The World's Best Short Stories: Anthology and Criticism : Fables and Tales - Hardcover

This collection of 86 fables and tales includes samples from oral traditions, such classics as Aesop and Chaucer, and moderns like Joel Chandler Harris and I.B. Singer. The volume's goal of providing an adequate selection for the general reader is met; its goal of serving the serious student isn't. The introductions are shallow; sources are not always identified; and there are too many typos. Dante seems to be identified as an English poet; Singer's Yiddish writings are not mentioned; and the fables themselves are not clearly placed into the fable genre, nor is there an indication of selection criteria. Most libraries already own anthologies that include these tales (e.g., Harold Courlander's many collections); those that have few such anthologies will want to wait for a collection that is less of a mishmash.
-Peter Dollard, Alma Coll. Lib., Mich.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.