"The short-story cycle - a literary genre as ancient as A Thousand and One Nights and as modern as James Joyce's Dubliners - has rapidly ascended over the last twenty years to become one of the dominant forms in American fiction.

Most scholars and book reviewers, however, lack awareness of the short-story cycle's rich legacy and consistently misconstrue new works of the genre as "novels." James Nagel offers the first systematic history and definition of the story cycle as exemplified in contemporary American fiction, bringing attention to the format's wide appeal among various ethnic groups. As Nagel admirably demonstrates, an understanding of form is crucial to apprehending a work itself."--BOOK JACKET.