Short stories by Mark Van Doren
Born June 13, 1894, Mark Van Doren was the son of a doctor and grew up in Illinois. He was a poet, novelist, and critic, and worked at The Nation from 1924–1928 and from 1935–1938. In 1940, Van Doren’s Collected Poems 1922–1938won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He published numerous other notable books of poetry and nonfiction, including The Last Days of Lincoln (New York: Hill & Wang, 1959), Selected Poems (Holt, 1954), Nathaniel Hawthorne (W. Sloane Associates, 1949), The Noble Voice (Holt, 1945), Shakespeare (Holt, 1939), American and British Literature since 1890 (Appleton-Century,1939), Jonathan Gentry (A. & C. Boni, 1931), Spring Thunder (Thomas Seltzer, 1924), The Poetry of John Dryden (Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920). He was a member of the Society for the Prevention of World War III and a celebrated teacher at Columbia. Van Doren died in Torrington, Connecticut, on December 10, 1972.
Listing 3 stories.
A man succumbs to shock as an important friend betrays him, despite the friend not being visible to the human eye.
A mother and her three children discuss what to do (in the hours after?) after the father leaves (and they aren't sure if he'll come back. something like that).
A college student in 1950s New York City falls in love with a young woman he sees every day on his commute home. When he tries to contact her, she tells him she's moving away, causing the student to wander the city in search of her.