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:

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