Spring Phantoms: Short Prose by 19th Century British & American Authors
EDITOR
Robert Alexander
A diverse anthology of prose shorts by both canonized and under appreciated writers, Spring Phantoms traces the little-known history of this form in Britain and America throughout the 19th century. Includes biographical sketches by Holly Iglesias.
This volume is the 22nd in the Marie Alexander Poetry Series.
Reviews
Short prose—whether it takes the various forms of the prose poem, flash fiction, parable, or fable—has been well chronicled in recent anthologies, but Spring Phantoms offers a necessary and new historical take on the subject. In choosing his examples Robert Alexander has been guided more by the “narrative possibilities” of short prose than by what a modern author might call his or her version of it. More important, with this anthology, once and for all, readers come upon a vibrant short prose tradition in 19th-century English and American letters that was not beholden to the French or Russian traditions. We might call it an exploratory prose driven by a strong narrative impulse—that is, the desire to tell a little story. There are so many gems in this anthology by both well-known and underappreciated writers that readers will want to have Spring Phantoms close by, to randomly dip into its pages as they would a fine, and very large, box of chocolates.
— Peter Johnson, editor of The Prose Poem: An International Journal
If you want to understand why flash fiction has become such a popular literary form, read Spring Phantoms, an eclectic anthology of 19th-century short prose by British and American writers, which reveals that the art of compression is part of our literary DNA. From William Blake to Walt Whitman, Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton, Stephen Crane, and many lesser-known writers rescued from oblivion, we see why less is indeed more. All praise to Robert Alexander for his careful excavation of these treasures.
— Christopher Merrill, author of Self-Portrait with Dogwood
Robert Alexander has done all aficionados of the short form a great service by collecting in one volume prose poems, sketches, and brief musings of some of Britain’s and America’s finest writers and strongest voices. These “little tastings” from the 19th century give us a look not just into literary history but into some of our collective historical concerns. With illuminating bio sketches providing context to the prose selections, this is a welcome contribution to the study of the roots of short prose.
— Tara Lynn Masih, founding editor of The Best Small Fictions
Robert Alexander (1949 - 2023) received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, and worked for many years as a freelance editor. From 1993 to 2001, he was a contributing editor at New Rivers Press, serving for the final two years as New Rivers’ creative director. Alexander is the founding editor of the Marie Alexander Poetry Series at White Pine Press. He authored several collections of prose poetry and two historical books.