The Bound Man&ILSE AICHINGER 1
I Want to Know Why&SHERWOOD ANDERSON 9
This Morning, This Evening, So Soon&JAMES BALDWIN 15
Title&JOHN BARTH 38
A Shower of Gold&DONALD BARTHELME 43
Chickamauga&AMBROSE BIERCE 49
Christmas Every Day&HBINSICH BOLL 53
A Summer Tragedy&ARNA BONTEMPS 66
The Garden of Forking Paths&JORGE LUIS BORGES 72
The Library of Babel 78
The South 83
Her Table Spread&ELIZABETH BOWEN 88
Astronomer's Wife&KAY BOYLE 93
August 2002: Night Meeting&RAY BRADBURY 97
The Guest&ALBERT CAMUS 102
The Country Husband&JOHN CHEEVER 110
The Bet&ANTON CHEKHOV 125
The Darling 130
Gooseberries 138
The Flashlight&ELDBIDOE CLEAVER 145
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg&SAMUEL L. CLEMENS 164
The Traveler's Story of a Terribly Strange Bed&WILKIE COLLINS 190
The Secret Sharer&JOSEPH CONRAD 200
Anthony Garstin's Courtship&HUBERT CRACKANTHORPE 223
The Blue Hotel&STEPHEN CRANE 239
The Grace&ROBERT CREELEY 255
The Signal-Man&CHARLES DICKENS 259
The Sailor-Boy's Tale&ISAK DINESEN 267
The Grand Inquisitor&FEDOR DOSTOEVSKI 274
King of the Bingo Game&RALPH ELLISON 286
Dry September&WILLIAM FAULKNER 292
The Old People 299
That Evening Sun 310
Absolution&F SCOTT FITZGERALD 320
The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller&GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 329
The Celestial Omnibus&E. M. FORSTER 343
A Change of Plan&BRUCE JAY FRIEDMAN 352
In the Heart of the Heart of the Country&WILLIAM H. GASS 356
The House of Cobwebs&GEORGE GISSINO 371
The Overcoat&NIKOLAI GOGOL 382
The Three Strangers&THOMAS HARDY 400
Tennessee's Partner&BRET HARTE 413
My Kinsman, Major Molineux&NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 419
Roger Malvin's Burial 430
Young Goodman Brown 441
The Killers&ERNEST HEMINGWAY 449
The Poet&HERMANN HESSE 455
Rip Van Winkle&WASHINGTON IRVING 459
One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts&SHIRLEY JACKSON 468
Led Astray&DAN JACOBSON 474
The Beast in the Jungle&HENRY JAMES 481
Four Meetings 506
The Tree of Knowledge 523
The Town Poor&SARAH ORNE JEWETT 532
Araby&JAMES JOYCE 539
The Dead 543
Ivy Day in the Committee Room 566
A Hunger Artist&FRANZ KAFKA 574
The Gardener&RUDYARD KlPLINO 580
"They" 586
Without Benefit of Clergy 598
Gogol's Wife&TOMMASO LANDOLFI 611
The Shadow in the Rose Garden&D. H. LAWRENCE 618
One off the Short List&DORIS LESSING 626
Journey Through the Night&JAKOV LIND 641
Gold Coast&JAMES ALAN MCPHERSON 645
No Trace&DAVID MADDEN 658
The Magic Barrel&BERNARD MALAMUD 671
Mario and the Magician&THOMAS MANN 681
The Man Without a Temperament&KATHERINE MANSFIELD 706
The Outstation&W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM 714
Little Soldier&GUY DE MAUPASSANT 731
Bartleby, the Scrivener&HERMAN MELVILLE 735
Patriotism&YUKIO MISHIMA 756
Sredni Vashtar&H. H. MUNRO (SAKI) 770
Four Summers&JOYCE CAROL OATES 773
The Artificial Nigger&FLANNERY O'CONNOR 784
Everything That Rises Must Converge 796
A Good Man Is Hard to Find 805
Guests of the Nation&FRANK O'CONNOR 815
The Cask of Amontillado&EDGAR ALLAN POE 822
The Man of the Crowd 826
The Grave&KATHERINE ANNE PORTER 832
The Valiant Woman&J. F. POWERS 836
The Secret Room&ALAIN ROBBE-GRILLET 842
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner&ALAN SILLITOE 846
Gimpel the Fool&ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER 868
The Twins&MMRIEL SPARK 877
The Chrysanthemums&JOHN STEINBECK 883
Markheim&ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 890
Miss Leonora When Last Seen&PETER TAYLOR 900
The Catbird Seat&JAMES THURBER 917
The Death of Ivan llych&LEO TOLSTOY 923
Of This Time, Of That Place&LIONEL TRILLING 955
The Country Doctor&IVAN TUROENEV 977
Saint Emmanuel the Good, Martyr&MIGUEL DE UNAMUNO 983
A & P&JOHN UPDIKE 1003
The Lord of the Dynamos&H. G. WELLS 1008
Powerhouse&EUDORA WELTY 1014
The Man Who Was Almost a Man&RICHARD WRIGHT 1021
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 1028