{"product_id":"2026200014820-secondhand-the-best-short-stories-of-ring-lardner","title":"The Best Short Stories Of Ring Lardner","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Wear and tear with damage\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003cbr\u003eMarkings: Previous owner\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Large tears now repaired with non-acidic tape.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew American writers captured the absurdity of everyday life with as much precision and wit as Ring Lardner, and this definitive anthology brings together the finest examples of his celebrated short fiction. Set against the backdrop of early twentieth-century America — its ballparks, barbershops, and bourgeois parlours — the stories chronicle the misadventures of ordinary men and women whose self-delusion, vanity, and quiet desperation are rendered with devastating comic effect. With an illuminating introduction by Alan Ross, the collection presents Lardner's genius for vernacular dialogue and satirical observation in its sharpest form, from the baseball diamonds of the Midwest to the drawing rooms of the newly prosperous.\n\nLardner's prose style is deceptively simple — colloquial, razor-sharp, and deeply American — yet beneath the surface humour lies a mordant critique of the national character that earned him the admiration of contemporaries such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. His characters are not heroes but ordinary fools, and it is precisely this unflinching honesty that gives his work its enduring power and literary significance. A cornerstone of American short fiction, this collection invites readers to laugh, wince, and wonder at just how little human nature has changed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49203164184795,"sku":"2026200014820-SECONDHAND","price":20.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/20a2e3ea-4042-455e-b2ba-c1c2726152c0.png?v=1788144836","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200014820-secondhand-the-best-short-stories-of-ring-lardner","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}