Medium Paperback, Very Good Condition, 1992, 375 pages, ISBN 0 7016 3064 7

Australian Short Stories – selected by Kerryn Goldsworthy

The short story has always been an important part of Australian literature, and this collection reflects the history of the Australian short story from its earliest beginnings to the present day. It contains writing by Australia’s best-known short story writers – Henry Lawson, John Morrison, Hal Porter, Frank Moorhouse, Peter Carey – as well as many lesser-known stories which have rarely been anthologised before.

The stories presented here cover a wide range of styles and subjects, from Marcus Clarke’s ironic nineteenth-century sketch of a country town to the sophisticated meditation on the nature of fiction by contemporary author Murray Bail. There are fantasies, fables, ‘discontinuous narratives’, and other variations on the short-story form; there are stories about children, immigrants, travelling, loneliness, social and racial problems, wives and lovers. Between them the stories create a vivid and detailed picture of past and present Australian life.