The complexity of the American city is captured in seventeen extraordinary stories that compose this exceptional anthology edited by award-winning author Ilan Stavans.

The stories in this collection travel between the greatest of American cities: from F. Scott Fitzgerald's bright bauble of New York to Raymond Chandler's moody Los Angeles; range historically from Nathaniel Hawthorne to Paul Auster; cross gender to Dorothy Parker and race to Zora Neal Hurston and James Baldwin. The Urban Muse pays tribute to magnificence of the American city by capturing the full range of voices and cultures that have taken part in its drama.

Contents:

• Auggie Wren's Christmas Story by Paul Auster
• Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston
• The Cabalist of East Broadway by Isaac Bashevis Singer
• Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville
• Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin
• Faith in a Tree by Grace Paley
• The Enormous Radio by John Cheever
• May Day by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• My Own People by Anzia Yezierska
• The House in Turk Street by Dashiell Hammett
• The Jolly Corner by Henry James
• Looking for Mr. Green by Saul Bellow
• From the Diary of a New York Lady by Dorothy Parker
• Little Dog by Langston Hughes
• My Kinsman, Major Molineux by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• In Dreams Begin Responsibilities by Delmore Schwartz
• The Pagan Rabbi by Cynthia Ozick