8 h 34 minAudiobook16 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
How can a brief tale hold a whole world—and leave you with one lasting feeling?
A Collection of Short-Stories, gathered by Lemuel Arthur Pittenger, brings together brief tales with room for humour, reflection, and ordinary lives. Its sections on storytelling’s history and the qualities of short fiction also invite you behind the scenes: what separates a complete story from an anecdote, and what makes a small moment matter?
The discussion follows Boccaccio’s Decameron, Chaucer’s lively characters, and Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle as it traces changing approaches to storytelling. Poe and Maupassant become central to its account of concentrated effect. These pages ask you to notice how character, incident, and emotion work together—and how much a writer can suggest without spelling everything out.
What you’ll discover
- Small worlds worth entering Meet brief tales that offer a change of scene without demanding a long commitment.
- A clearer reading eye Explore why the discussion distinguishes an entertaining anecdote from a story with emotional force.
- Humour with a human centre Make room for laughter alongside reflection and an interest in the lives of ordinary people.
- Storytelling across changing forms Follow the discussion from medieval fables to essays, sketches, and Irving’s leisurely approach to narrative.
- The power of concentration Discover why Poe and Maupassant matter to this account of short fiction’s distinctive shape.
Who will love it
Readers who like a ghost story by firelight, a pirate's riddle, a wry fable or a sudden turn of fate, and who enjoy sampling many voices in a single book.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A rich father visits the priest
- A gentle clergyman faces a monster
- A scrap of string ruins an honest man
- A ragged stranger enters an officers' mess
- A friend answers a summons to a doomed house
- A riddle on parchment sends three men digging
- Two men chase a perfect idea
- Two men are trapped by a night and a crime
- What the ten tales share
Who’s who
- Thord ÖveraasThe richest man in his parish, he marks each stage of his only son's life with a visit to the priest.
- The Minor CanonA kind young church official who serves the sick, the poor and unruly children, and agrees to guide a monster through town.
- Master HauchecorneA thrifty, shrewd Norman peasant who picks up a piece of string and cannot make anyone believe why.
- Roderick UsherA pale, nervous master of an ancient house who has summoned his only friend and fears his own mind and house.
- William LegrandA moody, clever recluse on Sullivan's Island who believes a golden beetle and a scrap of parchment will restore his fortune.
- AylmerA brilliant scientist who loves his wife but cannot bear the small crimson mark on her cheek, and tries to remove it.
- Denis de BeaulieuA proud young soldier who ducks into a doorway to escape a patrol and finds himself held prisoner in a stranger's house.
- MarkheimA restless man who visits a dealer's shop on Christmas Day and sets off a chain of events he cannot undo.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 8 h 34 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 16 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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A Collection of Short-Stories
by Lemuel Arthur Pittenger (editor)
A stranger slips through a trick door into a midnight wedding, with two hours to choose between a bride and a rope.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
This book gathers ten short stories by writers from Norway, America, France, England and Scotland. It was put together by Lemuel Arthur Pittenger as a reader for students of the short story.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A rich father visits the priest
The collection opens with The Father by Björnstjerne Björnson, a Norwegian poet, novelist and political leader. The story is told in a few pages and almost entirely in short scenes. Its hero is Thord Överaas, the wealthiest and most influential man in his parish. One day he walks into the priest's study, tall and serious, and says he has had a son.
Thord wants the child baptized, and he has the details ready. The boy will be named Finn, after Thord's own father. The sponsors are the best men and women among his relatives. Then, after a hesitation, he asks for something unusual. He wants his son baptized alone, on a weekday, at noon on Saturday.
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What stories are in A Collection of Short-Stories?
It holds ten tales: The Father, The Griffin and the Minor Canon, The Piece of String, The Man Who Was, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Gold-Bug, The Birthmark, Ethan Brand, The Sire de Malétroit's Door and Markheim.
Who are the authors in this collection?
The authors are Björnstjerne Björnson, Frank R. Stockton, Guy de Maupassant, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Robert Louis Stevenson. Poe, Hawthorne and Stevenson each have more than one story in the book.
Who was Lemuel Arthur Pittenger?
Pittenger is the name given as the editor who chose these ten stories. The book follows each tale with a short life of its author, comments on his style and a list of related readings for students.
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