A collection of short stories is generally thought to be a horrendous clinker; an enforced courtesy for the elderly writer who wants to display the trophies of his youth, along with his trout flies.
Source: In The Writer's Quotation Book, by James Charlton, 1980.
-- John Cheever, (May 27 1912-1982), US short-story writer, novelist; His work described, often through fantasy and ironic comedy, the life, manners, and morals of middle-class, suburban America.