Best of Crazyhorse (C)

This anthology of 105 poems and 15 short stories by American writers reflects the evolution of Crazyhorse , from its beginnings in Los Angeles in 1960 as a small, politically focused literary magazine, to its present incarnation as mainstream academic journal. Unfortunately, there is a marked lack of inspired writing here, and where it does occur, it's usually by a name already well known to us, and, consequently, a sense of discovery is missing. In the poem ``The Young Fire Eaters of Mexico City,'' Raymond Carver tells the story of ``these silent children who hunt / through the streets with a candle / and a beer can filled with alcohol.'' This is literature both formally elegant and socially critical. Andre Dubus, in his story ``Sorrowful Mysteries,'' traces, from the perspective of a sympathetic white youth, the rising racial tension in the economically decaying post-WW II South. While much of the writing in this volume is precious and hesitant, these pieces and others, such as ( Crazy horse' s first editor) Thomas McGrath's poem ``Proletarian in Abstract Light,'' show some of the journal's unaffected belief in the power of language to change society. Jauss is a Pushcart Prize-winning writer. (Sept.)