Robert Coover

The 1990s have seen a renaissance in short fiction studies. This book brings together the opinions, theories, and research of many of today's best-known short story writers, theorists, and critics. It includes essays by leading authors, such as Joyce Carol Oates, John Barth, Robert Coover, Leslie Marmon Silko, Barry Hannah, Gay Talese, and W. P. Kinsella, who reflect on the writing process. The volume traces the origins of the short story back to Chaucer and follows the development of the form through today's "hyper-stories" created interactively in cyberspace. The broad scope of the book covers short stories from around the world, including those from Africa, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.

Though many outstanding novels have been written in the last century, most of these novelists have also been short story writers. This reference is a guide to contemporary English-language short story writers and their works. Included are alphabetically arranged entries on roughly 50 writers from around the world, most of whom have been active since 1960. More than half the American writers belong to historically marginalized groups, such as Jewish-Americans, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans, and the volume includes entries for slightly more women than men. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and provides biographical material, a review of criticism, an extended analysis of specific works, and a selected bibliography.