First-prize stories 1919-1966
Subtitle: from the O. Henry memorial awards
By: introduction by Harry Hansen
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: O. Henry memorial award
Publisher: Doubleday & Co
Published: 1966
Place of publication: Garden City, N.Y.
Language: eng
Format: hardcover
Number of pages: 735
Copyright date: 1966
Subjects: American Short stories; American fiction; Kurzgeschichte
Other titles: Prize stories
Description: The forty-six stories in this book share a common distinction: all of them have been first-prize winners of the annual O. Henry Memorial Awards.

Established in 1919 as a tribute to the memory of William Sydney Porter — America's beloved O. Henry — the awards have developed into the most important annual short-story series in America. The editors and judges, all of them distinguished men and women of letters, have chosen from the work of American writers appearing in Ameri- can publications. In their search for stories of exceptional merit they read all the magazines that publish fiction. Inclusion in one of the annual collec- tions means not only that a story has been chosen from hundreds of entries but also that it has passed through many readings. And to be chosen Number One is an honor indeed.

Among the writers who have won the first prize in past years are four Pulitzer Prize winners: Stephen Vincent Benét, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Roark Bradford, and James Gould Cozzens. Another, William Faulkner, has re- ceived the Nobel prize. Other notables represented in the collection are Flan- nery O'Connor, Irvin S. Cobb, Walter Duranty, Wilbur Daniel Steele, Wallace Stegner, Kay Boyle, Eudora Welty, Tru• man Capote, Irwin Shaw, and Katherine Anne Porter.

Besides serving as a springboard for new and talented writers, the series has been a mirror of our times. The annual editions have reflected the days of two world wars, women's suffrage, the vio- lence of the Roaring Twenties, Prohi- bition, the Depression, and even the vogue of Freudian psychology. Here, in a single volume, is a picture of Ameri- can life over a period of forty-six years. Even the change in the tone of the short story itself as a literary form—its shift from what people do to what they think —is apparent when one reads the stories in their chronological order.

And so FIRST-PRIZE STORIES offers not only reading enjoyment of an almost unequaled quality but an intriguing look at ourselves through the eyes of the most gifted writers of nearly five dec- ades. The late John Marquand called these stories ' 'documents of our time... reflecting the doubts, the suspense and the heartbreak of each year."
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Table of contents: title: 1919: England to America / Margaret Prescott Montague; title: 1920: Each in his generation / Maxwell Struthers Burt; title: 1921: The heart of little Shikara / Edison Marshall; title: 1922: Snake doctor / Irvin S. Cobb; title: 1923: Prelude / Edgar Valentine Smith; title: 1924: The spring flight / Inez Haynes Irwin; title: 1925: Mr. Bisbee's princess / Julian Street; title: 1926: Bubbles / Wilbur Daniel Steele; title: 1927: Child of god / Roark Bradford; title: 1926: The parrot / Walter Duranty; title: 1929: Big blonde / Dorothy Parker; title: 1930: Dressing-up / W.R. Burnett; title: 1931: Can't cross Jordan by myself / Wilbur Daniel Steele; title: 1932: An end to dreams / Stephen Vincent Benet; title: 1933: Gal young un / Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings; title: 1934: No more trouble for Jedwick / Louise Paul; title: 1935: The white horses of Vienna / Kay Boyle; title: 1936: Total stranger / James Gould Cozzens; title: 1937: The devil and Daniel Webster / Stephen Vincent Benet; title: 1938: The happiest man on earth / Albert Maltz; title: 1939: Barn burning / William Faulkner; title: 1940: Freedom's a hard-bought thing / Stephen Vincent Benet; title: 1941: Defeat / Kay Boyle; title: 1942: The wide net / Eudora Welty; title: 1943: Livvie is back / Eudora Welty; title: 1944: Walking wounded / Irwin Shaw; title: 1945: The wind and the snow of winter / Walter Van Tilburg Clark; title: 1946: Bird song / John Mayo Goss; title: 1947: The white circle / John Bell Clayton; title: 1948: Shut a final door / Truman Capote; title: 1949: A courtship / WIlliam Faulkner; title: 1950: The blue-winged teal / Wallace Stegner; title: 1951: The hunters / Harris Downey; title: 1954: The Indian feather / Thomas Mabry; title: 1955: In the zoo / Jean Stafford; title: 1956: The country husband / John Cheever; title: 1957: Greenleaf / Flannery O'Connor; title: 1958: In sickness as in health / Martha Gellhorn; title: 1959: Venus, Cupid, folly and time / Peter Taylor; title: 1960: The ledge / Lawrence Sargent Hall; title: 1961: Tell me a riddle / Tillie Olsen; title: 1962: Holiday / Katherine Anne Porter; title: 1963: Everything that rises must converge / Flannery O'Connor; title: 1964: The embarkment of Cythera / John Cheever; title: 1965: Revelation / Flannery O'Connor; title: 1966: The Bulgarian poetess / John Updike.