"The Kugelmass Episode" is generally acknowledged to be a classic short story and one of the finest pieces in Allen's relatively small output of prose fiction. It was well received critically when it first appeared in The New Yorker in 1977, evidenced by it being short-listed for and then winning the first prize in the following year's O. Henry awards, the annual prizes given to short stories of exceptional merit. However, partly because of Allen's enormous popularity and success as a filmmaker, "The Kugelmass Episode" and his other prose works have received almost no sustained critical or scholarly attention. The short story is routinely cited by critics from all disciplines as a "classic" and a brilliantly funny example of a fantasy in which art and life intersect and frequently appears on college reading lists for modern and supernatural fiction and, ironically, Freshman English. Two short critical pieces...