Memorable specimens of a threatened art form

The New Granta Book Of The American Short Story. Edited and introduced by Richard Ford, Granta, €30

The New Granta Book Of The American Short Story. Edited and introduced by Richard Ford, Granta, €30

Short stories, says Richard Ford, are ‘‘daring little instruments’’. They are the ‘‘high wire act of literature, the man keeping all those pretty plates up and spinning on skinny sticks’’.

The short story could hardly have a more zealous advocate than Ford. In 1992, he proved a gifted editor of the first Granta Book Of The ...