Intro -- Table of Contents -- Foreword, by Sharon Marcus, series editor -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction, by John Plotz -- Part I: Childhood, Through a Glass Darkly -- 1. A Girl of the Limberlost (Gene Stratton-Porter), by Rebecca Zorach -- 2. The Young Visiters (Daisy Ashford), by Caleb Crain -- 3. The Diary of "Helena Morley" (Elizabeth Bishop, trans.), by Elizabeth Ferry -- 4. Brown Girl, Brownstones (Paule Marshall), by Adrienne Brown -- 5. An American Childhood (Annie Dillard), by Salvatore Scibona -- 6. The Last Samurai (Helen DeWitt), by Toril Moi -- Part II. Other Worlds

7. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, by Seeta Chaganti -- 8. The House on the Borderland (William Hope Hodgson), by Namwali Serpell -- 9. Lolly Willowes (Sylvia Townsend Warner), by Ivan Kreilkamp -- 10. Mythology (Edith Hamilton), by Kathryn Lofton -- 11. Other Leopards (Denis Williams), by Emily Hyde -- 12. Solaris (Stanislaw Lem), by Kate Marshall -- 13. Riddley Walker (Russell Hoban), by Paul Saint-Amour -- Part III. Comedy -- 14. The Beggar's Opera (John Gay), by Yoon Sun Lee -- 15. Lady Into Fox (David Garnett), by Maud Ellmann

16. Prater Violet (Christopher Isherwood), by Stephen McCauley -- 17. "Rogue's Gallery" (Mary McCarthy), by Sean McCann -- 18. Gringos (Charles Portis), by Carlo Rotella -- Part IV. Battle and Strife -- 19. The Road to Calvary (Alexei Tolstoy), by Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee -- 20. The Forbidden Zone (Mary Borden), by Steven Biel and Lauren Kaminsky -- 21. Nikola the Outlaw (Ivan Olbracht), by Jonathan Bolton -- 22. The House of Hunger (Dambudzo Marechera), by Isabel Hofmeyr -- 23. The Short-Timers (Gustav Hasford), by Steven Biel -- 24. A Flag at Sunrise (Robert Stone), by Ben Fountain

25. The Vehement Passions (Philip Fisher), by Lorraine Daston -- Part V. Home Fires -- 26. Annals of the Parish (John Galt), by Ursula K. Le Guin -- 27. The Dry Heart (Natalie Ginzburg), by Merve Emre -- 28. Life Among the Savages -- Raising Demons (Shirley Jackson), by Sharon Marcus -- 29. My Uncle Napoleon (Iraj Pezeshkzad), by Pardis Dabashi -- 30. We Think the World of You (A.J. Ackerley), by Kevin Brazil -- 31. All Aunt Hagar's Children (Edward P. Jones), by Elizabeth Graver -- Part VI: Mysteries and Trials -- 32. The Diaries of Lady Anne Clifford, by Ramie Targoff

33. The Riddle of the Sands (Erskine Childers), by Margaret Cohen -- 34. Stamboul Train (Graham Greene), by Penny Fielding -- 35. The Hours Before Dawn (Celia Fremlin), by Leah Price -- Part VII: Journeys of the Spirit -- 36. A Life of One's Own (Marion Millner), by Vanessa Smith -- 37. Butcher's Crossing (John Williams), by John Plotz -- 38. Journey in Search of the Way (Satomi Myōdō), by Theo Davis -- 39. I Remember (Joe Brainard), by Andrew H. Miller -- 40. Transformatrix (Patience Agbabi), by Stephanie Burt -- List of Contributors