A Pocketful of Prose: Contemporary Short Fiction — David Madden

This volume of the POCKETFUL OF PROSE collection includes 25 contemporary stories by well-known and emerging writers. The topics of the stories are as varied as the styles used to present them, but they all give voice to contemporary experiences and issues. The authors (men, women, minorities, old and young) deal with both present day and enduring personal problems and public issues, using a variety of styles and techniques. The stories in this volume can be used in a variety of approaches to teaching fiction. Instructors using a more traditional artistic approach, which claims that a study of the techniques of fiction prepares students to respond most fully to all the elements of whatever fiction they may read in the future, will find a variety of fresh examples and illustrations of these techniques. Instructors who prefer a political approach, which teaches readers to be aware of the way the rhetorical strategies of writers tend to modify or reinforce, and control or change, the political attitudes and behavior of readers, will also discover a rich resource of material for discussion.