Introduction to Fiction, An

Kennedy/Gioia's An Introduction to Fiction, 11th edition continues to inspire students with a rich collection of fiction and engaging insights on reading, analyzing, and writing about stories. This bestselling anthology includes sixty-five superlative short stories, blending classic works and contemporary selections. Written by noted poets X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia, the text reflects the authors' wit and contagious enthusiasm for their subject. Informative, accessible apparatus presents readable discussions of the literary devices, illustrated by apt works, and supported by interludes with the anthologized writers. This edition features 10 new stories, three masterwork casebooks, revised and expanded chapters on writing, and a new design. New “Key Terms Review” feature at the end of every major chapter—provide students a simple study guide to go over key concepts and terms in each chapter. New 2009 MLA guidelines—provides students the updated source citation guidelines from the new 7th edition of the MLA Handbook and incorporates these in all sample student papers. New section on “Writing a Response Paper”—provides instructions and a sample student essay for this popular type of writing assignment. Updated, revised format to increase accessibility and ease of use—newly added section titles and sub-titles will help Web-oriented students navigate easily from topic to topic in every chapter. Additionally, all chapters have been reviewed and updated to include relevant cultural references.

Table of Contents:
Preface To the Instructor About the Authors ** Indicates new selections Fiction Interview with Amy Tan 1. Reading a Story The Art of Fiction Types of Short Fiction W. Somerset Maugham, The Appointment in Samarra Aesop, The North Wind and the Sun ** Bidpai, The Tortoise and the Geese Chuang Tzu, Independence Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, Godfather Death Plot The Short Story John Updike, A & P Writing Effectively Writers on Writing John Updike, Why Write? Thinking About Plot Checklist: Writing About Plot Writing Assignment on Plot More Topics for Writing Terms for Review 2. Point of View Identifying Point of View Types of Narrators Stream of Consciousness William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart ** Virginia Woolf, A Haunted House ** Eudora Welty, Why I Live at the P. O. James Baldwin, Sonny’s Blues Writing Effectively Writers on Writing James Baldwin, Race and the African American Writer Thinking About Point of View Checklist: Writing About Point of View Writing Assignment on Point of View More Topics for Writing Terms for Review 3. Character Types of Characters Katherine Anne Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall Katherine Mansfield, Miss Brill ** Naguib Mahfouz, The Lawsuit Raymond Carver, Cathedral Writing Effectively Writers on Writing Raymond Carver, Commonplace but Precise Language Thinking About Character Checklist: Writing About Character Writing Assignment on Character More Topics for Writing Terms for Review 4. Setting Elements of Setting Historical Fiction Regionalism Naturalism Kate Chopin, The Storm Jack London, To Build a Fire T. Coraghessan Boyle, Greasy Lake Amy Tan, A Pair of Tickets Writing Effectively Writers on Writing Amy Tan, Setting the Voice Thinking About Setting Checklist: Writing About Setting Writing Assignment on Setting More Topics for Writing Terms for Review 5. Tone and Style Tone Style Diction Ernest Hemingway, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place William Faulkner, Barn Burning Irony O. Henry, The Gift of the Magi Ha Jin, Saboteur Writing Effectively Writers on Writing Ernest Hemingway, The Direct Style Thinking About Tone and Style Checklist: Writing About Tone and Style Writing Assignment on Tone and Style More Topics for Writing Terms for Review 6. Theme Plot vs. Theme Theme as Unifying Device Finding the Theme Stephen Crane, The Open Boat Alice Munro, How I Met My Husband Luke 15:11–32, The Parable of the Prodigal Son Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Harrison Bergeron Writing Effectively Writers on Writing Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., The Themes of Science Fiction Thinking About Theme Checklist: Writing about Theme Writing Assignment on Theme More Topics for Writing Terms for Review 7. Symbol Allegory Symbols Recognizing Symbols John Steinbeck, The Chrysanthemums ** John Cheever, The Swimmer Ursula K. Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Shirley Jackson, The Lottery Writing Effectively Writers on Writing Shirley Jackson, Biography of a Story Thinking About Symbols Checklist: Writing About Symbols Writing Assignment on Symbols Student Paper, An Analysis of the Symbolism in Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” More Topics for Writing Terms for Review 8. Reading Long Stories and Novels Origins of the Novel Romance Novels and Journalism Short Novels and Novellas The Future of the Novel Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis Writing Effectively Writers on Writing Franz Kafka, Discussing The Metamorphosis Thinking About Long Stories and Novels Checklist: Writing About Ideas for a Research Paper Writing Assignment for a Research Paper Student Paper, Kafka’s Greatness More Topics for Writing Terms for Review 9. Latin American Fiction Jorge Luis Borges, The Gospel According to Mark Octavio Paz, My Life with the Wave ** Gabriel García Márquez, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings ** Inés Arredondo, The Shunammite Writing Effectively Writers on Writing Gabriel García Márquez, My Beginnings As A Writer Topics for Writing on “The Gospel According to Mark” Topics for Writing on “My Life with Wave” Topics for Writing on “a very old man with enormous wings” Topics for Writing on “The Shunammite” 10. Critical Casebook: Flannery O’Connor Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find Flannery O’Connor, Revelation Flannery O’Connor, Parker’s Back Flannery O’Connor on Writing From “On Her Own Work” On Her Catholic Faith From “The Grotesque in Southern Fiction” Yearbook Cartoons Critics on Flannery O’Connor J. O. Tate, A Good Source Is Not So Hard to Find: The Real Life Misfit Mary Jane Schenck, Deconstructing “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Louise S. Cowann The Character of Mrs. Turpin in “Revelation” Kathleen Feeley, The Mystery of Divine Direction: “Parker’s Back” Writing Effectively Topics for Writing 11. Critical Casebook: Three Stories in Depth Nathaniel Hawthorne Young Goodman Brown ** Nathaniel Hawthorne on Writing ** Reflections on Truth and Clarity in Literature ** Criticizing His Own Work Critics on Hawthorne ** Herman Melville, Excerpt from a Review of “Mosses from and Old Manse” ** Edgar Allan Poe, The Genius of Hawthorne's Short Stories Critics on “Young Goodman Brown” ** Richard H. Fogle, Ambiguity in “Young Goodman Brown” ** Paul J. Hurley, Evil Wherever He Looks ** Nancy Bunge, Complacency and Community Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman on Writing Why I Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” Whatever Is The Nervous Breakdown of Women Critics on “The Yellow Wallpaper” Juliann Fleenor, Gender and Pathology in “The Yellow Wallpaper” Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Imprisonment and Escape: The Psychology of Confinement Elizabeth Ammons, Biographical Echoes in “The Yellow Wallpaper” Alice Walker Everyday Use Alice Walker on Writing The Black Woman Writer in America Reflections on Writing and Women's Lives Critics on “Everyday Use” Barbara T. Christian, “Everyday Use” and the Black Power Movement Houston A. Baker and Charlotte Pierce-Baker, Stylish vs. Sacred in “Everyday Use” Elaine Showalter, Quilt as Metaphor in “Everyday Use” Writing Effectively Topics for Writing on “Young goodman brown” Topics for Writing on “The Yellow Wallpaper” Topics for Writing on “Everyday Use” 12. Stories for Further Reading Chinua Achebe, Dead Men’s Path ** Sherman Alexie, This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona Margaret Atwood, Happy Endings Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Willa Cather, Paul’s Case Anton Chekhov, The Lady with the Pet Dog Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street Ralph Ellison, Battle Royal Zora Neale Hurston, Sweat James Joyce, Araby ** Franz Kafka, Before the Law Jamaica Kincaid, Girl Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies D. H. Lawrence, The Rocking-Horse Winner Bobbie Ann Mason, Shiloh ** Lorrie Moore, How To Become A Writer Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried Tillie Olsen, I Stand Here Ironing Tobias Wolff, The Rich Brother 13. Writing about Literature Read Actively Robert Frost, NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY Plan Your Essay Discover Your Ideas Sample Student Prewriting Exercises Developing a Literary Argument Writing a Rough Draft Sample Student Paper (Rough Draft) Revise Your Draft Some Final Advice on Rewriting Document Sources to Avoid Plagiarism The Form of Your Finished Paper Spell-Check and Grammar Check Programs 14. Writing About a Story Read Actively Think About the Story Discover Ideas Sample Student Prewriting Exercises Write a Rough Draft What’s Your Purpose? Common Approaches to Writing about Fiction Topics for Writing 15. Writing a Research Paper Browse the Research Choose a Topic Begin Your Research Evaluate Sources Organize Your Research Refine Your Thesis Organize Your Paper Write and Revise Maintain Academic Integrity Acknowledge All Sources Documenting Sources Using MLA Style Reference Guide for Citation 16. Critical Approaches to Literature Formalist Criticism Biographical Criticism Historical Criticism Psychological Criticism Mythological Criticism Sociological Criticism Gender Criticism Reader-Response Criticism Deconstructionist Criticism Cultural Studies Terms for Review Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index of Major Themes Index of Authors and Titles Index of Literary Terms

About the Author :
X. J. Kennedy, after graduation from Seton Hall and Columbia, became a journalist second class in the Navy (“Actually, I was pretty eighth class”). His poems, some published in the New Yorker, were first collected in Nude Descending a Staircase (1961). Since then he has written six more collections, several widely adopted literature and writing textbooks, and seventeen books for children, including two novels. He has taught at Michigan, North Carolina (Greensboro), California (Irvine), Wellesley, Tufts, and Leeds. Cited in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations and reprinted in some 200 anthologies, his verse has brought him a Guggenheim fellowship, a Lamont Award, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, an award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, an Aiken-Taylor prize, the Robert Frost Medal of the Poetry Society of America, and the Award for Poetry for Children from the National Council of Teachers of English. He now lives in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he and his wife Dorothy have collaborated on four books and five children. Dana Gioia is a poet, critic, and teacher. Born in Los Angeles of Italian and Mexican ancestry, he attended Stanford and Harvard before taking a detour into business. (“Not many poets have a Stanford M.B.A., thank goodness!”) After years of writing and reading late in the evenings after work, he quit a vice presidency to write and teach. He has published three collections of poetry, Daily Horoscope (1986), The Gods of Winter (1991), and Interrogations at Noon (2001), which won the American Book Award; an opera libretto, Nosferatu (2001); and three critical volumes, including Can Poetry Matter? (1992), an influential study of poetry’s place in contemporary America. Gioia has taught at Johns Hopkins, Sarah Lawrence, Wesleyan (Connecticut), Mercer, and Colorado College. He is also the co-founder of the summer poetry conference at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. From 2003-2009 he served as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. At the NEA he created the largest literary programs in federal history, including Shakespeare in American Communities and Poetry Out Loud, the national high school poetry recitation contest. He also led the campaign to restore active and engaged literary reading by creating The Big Read, which has helped reverse a quarter century of decline in U.S. reading. He currently divides his time between Washington, D.C. and Santa Rosa, California, living with his wife Mary, their two sons, and two uncontrollable cats.