Philip Hensher, the thinking man’s Stephen Fry — novelist, critic, boisterously clever — begins his introduction to his two-volume anthology of the British short story with typical gusto. ‘The British short story is probably the richest, most varied and most historically extensive national tradition anywhere in the world.’ Take that, ye upstart Americans, with your dirty realism and your New Yorker swank! Read it and weep, ye Johnny-come-latelys! Look to your laurels, Chekhov and Carver.
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The Penguin Book of British Short Stories Volume I: From Daniel Defoe to John Buchan, £20 and Volume II: From P.G. Wodehouse to Zadie Smith, £20 are available from the Spectator Bookshop, Tel: 08430 600033. Ian Sansom’s books include Paper: an Elegy, The Truth about Babies and two ‘County Guides’ detective novels, The Norfolk Mystery and Death in Devon.
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