical acclaim that Claude seeks.
One of the novel's major elements is the intense and beautifully imagined love affair between Claude and a girl named Christine whom he meets on the street one rainy night. Initially his radical art horrifies her, but she easily accustoms herself to it, even modeling for him. Their cohabitation produces a son they name Jacques, whose deformity and retardation seem grotesque implications of their neglect of him. It is not revealing too much to say that Jacques dies at twelve, for it is indicative of Claude's peculiarly callous state of mind that the sight of the dead boy inspires him to complete another canvas--the most attention he has paid to his son in years.
Zola is not the best of the great French novelists of the nineteenth century, but he is arguably the easiest to read and understand; and he is certainly original, having made a conscientious effort to set his style apart from that of his forebears Hugo and Balzac and providing the foundation for the new realism of the twentieth century as practiced by Americans like Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser. Zola's style, and that of his proteges, is characterized by what seems to be a necessary irony--that a writer who was so successful could be so morbidly fascinated with failure.
Book Description
This is the best book of its kind in at least two decades. It is a literate, intelligent book of powerful SF stories from across Europe.
These tales are representativeof the best writers and stories of the last twenty years, written in most of the major contemporary European languages.
The SFWA European Hall of Fame includes someof the biggest SF names in Europe, including Joanna Sinisalo, Andreas Eschbach, Elena Arseneva, and Jean-Claude Dunyach. The appeal of this anthology rests first upon the venerable SFWA Hall of Fame imprimatur, and secondly on the sterling reputation of co-editor/writer James Morrow.
Morrow and his wife Kathryn spent years arranging for translations of the best in European SF, and working with translators to achieve sharp, polished, and entertaining English versions of the stories.
James Morrow has written a thought-provoking introductory essay, as well as informative story notes throughout the collection. This anthology joins the canonical SFWA Hall of Fame books that have sold hundreds of thousands of copies over four decades, and belongs in every library of SF, personal or public.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating and fresh.......2007-06-12
The twenty plus contributors to the original SFWA Hall of Fame were all authors I read previously. However, this European version is quite the opposite having read only one of the sixteen contributors prior to this introduction to these talented writers. This brings a unique freshness as the American audience is introduced to the cross Atlantic writers that the Morrows felt were deserving of wider readership. In the Introduction James Morrow explains the difference between Americans and Europeans as follows: "Europeans think one hundred miles is a long distance, and Americans think one hundred years is a long time". In many ways this sums up the similarities and difference. All the tales were written over the last two decades; none originally in English though translated for this compilation; this adds to the feel of visiting new realms. The authors come from all over Europe: France, Russia, Italy, Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, Spain, Greece, Romania, Germany, Portugal, and Holland. The stories are all well written and obviously translate smoothly into English. They run the gamut from a Dutch Orwell (see W.J. Maryson's "Verstummte Musik") to a "Swift" Finish A Modest Proposal that is a condemnation of free trade that exploits children. These are fabulous entries that belie the fact they are translations. SFWA's European vacation is a terrific collection, which begs to ask other translation anthologies from Asia, South America, and Africa to follow?
Harriet Klausner
Customer Reviews:
The Best Horror Anthology I have ever read.......2002-06-13
The words I am about to write will not do justice to this anthology. If you are a fan of horror short stories, get this before you get anything else. None of the stories are bad, and many are terrfying and unforgettable. Theodore Sturgeon's "The Professor's Teddy Bear" is unique, grotesque, and it will stick with you for months. "His Unconquerable Enemy" has a gripping climax that will amaze you. "The Bottle Imp" is a grand tale of treachery, pain, and sacrifice. "Hop-Frog" is a Poe selection that is every bit as brilliant as his more famous works, and in traditional Poe fashion it is a tale of revenge. I could go on about every story in here but instead I will just very strongly recommend this to all fans of horror literature.
5 stars!.......2002-03-16
"Masterpieces" is correct. This book is hard to put down. Usually when reading a collection gathered on a mutual theme, the mind of the reader eventually numbs from the sameness of the stories. Not so with this anthology. Each story is unique, unpredictable, and well written. I enjoyed it greatly. I give it the highest praise possible here--5 stars.
Mind-boggling collection.......2000-05-04
This is an absolute treasure! Stoker, Lovecraft, Poe, Shelley, Asimov, Bierce, Tolkien are all here. You'll also find Richard Matheson, Tanith Lee, Sheridan LeFanu, Orson Scott Card (with one of the most disturbing, chilling tales I've ever read), Ogden Nash, Tennessee Williams, Jack London, Walt Whitman (is this high-school english class! ), Robert Bloch and more. Each selection comes with a little background note providing some info about the author, history about that particular story and recommendations for other related readings. This collection is fantastic; it doesn't disappoint. English class would have been infinitely more interesting with this kind of reading!
A Pretty Good Collection.......2000-04-25
I picked this book up at the thrift store for about thirty-five cents, expecting the usual collection of stories that I have probably read countless times before in other anthologies.While it did have the requisite Poe and Lovecraft, I was pleasantly surprised by the offbeat and rare pieces of work this book offered. Some standouts include "Graveyard Shift" by Richard Matheson (immeasurably better than the King story of the same name, "The Night Wire" by H.F. Arnold, and Orson Scott Card's "Eumenides In The Fourth Floor Lavatory". The roster also includes such authors as Dylan Thomas, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Theodore Sturgeon. All in all, a good collection with more than a few surprises.
Average customer rating:
- Hannibal Hamlin's Stomach Spoke to Me from the Ether and Mentioned that the Denizens of the Afterlife prefer Colgate to Crest.
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The Mammoth Book of New Comic Fantasy: A Dazzling New Collection of Comic Fantasy Masterpieces from Esther Friesner, Neil Gaiman, Tom Holt, Paul di Filippo, Adam Roberts, Molly Brown and Many More...
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
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Binding: Paperback
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The Mammoth Book of Awesome Comic Fantasy
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The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy II (Mammoth Book of)
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Mammoth Book of Seriously Comic Fantasy (Mammoth)
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Making Money (Discworld Novels)
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The Mammoth Book of Sorcerers' Tales : The Ultimate Collection of Magical Fantasy from Tom Holt, Ursula K. LeGuin, Michael Moorcock, Peter Crowther, Louise Cooper, and many more
ASIN: 078671574X |
Book Description
Mike Ashley is back with an all-new edition of one of the bestselling Mammoth Books ever, from the funniest writers in the field, including Neil Gaiman, Tom Holt, and Terry Jones. The thirty- five off-the-wall comic fantasies featured in Ashley’s new collection are a mix of specially written stories and hard-to-find gems: a computer salesman in fairyland, a vampire football match, a psychotic Father Christmas, and a wizard allergic to magic. Ashley expertly turns fantasy and horror fiction on its head and magic into mayhem. This is huge fun for all comic fantasy fans.
Customer Reviews:
Hannibal Hamlin's Stomach Spoke to Me from the Ether and Mentioned that the Denizens of the Afterlife prefer Colgate to Crest........2006-05-28
Into the gorge/I hardly stand it/This awful book/no likely bandit/I'll take in rapscallions, bickers, and moffs/but Mike Ashley must lop his unbid skull OFF!
Thanks to Tony the Tiger, Snap, Crackle, Pop, and Mikey the Cinnamon Life boy for the inspiration.
Books:
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- Beatrix Potter Complete Tales R/I
- Before The Storm (Arabesque)
- Big Cherry Holler: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
- Black Rose: In the Garden Trilogy (In the Garden)
- Black Sheep
- Cities in Flight
- Death in a Strange Country
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