The Best American Short Stories 1: Audio Edition : Selected American Short Stories

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The Best American Short Stories 1: Audio Edition : Selected American Short Stories

Name: The Best American Short Stories 1: Audio Edition : Selected American Short Stories
ISBN: 9788828322153

Автор Oldiees Publishing

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Timeless collection of the greatest American short stories.

Finding time for reading can often be a difficult task for many people with hectic and busy schedules. Committing oneself to a novel often involves a major investment of time and daily distractions, and tasks interfere with the ability to complete a novel in a timely fashion. Short stories are designed to be read in one sitting. As such, short stories can be easily read on the morning commute, on a lunch break or in the evening. Reading short stories helps to establish a reading schedule or routine. Short stories provide ample opportunities to increase your knowledge about different cultures and different lifestyles.

1. A HORSEMAN IN THE SKY by Ambrose Bierce
2. A MUNICIPAL REPORT by O. Henry
3. A PAIR OF SILK STOCKINGS by Kate Chopin
4. A PIECE OF RED CALICO by Frank Stockton
5. A PRINCESS OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs
6. A WHITE HERON by Sarah Orne Jewett
7. BARTLEBY by Herman Melville
8. BENITO CERENO by Herman Melville
9. DOCTOR HEIDEGGER’S EXPERIMENT by Nathaniel Hawthorne
10. FEATHERTOP by Nathaniel Hawthorne
11. KEESH by Jack London
12. LUCK by Mark Twain
13. ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS by O. Henry
14. PAUL’S CASE by Willa Cather
15. PIGS IS PIGS by Ellis Parker Butler
16. RAPPACCINI’S DAUGHTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne
17. THE AMBITIOUS GUEST by Nathaniel Hawthorne
18. THE BIRTHMARK by Nathaniel Hawthorne
19. THE BOARDED WINDOW by Ambrose Bierce
20. THE CALIFORNIAN'S TALE by Mark Twain

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Антологии

ЯзыкEnglish

ИздательOldiees Publishing

Дата выпуска10 мая 2018 г.

ISBN9788828322153

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Title

The Best American Short Stories 1

Timeless Collection of American Short Stories

Preface

Finding time for reading can often be a difficult task for many people with hectic and busy schedules. Committing oneself to a novel often involves a major investment of time and daily distractions, and tasks interfere with the ability to complete a novel in a timely fashion. Short stories are designed to be read in one sitting. As such, short stories can be easily read on the morning commute, on a lunch break or in the evening. Reading short stories helps to establish a reading schedule or routine. Short stories provide ample opportunities to increase your knowledge about different cultures and different lifestyles.

AMERICAN SHORT STORY

The rise of the short story goes back to early 19th century American literature. The term short story was not used before 1885 when Brander Matthews used it in his Philosophy of the Short Story. Since then, Matthews' definition of the short story has been retrospectively applied to all short prose tales in American fiction since the early 19th century.

First examples bearing the typical features of the genre were called tales. Mostly they were stories of incident focusing on the course and outcome of events. Most tales were written with the aim of being published in periodicals and were later often collected in book form.

The leading proponents in the development of the American short story were Washington Irving (1783-1859), Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-64), and Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49). Brander Matthews’s definition of the short story is based on Poe´s (who is often said to be the originator) literary theory on the short prose tale. In the second half of the 19th century, stories of realism was brought forth by Mark Twain (1835-1910), Jack London (1876-1916), Stephen Crane (1871-1900) and Amborse Bierce (1842-1914).

Learn English as you read and listen to the short stories by famous American authors. Adaptations are written at the intermediate and upper-beginner level and are read one-third slower than regular English.

1. A HORSEMAN IN THE SKY by Ambrose Bierce

PLAY AUDIO ▶

Narrated by Roy Depew

Carter Druse was born in Virginia. He loved his parents, his home and the south. But he loved his country, too. And in the autumn of eighteen sixty-one, when the United States was divided by a terrible civil war, Carter Druse, a southerner, decided to join the Union Army of the north.

He told his father about his decision one morning at breakfast.

The older man looked at his only son for a moment, too shocked to speak. Then he said, As of this moment you are a traitor to the south. Please don't tell your mother about your decision. She is sick, and we both know she has only a few weeks to live.

Carter's father paused, again looking deep into his son's eyes. Carter, he said, No matter what happens -- be sure you always do what you think is your duty.

Both Carter Druse and his father left the table that morning with broken hearts. And Carter soon left his home, and everyone he loved to wear the blue uniform of the Union soldier.

One sunny afternoon, a few weeks later, Carter Druse lay with his face in the dirt by the side of a road. He was on his stomach, his arms still holding his gun. Carter would not receive a medal for his actions. In fact, if his commanding officer were to see him, he would order Carter shot immediately.

For Carter was not dead or wounded. He was sleeping while on duty. Fortunately, no one could see him. He was hidden by some bushes, growing by the side of the road.

The road Carter Druse had been sent to guard was only a few miles from his father's house.

It began in a forest, down in the valley, and climbed up the side of a huge rock. Anyone standing on the top of this high rock would be able to see down into the valley. And that person would feel very dizzy, looking down. If he dropped a stone from the edge of this cliff, it would fall for six hundred meters before disappearing into the forest in the valley below.

Giant cliffs, like the one Carter lay on, surrounded the valley.

Hidden in the valley's forest were five union regiments -- thousands of Carter's fellow soldiers. They had marched for thirty-six hours. Now they were resting. But at midnight they would climb that road up the rocky cliff.

Their plan was to attack by surprise an army of southerners, camped on the other side of the cliff. But if their enemy learned about the Union Army hiding in the forest, the soldiers would find themselves in a trap with no escape. That was why Carter Druse had been sent to guard the road.

It was his duty to be sure that no enemy soldier, dressed in gray, spied on the valley, where the union army was hiding.

But Carter Druse had fallen asleep. Suddenly, as if a messenger of fate came to touch him on the shoulder, the young man opened his eyes. As he lifted his head, he saw a man on horseback standing on the huge rocky cliff that looked down into the valley.

The rider and his horse st

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The Best American Short Stories 1: Audio Edition : Selected American Short Stories

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