THE COLLECTED STORIES OF WILLIAM HUMPHREY (Delacorte:...

THE COLLECTED STORIES OF WILLIAM HUMPHREY (Delacorte: $19.95). William Humphrey seems almost as deeply concerned with the suddenness of change in the United States as with the durability of the American soul. He invents people that we seem to have known all our lives, usually poor, honest Okies or plain-Jane store clerks, then plucks them from their natural circumstances and lets them flounder around as best they can. He puts a wad of cash in an illiterate Indian’s hand and has him walk into a Cadillac dealership. He blesses a dirt farmer’s land with oil, only to watch him curse the loss of his friends and family. Not every tale falls into this category, of course. “The Hardys,” in which an elderly couple are forced to sell their personal belongings, is simply a wistful glance backward. In “The Shell,” a teen-ager comes of age the instant he fires a shotgun shell that he has been toting around with him ever since his father died. “Report Cards,” a study of envy in the rural South, is perhaps more in keeping: A bright youngster feels torn between loyalty to his classmates and his own native intelligence. Set largely in the Farm Belt during the Depression, Humphrey’s works offer a fresh, hard look at American values, hopes and disappointments.