The World Begins Here: An Anthology of Oregon Short Fiction

This first volume in the Oregon Literature Series offers an array of short works and extracts by authors who are currently or formerly from Oregon. Its studied exploration of moral lessons and local cultural experiences make it most appropriate for use in the state's classrooms. A Nez Perce version of the Orpheus myth finds the mythical trickster Coyote journeying to the land of shadows to recover his wife. In Beverly Cleary's tale, one of Ramona's classmates copies her paper-bag owl, landing Ramona in a quandary: Is it worse to be a tattletale or a copycat? Ursula Le Guin explores the role of the scapegoat in her description of Omelas (Salem Oregon, backward), a town whose happiness and prosperity continues only as long as it keeps a malnourished, mistreated child locked in a dirt cellar. Juan Armando Epple's story, appearing in both the original Spanish and in English translation, describes how members of an immigrant family, whose grandmother remains in their native Chile, discover the joy of shopping at garage sales and make an unusual purchase: a grandmother. Love co-edited Northwest Perspectives. (June)