BEST SHORT STORES FROM THE PARIS REVIEW

In his introduction to this collection of fifteen stories from the seven year old literary magazine, William Styron notes that the Paris Review publishes the most promising fiction—not the greatest, not stories representing one school of writing. This is the strength of this collection. Uneven it may be, and made up too much of excerpts; but lacking in interest and variety of style, viewpoint and characterization it is not. Among those authors represented (the writers are chiefly American) are Philip Roth, Jack Kerouac, Samuel Beckett, Evan S. Connell, Mac Hyman, Patti Hill. One regrets that the editor didn't see fit to include some of his work and that of his fellow staff members. For those readers who like to keep au courant with present day writing and do not demand the definitive in short story collections.