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August 22, 2005
20 Short Stories
As a bit of a follow-up to my "Alice Munro" posting: a couple of people have written me asking for more short story recommendations. I decided I'd make another list. This time, it's 20 short stories that I feel are utterly amazing--they're stories that I've either taught in classes I've done, or will plan to teach someday, and all are stories from which I've learned a lot. (I often think that writing short fiction is more disciplined, and difficult, than writing a novel; writing a story is like trying to break out of a cramped jail cell, whereas a novel is like finding your way around an unknown, but limitless, field.)
Anyway. Admittedly, these 20 don't have any real connecting link--stylistically they're kind of all over the map--and they probably aren't my all-time favorite 20 (looking over it again, I realize there's no Faulkner... no Nabokov... no etc, etc, etc). And there are still zillions of stories, both classic and contemporary, I haven't read and probably never will. But I think these 20 are all excellent nonetheless, all memorable, and brilliant. Oh, and these are all stories written in English. And since I could have stuck 20 Flannery O'Connor stories on here alone, I made myself a final rule: only one story per author.
MY ANTHOLOGY OF 20 GREAT SHORT STORIES (in alphabetical order):
(1) Rebecca Brown, "Bread"
(2) Truman Capote, "Children On Their Birthdays"
(3) Dennis Cooper, "Container"
(4) Mary Gaitskill, "The Girl On the Plane"
(5) William Gass, "The Pedersen Kid"
(6) Shirley Jackson, "The Lottery"
(7) Denis Johnson, "Car Crash While Hitchhiking"
(8) James Joyce, "Araby"
(9) D.H. Lawrence, "The Horse-Dealer's Daughter"
(10) Doris Lessing, "To Room Nineteen"
(11) Alice Munro, "Meneseteung"
(12) Tim O'Brien, "The Things They Carried"
(13) Flannery O'Connor, "Everything That Rises Must Converge"
(14) Grace Paley, "A Conversation With My Father"
(15) Jayne Anne Phillips, "Lechery"
(16) Annie Proulx, "The Half-Skinned Steer"
(17) Wallace Stegner, "The Sweetness of the Twisted Apples"
(18) David Foster Wallace, "Little Expressionless Animals"
(19) Joy Williams, "The Blue Men"
(20) Richard Yates, "Oh Joseph, I'm So Tired"
Posted by at August 22, 2005 01:32 AM
Comments
a few favorites of mine in the humor category:
Woody Allen's short story collections "Without Feathers," "Getting Even" and "Side Effects."
Collected works of Saki, especially "The Open Window" and "The Phantom Luncheon."
Dorothy Parker's short fiction.
"Moe Howard Died For Our Sins," collection of funny short stories from mostly small-press magazines and journals.
Steve Martin's "Cruel Shoes."
Jean Shepherd's childhood-based stories and Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegon radio monologues.
"Fierce Pajamas," collection of humorous stories from The New Yorker.
Posted by: James at November 15, 2005 05:08 PM
I remember reading "Living To Be A Hundred" by Robert Boswell while at university. It was the first time I felt physical discomfort while reading; it was a very unsettling story.
Posted by: David at August 24, 2005 09:42 AM
A perfect day for banana fish by JD Salinger.
Discovering Japan by Bret Easton Ellis
and AM Holmes three collections are incredible.
Posted by: lux at August 23, 2005 07:47 PM
how about "shepherd," by joy williams, my favorite?
Posted by: liz at August 23, 2005 07:37 AM
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