Best Canadian Stories 92

Jami van Haaften is a professional librarian and author of An Index to
Selected Canadian Provincial Government Publications for Librarians,
Teachers and Booksellers.

According to editor David Helwig, this collection “suggests that the
eventful short story isn’t dead.” He acknowledges that the choice of
stories for this anthology may reflect the taste of its editors,
including co-editor Maggie Helwig.

The authors represented are Dayv James-French, Gil Adamson, Mavis
Gallant, Bonnie Burnard, Mary Swan, Humberto Da Silva, Steven Heighton,
and Peter Stockland. All have had books, short stories, or poetry
published, and many have earned literary awards.

Related to his earlier comment, Helwig suggests that some of these
stories illustrate that “meaning is not only found when nothing
appears to be going on.” Several others, he notes, challenge his
earlier belief that anecdote is not the same thing as fiction by
transferring the material of anecdote into accomplished fiction.

The Best Canadian Stories series is now in its 22nd year. Readers are
invited to find out for themselves what makes these short stories the
best of 1992.