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Mara
08-06-2009, 03:32 PM
This has been a sub-topic in the Book Discussion Thread for the last few days, but one I feel passionately about, and I don't feel that giving a quick list is doing enough to really sell these stories.

Short stories are a delicate and useful medium for writers, but readership is low because they are difficult to publish, except in fast-vanishing literary magazines, anthologies, or collections. But the commitment level is low, and usually these stories are widely available (thank you, internet) so there's no excuse to not indulge a little bit.

I'm sticking to one story per author, but I might slip in hints about other works by the same person.

Hugh_Grant
08-06-2009, 03:41 PM
Awesome! Looking forward to the list!

Eleven
08-06-2009, 03:46 PM
Sweetness. Looking forward to nitpicking that another choice by the same author should have been selected!

:pritch:

Raiders
08-06-2009, 03:49 PM
I think my favorite short story is E.L. Doctorow's "Willi." I look forward to seeing your choices.

Mara
08-06-2009, 03:54 PM
The Stone Boy by Gina Berriault (1957)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/51FHVQJFFYL.jpg

Genre: Realistic Fiction


"Mother?" he asked insistently. He had expected her to realize that he wanted to go down on his knees by her bed and tell her that Eugie was dead. She did not know it yet, nobody knew it, and yet she was sitting up in bed, waiting to be told, waiting for him to confirm her dread. He had expected her to tell him to come in, to allow him to dig his head into her blankets and tell her about the terror he had felt when he had knelt beside Eugie. He had come to clasp her in his arms and, in his terror, to pommel her breasts with his head.

Summary: A young boy, after accidently causing a family tragedy, has a complicated emotional response that his family cannot understand.

Why it is great: I am very sensitive to fictional works that try and explain grief. They are often condescening, over-simplified, and sentimental. This story, amazingly, is none of those things. It realistically portrays someone deep in shock, who is so emotionally removed from the situation around him that he cannot react in any way-- he becomes a stone boy. It's heart-wrenching without being manipulative.

Warning: this excellent story was made into a terrible film that was condescending, over-simplified, and sentimental. Avoid.

You can read it: here (http://mrhaleyonline.com/bridges/TheStoneBoy.pdf) (PDF) or in the short story collection shown above: Women in Their Beds.

Mara
08-06-2009, 04:09 PM
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce (1890)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/Ambrose_Bierce_Occurrence_at_O wl_Cr.jpg


All that day he travelled, laying his course by the rounding sun. The forest seemed interminable; nowhere did he discover a break in it, not even a woodman's road. He had not known that he lived in so wild a region. There was something uncanny in the revelation.

Genre: Fiction, hints of Magical Realism

Summary: Peyton Fahrquhar is captured and is going to be executed for attempting to impede Yankee movements during the civil war.

Why it is great: Beyond the iconic ending, which is really pretty shocking, the prose and style of the story are excellent. There's a dream-like quality and lyricism to Fahrquhar's journey.

You can read it: here. (http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/OccOwl.shtml) It is also widely anthologized.

D_Davis
08-06-2009, 04:17 PM
Bierce is amazing. Any number of his short stories could be considered must-reads. Your choice is a good one. Best Twilight Zone episode, too.

ledfloyd
08-06-2009, 04:19 PM
i've read a couple you listed in the book thread and loved them so i am excited about this.

Mara
08-06-2009, 04:24 PM
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury (1954)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/girl2.jpg


Margot stood alone. She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.

Genre: Science Fiction

Summary: In a colony built on Venus, a group of schoolchildren wait for the sun, which only shines for one hour every seven years. Only Margot, ostracized by the other children, remembers what the sun was like on Earth.

Why it's great: This is one of Bradbury's younger-skewing stories, but poignant and bittersweet nonetheless. Like all good science fiction, the time and place may be different, but the emotions felt by the characters-- isolation, loneliness, jealousy-- are understandable and familiar.

You can read it: here (http://www.dodea.edu/instruction/curriculum/lars/ela_lab/PreK-Grade6/Guided%20Reading/AllSummerinaDay.doc) (DOC) or it is widely anthologized.

Also try: Bradbury was a prolific short story writer, and many of his works were excellent. A Sound of Thunder is widely influential.

D_Davis
08-06-2009, 04:32 PM
Bradbury encompasses everything that is great and wonderful about the short story.

October Country is where it's at. I'd probably rank it third in terms of single-author collections, right behind The Best Short Stores of JG Ballard and Alfred Bester's Virtual Unrealities.

Mara, have you read any Theodore Sturgeon? If not, you totally should. His themes of love, and how he examined humanity are probably right up your alley. He wrote and published hundreds of short stories ranging in styles from SF to horror to general fiction. Another one of my favorites. One of the great short story awards is named after Sturgeon.

Hugh_Grant
08-06-2009, 04:41 PM
Yay to Bierce.

My favorite short story about grief is Bharati Mukherjee's "The Management of Grief." I haven't read "The Stone Boy" but I saw the movie eons ago.

Mara
08-06-2009, 05:59 PM
The Swimmer by John Cheever (1964)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/00073.jpg

Genre: Surrealism


Had you gone for a Sunday afternoon ride that day you might have seen him, close to naked, standing on the shoulders of Route 424, waiting for a chance to cross. You might have wondered if he was the victim of foul play, had his car broken down, or was he merely a fool. Standing barefoot in the deposits of the highway—beer cans, rags, and blowout patches—exposed to all kinds of ridicule, he seemed pitiful. He had known when he started that this was a part of his journey—it had been on his maps—but confronted with the lines of traffic, worming through the summery light, he found himself unprepared. He was laughed at, jeered at, a beer can was thrown at him, and he had no dignity or humor to bring to the situation. He could have gone back, back to the Westerhazys', where Lucinda would still be sitting in the sun. He had signed nothing, vowed nothing, pledged nothing, not even to himself. Why, believing as he did, that all human obduracy was susceptible to common sense, was he unable to turn back? Why was he determined to complete his journey even if it meant putting his life in danger? At what point had this prank, this joke, this piece of horseplay become serious? He could not go back, he could not even recall with any clearness the green water at the Westerhazys', the sense of inhaling the day's components, the friendly and relaxed voices saying that they had drunk too much. In the space of an hour, more or less, be had covered a distance that made his return impossible.

Summary: Neddy Merrill, a self-contented suburbanite, gets it into his head that he can swim home by going through the pools of all his friends and neighbors. As he goes, though, the story gets darker, and you begin to see cracks in his world's facade.

Why it's great: Cheever turns an unforgiving eye on the well-off, idle class. This story was most assuredly read by those who write for Mad Men.

You can read it: here. (http://shortstoryclassics.50megs.com/cheeverswimmer.html)

Mara
08-06-2009, 06:13 PM
Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl (1954)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/c5960.jpg

Genre: Fiction, Dark Humor


Now and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come. There was a slow smiling air about her, and about everything she did. The drop of a head as she bent over her sewing was curiously tranquil. Her skin -for this was her sixth month with child-had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft, and the eyes, with their new placid look, seemed larger darker than before. When the clock said ten minutes to five, she began to listen, and a few moments later, punctually as always, she heard the tires on the gravel outside, and the car door slamming, the footsteps passing the window, the key turning in the lock.

Summary: Meek, gentle Mary Maloney has an unexpected reaction when her beloved (if dominating) husband announces he is leaving her.

Why it's great: You think Roald Dahl is dark when he's writing for children? This sketch is, by turns, subversive, horrifying, and amusing.

You Can Read it: here. (http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lamb.html) It's also in several collections of his short stories.

Also Try: Dahl is pretty strong in the short story genre, although occasionally too mean-spirited even for me. Taste I remember being excellent.

Ezee E
08-06-2009, 06:14 PM
I'm sure I won't have read any, but when this list is complete, I will get on it.

Good idea.

Mara
08-06-2009, 06:31 PM
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/article-0-03AB2C67000005DC-625_306x.jpg

Genre: Gothic Horror, Feminist Literature


This paper looks to me as if it KNEW what a vicious influence it had!

There is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down.

I get positively angry with the impertinence of it and the everlastingness. Up and down and sideways they crawl, and those absurd, unblinking eyes are everywhere. There is one place where two breadths didn't match, and the eyes go all up and down the line, one a little higher than the other.

I never saw so much expression in an inanimate thing before, and we all know how much expression they have!

Summary: Suffering from a "nervous" condition, a woman is isolated in the upper rooms of a vacation house and forced to rest. She becomes increasingly paranoid and is particularly bothered by the wallpaper in the room, which seems sinister.

Why it's great: The creepiness and atmosphere is as well done, in my opinion, as Poe or Lovecraft. Gilman does a great job of revealing more to the reader than the somewhat naive journalist recounts. (She sees bars on the windows and rings for chains on the wall, and so assumes the room was used as some sort of gymnasium.)

More than a scary story, though, The Yellow Wallpaper tackles some pretty serious social issues. Our narrator is treated like a spoiled child by her husband, despite the fact that she is genuinely ill, and as she becomes more and more psychotic, her subconcious becomes more and more rebellious to his controlling nature.

In my opinion, this story is criminally underread.

You can read it: here. (http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/bl_gilman_yw.htm)

ledfloyd
08-06-2009, 06:44 PM
the swimmer is possibly my favorite short story. lamb to the slaughter would rank high for me as well.

Mara
08-06-2009, 06:45 PM
Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1835)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/GoodmanBrown-thumb.jpg

Genre: Historical Fiction, Allegorical


"Poor little Faith!" thought he, for his heart smote him. "What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand! She talks of dreams, too. Methought as she spoke there was trouble in her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done tonight. But no, no; 't would kill her to think it. Well, she's a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven."

Summary: A man in Puritan New England goes looking for some evil, and finds it.

Why it's Great: Hawthorne's themes of sin, torture, redemption, and suspicion play out in minature in this story, which is less literal than most of his works. It almost reads like a Morality Play.

You can read it: here (http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/158/).

Also try: The Minister's Black Veil, for more of the same, or Rappaccini's Daughter for something completely different.

Mara
08-06-2009, 07:01 PM
Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway (1927)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/71M3T8TDT5L.gif

Genre: Fiction


'And we could have all this,' she said. 'And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.'

'What did you say?'

'I said we could have everything.'

'No, we can't.'

'We can have the whole world.'

'No, we can't.'

'We can go everywhere.'

'No, we can't. It isn't ours any more.'

'It's ours.'

'No, it isn't. And once they take it away, you never get it back.'

'But they haven't taken it away.'

'We'll wait and see.'

Summary: Two people have drinks. Really, I'm not telling you more than that.

Why it's great: If it wasn't so good, it would be easy to dismiss this unusual story as an excercise. Like, "Write a story about apples without using any of the following words: apple, core, pit, peel, seed, fruit, eat, or sweet." I used this story when I was a teacher to try and get my students to think about subtext.

Also notable about the style is that it is almost just lines of dialogue without any real hints, beyond the words, of how anyone is feeling. It's a story without adverbs.

You Can Read It: here (http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Stories/WhiteElephants.html).

Also Try: Hemingway was a master of the short story. I'm not sure I've read a bad one. If someone can help me remember one that I really liked, I'm blanking on the name. It had to do with a couple on a hunting trip in Africa.

Eleven
08-06-2009, 07:14 PM
Also Try: Hemingway was a master of the short story. I'm not sure I've read a bad one. If someone can help me remember one that I really liked, I'm blanking on the name. It had to do with a couple on a hunting trip in Africa.

Does

the wife shoot the husband?

If so, it's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber."

Mara
08-06-2009, 07:14 PM
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (1948)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/c443.jpg

Genre: Horror


"It's not the way it used to be." Old Man Warner said clearly. "People ain't the way they used to be."

Summary: A small town holds a lottery every year.

Why it's Great: This is probably one of the most widely-read short stories in the United States. I think too much emphasis is put on the "twist" ending, which isn't actually too twisty if you're paying attention. Instead, I think we should laud how brilliantly Jackson makes a story scary-- really scary-- without having any darkness or smoke, or lightning, or miasma of death, or anything. The prose is crisp and clear, the setting is sunny and suburban. It's matter-of-fact, and that makes it all the creepier.

You can read it: here. (http://www.d.umn.edu/~csigler/PDF%20files/jackson_lottery.pdf) (PDF)

Mara
08-06-2009, 07:15 PM
Does

the wife shoot the husband?

If so, it's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber."

Yes, that's it! Thanks, I couldn't remember it at all.

Eleven
08-06-2009, 07:23 PM
Yes, that's it! Thanks, I couldn't remember it at all.

No prob. That is an interesting, ambiguous one, like the best of Hemingway. Everybody's got questionable actions but the language refuses to judge.

Mara
08-06-2009, 07:26 PM
The Dead by James Joyce (1914)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/9780553213805.jpg

Genre: Fiction


One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.

Summary: Gabriel and his wife Gretta attend a dinner party. (It has one of the "internal" plots where what happens on the outside is less important.)

Why it's Great: This isn't really a short story-- it's a long story. But it's not a novel, so I'm counting it.

Joyce draws intriguing characters here in Gabriel, whom we feel like we know intimately after a few pages, and Gretta, whom we feel is a total mystery. Gabriel's epiphany is brilliantly and beautifully rendered.

You can read it: In The Dubliners, shown above. It is also widely anthologized.

trotchky
08-06-2009, 07:32 PM
awesome. i'll try to get to all of these eventually.

i hope raymond carver's "put yourself in my shoes" appears on this list.

Mara
08-06-2009, 07:34 PM
awesome. i'll try to get to all of these eventually.

i hope raymond carver's "put yourself in my shoes" appears on this list.

I need to give Carver another shot. I've only read two of his stories, and they left me cold. I also find his massive body of work a little bit daunting. Maybe I can start with your suggestion, and work on from there.

Mara
08-06-2009, 07:46 PM
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/378px-Kafka_Starke_Verwandlung_1915. jpg

Genre: Surrealism


Slowly Gregor pushed the chair toward the door, then let go of it, caught hold of the door for support—the pads at the ends of his little legs were somewhat sticky—and rested against it for a moment after his efforts. Then he set himself to turning the Key in the lock with his mouth. It seemed, unfortunately, that he didn't really have any teeth—what was he supposed to grip the Key with?—but on the other hand his jaws were certainly very strong; with their help he did manage to get the Key turning, heedless of the fact that he was undoubtedly damaging himself, since a brown fluid issued from his mouth, flowed over the Key, and dripped onto the floor.

Summary: A man turns into a bug. Maybe.

Why it's great: This is another long-short story, and it's quite a ride. Grotesque, insightful, and unnerving, it's sure to give you the willies if you read it just before bed. For all that, though, this isn't a horror story. It's the psychological study of a man who has been trapped and dehumanized by his family, his job, and his life.

You can read it: here. (http://www.kafka-franz.com/metamorphosis.htm)

Hugh_Grant
08-06-2009, 07:50 PM
I've taught "Young Goodman Brown" so much that I've grown weary of it, but its pedagogical value is great. (See also Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily.")

I'm with you on Carver. "Cathedral" is in a gazillion freshman anthologies. I've never cared for it.

Sorry, but I don't like "The Yellow Wallpaper." I'll be interested to see if another frequently anthologized feminist short story is in your list.

Mara
08-06-2009, 07:52 PM
I've taught "Young Goodman Brown" so much that I've grown weary of it, but its pedagogical value is great. (See also Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily.")

...I forgot "A Rose for Emily." Hey, everyone, read "A Rose for Emily"! It's good.

Hugh_Grant
08-06-2009, 07:56 PM
My colleagues who love Faulkner hate "A Rose for Emily" because it is so un-Faulkneresque.

I use it to teach plot, setting, symbolism, characters--just about every element of literature can be explored.

Mara
08-06-2009, 08:00 PM
The Rats in the Walls by H. P. Lovecraft (1923)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/NPRESSTheRatsInTheWalls500.jpg

Genre: Weird Fiction


These dreams were not wholesome, but horribly like the one I had had the night before. I saw again the twilit grotto, and the swineherd with his unmentionable fungous beasts wallowing in filth, and as I looked at these things they seemed nearer and more distinct -- so distinct that I could almost observe their features. Then I did observe the flabby features of one of them -- and awakened with such a scream... But I did not remember myself till later. Ultimate horror often paralyses memory in a merciful way.

Summary: A man begins to notice strange things about his inherited ancestoral home.

Why it's great: Oh, Lovecraft. You antisocial, racist, classist bastard. It's hard to argue that Lovecraft was the master of a certain kind of story, but it's hard to work around his obvious personality flaws.

I think I like this story because his flaws actually become essential to the plot. The main character is an antisocial, racist, classist bastard, which is what propels the story forward.

You can read it: here. (http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/theratsinthewalls.htm)

Also Try: Lovecraft's portfolio is quite, quite vast. His quality goes back and forth, but if you like his style, there's plenty to find.

Mara
08-06-2009, 08:13 PM
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (1990)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/things-they-carried.jpg

Genre: War Fiction


They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing--these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture. They carried their reputations. They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment. They crawled into tunnels and walked point and advanced under fire. Each morning, despite the unknowns, they made their legs move. They endured. They kept humping. They did not submit to the obvious alternative, which was simply to close the eyes and fall. So easy, really. Go limp and tumble to the ground and let the muscles unwind and not speak and not budge until your buddies picked you up and lifted you into the chopper that would roar and dip its nose and carry you off to the world. A mere matter of falling, yet no one ever fell. It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards.

Summary: A list of things, both physical and emotional, carried by a platoon of soldiers in Vietnam.

Why it's so great: O'Brien, who was actually in Vietnam, brings a sense of realism and immediacy to the story. He sympathizes with these men without romanticizing them.

You can read it: here (http://www.tvhs.k12.vt.us/WMHS/Faculty/Moriarty/things_they_carried.htm), or in the book of the same name (shown above.)

Also check out: the rest of the book. If you only read one other story, make it Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong.

NickGlass
08-06-2009, 08:54 PM
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury (1954)


I adore this story--I've read it roughly twenty times. I took a Novel Into Film class in college and, as one of my final projects, I adapted this into a screenplay. It was an extremely interesting assignment.

NickGlass
08-06-2009, 08:57 PM
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (1990)

Also check out: the rest of the book. If you only read one other story, make it Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong.

I do not like this one very much. Details are a bit hazy, but I recall find the character transformation awfully heavy-handed.

Speaking of heavy-handed, if Stephen Crane's The Open Boat appears on this list...well, let me not get ahead of myself before the list is finished.

Mara
08-06-2009, 09:00 PM
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor (1955)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/ss11.jpg

Genre: Southern Gothic


"Turn to the right, it was a wall," The Misfit said, looking up again at the cloudless sky. "Turn to the left, it was a wall. Look up it was a ceiling, look down it was a floor. I forget what I done, lady. I set there and set there, trying to remember what it was I done and I ain't recalled it to this day. Oncet in a while, I would think it was coming to me, but it never come."

Summary: A grandmother, driving through Georgia on a vacation with her son's family, has a fateful encounter.

Why it's great: This is O'Connor's masterpiece, and it packs a punch. The characterizations of the sanctimonious, manipulative grandmother and the befuddled, embarassed Misfit are beautifully rendered. And, after reading this story a dozen times, I'm still breathless during the last couple of pages. This is an essential read.

You can read it: here. (http://www.turksheadreview.com/library/texts/oconnor-goodmanhard.html)

Also try: Revelation

ledfloyd
08-06-2009, 09:01 PM
i just read this a day or two ago and i had to read it twice in a row. devastating.

Mara
08-06-2009, 09:02 PM
I do not like this one very much. Details are a bit hazy, but I recall find the character transformation awafully heavy-handed.

That particular story I think falls into the realm of surrealism. It's a trip.


Speaking of heavy-handed, if Stephen Crane's The Open Boat appears on this list...well, let me not get ahead of myself before the list is finished.

Haven't read it. Bad?

By the way, these stories are listed alphabetically by author, so y'all can start filling in the blanks if I missed one of your favorites.

D_Davis
08-06-2009, 09:02 PM
I really like Flannery O'Conner. One of my favorite authors of general fiction.

Hugh_Grant
08-06-2009, 09:37 PM
Speaking of heavy-handed, if Stephen Crane's The Open Boat appears on this list...well, let me not get ahead of myself before the list is finished.

Hee hee. I taught this story one time--and one time only. The reaction was overwhelmingly negative.

Amnesiac
08-06-2009, 10:10 PM
Out of all the ones posted, I have read:

The Metamorphosis, The Yellow Wallpaper, The Lottery, and Hills Like White Elephants. I remember them all being really great. However, they deserve re-reads since it's been about two years since I last read any of them.

D_Davis
08-06-2009, 10:25 PM
Crossing my fingers for a mention of Robert W. Chambers, Arthur Machen, or William Hope Hodgson, or even an MR James or Edith Wharton ghost story...

trotchky
08-07-2009, 06:35 AM
the things they carried is one of my favorite books. great selection.

megladon8
08-07-2009, 05:03 PM
Some great ones here, Mara. Can't complain about your Lovecraft choice :)

Sven
08-07-2009, 08:27 PM
I'm an enormous Lovecraft fan, and Rats in the Walls is very easily my least favorite story. I'm surprised you chose it.

Qrazy
08-07-2009, 08:42 PM
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/article-0-03AB2C67000005DC-625_306x.jpg

Genre: Gothic Horror, Feminist Literature



Summary: Suffering from a "nervous" condition, a woman is isolated in the upper rooms of a vacation house and forced to rest. She becomes increasingly paranoid and is particularly bothered by the wallpaper in the room, which seems sinister.

Why it's great: The creepiness and atmosphere is as well done, in my opinion, as Poe or Lovecraft. Gilman does a great job of revealing more to the reader than the somewhat naive journalist recounts. (She sees bars on the windows and rings for chains on the wall, and so assumes the room was used as some sort of gymnasium.)

More than a scary story, though, The Yellow Wallpaper tackles some pretty serious social issues. Our narrator is treated like a spoiled child by her husband, despite the fact that she is genuinely ill, and as she becomes more and more psychotic, her subconcious becomes more and more rebellious to his controlling nature.

In my opinion, this story is criminally underread.

You can read it: here. (http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/bl_gilman_yw.htm)

I love that amazing line near the end where she is annoyed by the presence of her collapsed husband and the fact that she has to step over/go around him to trace the wall paper.

Qrazy
08-07-2009, 08:44 PM
The Open Boat is a quality short story. Yes it's heavy handed. Fuck you all.

Qrazy
08-07-2009, 08:46 PM
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/378px-Kafka_Starke_Verwandlung_1915. jpg

Genre: Surrealism



Summary: A man turns into a bug. Maybe.

Why it's great: This is another long-short story, and it's quite a ride. Grotesque, insightful, and unnerving, it's sure to give you the willies if you read it just before bed. For all that, though, this isn't a horror story. It's the psychological study of a man who has been trapped and dehumanized by his family, his job, and his life.

You can read it: here. (http://www.kafka-franz.com/metamorphosis.htm)

Have you read The Hunger Artist? That one is great too.

Qrazy
08-07-2009, 08:49 PM
Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway (1927)

Good call. Since you've done Faulkner and Hemingway, Fitzgerald also has a few good short stories, one of which I hope shows up.

Hugh_Grant
08-07-2009, 09:05 PM
The Open Boat is a quality short story. Yes it's heavy handed. Fuck you all.
:(

I don't mind "The Open Mind," and I especially like the tale of the real-life situation that inspired it, but my students HATED it with a bloody passion. I didn't hear the end of it for the rest of the semester.

Qrazy
08-07-2009, 09:07 PM
:(

I don't mind "The Open Mind," and I especially like the tale of the real-life situation that inspired it, but my students HATED it with a bloody passion. I didn't hear the end of it for the rest of the semester.

No frowny, I meant fuck you all in a jovial manner. :)

dreamdead
08-07-2009, 09:40 PM
Yeah, Crane's "The Open Boat" impressed the hell out of me when I first read it in college. Taut and gripping throughout, and the way it weaves a philosophical statement about nature's indifference toward man is still haunting to me.

Kudos for the O'Brien story collection. One of the best.

NickGlass
08-08-2009, 04:59 PM
:(

I don't mind "The Open Mind," and I especially like the tale of the real-life situation that inspired it, but my students HATED it with a bloody passion. I didn't hear the end of it for the rest of the semester.

That's bizarre, since it was me vs. the class (and, oddly, the professor was on my side).


Yeah, Crane's "The Open Boat" impressed the hell out of me when I first read it in college. Taut and gripping throughout, and the way it weaves a philosophical statement about nature's indifference toward man is still haunting to me.

Kudos for the O'Brien story collection. One of the best.

"Nature's indifference towards man" is one of my favorite themes in literature (or, for that matter, all art forms), but I recall there being absolutely nothing graceful about the way it's weaved into the story.

NickGlass
08-08-2009, 05:12 PM
The Dead by James Joyce (1914)

Joyce draws intriguing characters here in Gabriel, whom we feel like we know intimately after a few pages, and Gretta, whom we feel is a total mystery. Gabriel's epiphany is brilliantly and beautifully rendered.


Well, of course, since Gabriel is the closest to a first-person narrator in a third-person story. It is him who embellishes the characters at the party (and, well, one dead guy)--not Joyce.

Qrazy
08-08-2009, 06:25 PM
"Nature's indifference towards man" is one of my favorite themes in literature (or, for that matter, all art forms).

What are your favorite instances?

thefourthwall
08-09-2009, 01:57 AM
Well, of course, since Gabriel is the closest to a first-person narrator in a third-person story. It is him who embellishes the characters at the party (and, well, one dead guy)--not Joyce.

Erm. Maybe I'm reading your post wrong, and this is not actually your point, but Joyce is the one who wrote it and deserves the credit for the brilliance of the free indirect discourse (the 3rd person that feels like 1st), not one of his characters.

megladon8
08-09-2009, 08:27 PM
"The Things They Carried" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" are both stories I've been recommended too many times to recall. I guess I really should get around to reading them, since I have them both at my disposal...

I fail, I know.

By the way, Mara, do you know who did that artwork for "The Yellow Wallpaper"? It reminds me a bit of Klimt...

ContinentalOp
08-09-2009, 10:17 PM
Just read "The Lottery". It was creepy as hell and nothing like I expected. Thanks for the recommendation.
Love Tim O'Brien. First read "The Things They Carried" in an American History class. My favorite story from the collection is definitely "On the Rainy River". It's a very convincing story about a conflicted young guy and O'Brien tells it with a lot of honesty and thoughtfulness.
A couple other short stories I really like are "Yam Gruel" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and "Kaleidoscope" from Bradbury's the Illustrated Man.

Mara
08-10-2009, 12:49 PM
By the way, Mara, do you know who did that artwork for "The Yellow Wallpaper"? It reminds me a bit of Klimt...

I don't know. It looks like specific imagery from the story, though, so I assume it was commissioned.

BY THE WAY, I was reviewing this list in my head over the weekend and realized I forgot one that I had intended to include, so I'm putting it next. Consider it a bonus, since it's out of order and will make the total 21.

Mara
08-10-2009, 01:05 PM
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel José de la Concordia GarcÃ*a Márquez (1968)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/9789580211198.jpg

Genre: Magical Realism


Later, when they covered his face with a handkerchief so that the light would not bother him, he looked so forever dead, so defenseless, so much like their men that the first furrows of tears opened in their hearts. It was one of the younger ones who began the weeping. The others, coming to, went from sighs to wails, and the more they sobbed the more they felt like weeping, because the drowned man was becoming all the more Esteban for them, and so they wept so much, for he was the more destitute, most peaceful, and most obliging man on earth, poor Esteban.

Summary: A dead stranger washes up on the shore of a small village, which prepares him for burial.

Why it's great: In some ways, this is the antithesis of "A Good Man is Hard to Find." This story is about people who feel compassion and charity for a person least likely to need it. On the other hand, it's a story of loss and yearning, since the villagers see in the drowned man everything they don't have in their own lives-- beauty, passion, and love.

You can read it: here. (http://www.janaedwards.com/FILECABINET/TheHandsomestDrownedManInTheWo rld.doc)

Also check out: A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Mara
08-10-2009, 01:56 PM
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/10064449The-Tell-Tale-Heart-the-Mur.jpg

Genre: Horror


Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded -- with what caution -- with what foresight, with what dissimulation, I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.

Summary: The narrator explains why he felt the need to kill an old man, and describes the circumstances of the murder and aftermath.

Why it's great: Poe was a master of the short story format. Of all his stories I like-- and there are quite a few-- I really hold this as my favorite. The raving monomania of the unreliable narrator is perfectly rendered.

You can read it: here. (http://www.literature.org/authors/poe-edgar-allan/tell-tale-heart.html)

Also check out: Poe's other creepy/scary stories: "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Masque of the Red Death," "Manuscript Found in a Bottle," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "The Fall of the House of Usher." Then, read his detective stories: "The Purloined Letter" and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." YES, YOU HAVE TO READ ALL OF THEM. STOP BEING SO LAZY.

Mara
08-10-2009, 02:33 PM
A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J. D. Salinger (1948)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/031676950901LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Genre: Fiction


"Mother," the girl interrupted, "I just told you. He drove very nicely. Under fifty the whole way, as a matter of fact."

"Did he try any of that funny business with the trees?"

"I said he drove very nicely, Mother. Now, please. I asked him to stay close to the white line, and all, and he knew what I meant, and he did. He was even trying not to look at the trees-you could tell."

Summary: Seymour Glass and his wife, Muriel try to vacation in Florida. Seymour is shell-shocked from the war.

Why it's great: The debate about Salinger's greatest works will be settled by people with far more patience than I. They will laud and decry The Catcher in the Rye, they will rave and cry about Franny and Zoe. They will shout "Esme!" and they will pick apart the Glasses. For my part, and heaven knows I'm not going to get into an argument about it, you can't go wrong with Bananafish. It covers Salinger's favorite picking points: isolation, materialism, death, anger, sexual confusion, mental illness and loss of love.

Also check out: The other eight stories in Nine Stories.

Sven
08-10-2009, 02:36 PM
Tell-Tale Heart is wonderful, but The Cask of Amontillado is probably my favorite short story of all time, along with Faulkner's The Bear.

Ezee E
08-10-2009, 02:38 PM
I read the "Handsomest Drowned Man In the World" and can't really say much about it. I guess short stories are like short films in that all I can say is that I either liked or didn't like it.

I liked the first half, the mystery of the man, and the woman's interest, but the second half. Maybe it's too early in the AM (been up since 3:30 AM for work), but I can't really say anything else.

I should really read some more of Salinger though.

NickGlass
08-10-2009, 02:39 PM
See more Glass.

(Of course I love that selection.)

NickGlass
08-10-2009, 02:45 PM
Erm. Maybe I'm reading your post wrong, and this is not actually your point, but Joyce is the one who wrote it and deserves the credit for the brilliance of the free indirect discourse (the 3rd person that feels like 1st), not one of his characters.

Ha, that's absurd. One need not be so literal. Of course I give credit to Joyce for writing the incredible piece (attributing credit to a character and not the author is nearly certifiable); I'm just fascinated by the clever route he took to show Gabriel's perspective on everyone. It is Gabriel's modern, erudite embellishments on the other, old-fashioned characters that makes the piece so strong. Also, of course, the ending--which represents a moment when someone (actually, two people) must grapple with their own imaginative projections. The dead boy, most likely insignificant, becomes the grandest person in the world.

ledfloyd
08-10-2009, 03:10 PM
YES, YOU HAVE TO READ ALL OF THEM. STOP BEING SO LAZY.
:lol:

Mara
08-10-2009, 03:13 PM
The Cask of Amontillado is probably my favorite short story of all time...

I was thinking of this story because the house where I just put in an offer has a partially-dismantled brick wall in the scary, scary cellar. Plus it's in Baltimore. It's Poe-tastic!

Mara
08-10-2009, 04:41 PM
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber (1938)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/james_thurber_1954.jpg

Genre: Humor


A door opened down a long, cool corridor and Dr. Renshaw came out. He looked distraught and haggard. "Hello, Mitty," he said. `'We're having the devil's own time with McMillan, the millionaire banker and close personal friend of Roosevelt. Obstreosis of the ductal tract. Tertiary. Wish you'd take a look at him." "Glad to," said Mitty.

Summary: Hen-pecked sad sack Walter Mitty retreats from his life in a series of elaborate daydreams.

Why it's great: I love James Thurber. And not a little bit. It was a toss-up for me between this and "The Catbird Seat" but I reread both this morning and Mitty won. If it was straight humor-- a funny story-- it wouldn't be so interesting. But it's the bittersweetness of it-- the cutting edge of sadness-- that really makes the story memorable.

You can read it: here. (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/6821/thurber.html)

Also check out: "The Catbird Seat." Duh.

Mara
08-10-2009, 05:38 PM
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (1886)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/The_Death_of_Ivan_Ilyich.jpg

Genre: Realism


From that moment the screaming began that continued for three days, and was so terrible that one could not hear it through two closed doors without horror. At the moment he answered his wife realized that he was lost, that there was no return, that the end had come, the very end, and his doubts were still unsolved and remained doubts.

Summary: A successful, shallow man is forced to contemplate his life as he dies.

Why it's great: Another long short story, or possibly a very short novel. Novella? Whatever it is, it's phenomenal. Depressing, thoughtful, and critical of Ivan while at the same time pitying him.

You can read it: here (http://www.classicallibrary.org/tolstoy/ivan/index.htm) but you may want to find it in book form because of the length.

Hugh_Grant
08-10-2009, 05:48 PM
I wish Thurber were anthologized more. "The Catbird Seat" was once in one of my literature textbooks, but the newer editions haven't included it.

Mara
08-10-2009, 05:55 PM
A & P by John Updike (1961)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/h1474.jpg

Genre: Realism


She had on a kind of dirty-pink - - beige maybe, I don't know -- bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and, what got me, the straps were down. They were off her shoulders looped loose around the cool tops of her arms, and I guess as a result the suit had slipped a little on her, so all around the top of the cloth there was this shining rim. If it hadn't been there you wouldn't have known there could have been anything whiter than those shoulders. With the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except just her, this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light. I mean, it was more than pretty.

Summary: A teenaged cashier is astounded when three girls come in to shop wearing bathing suits.

Why it's so good: Updike does an incredible job with making his narrator a believeable teenage boy, who both worships women while not understanding them in the slightest ["You never know for sure how girls' minds work (do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glassjar?")] His futile act of heroism at the end is frustrating and slightly touching.

You can read it: here (http://www.tiger-town.com/whatnot/updike/).

Hugh_Grant
08-10-2009, 06:00 PM
Awesome. The short story with which I always begin the semester!

I own that Harcourt Brace Casebook on "A&P."

Mara
08-10-2009, 06:03 PM
I own that Harcourt Brace Casebook on "A&P."

Sweet. It was the only picture I could find that wasn't of just a generic A&P.

Mara
08-10-2009, 06:05 PM
Last one coming up.

By the way, I'm sure there are hundreds of wonderful short stories I either haven't read or forgot to include, so feel free to make recommendations. If you include quotes and links, all the better.

Mara
08-10-2009, 06:15 PM
Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/welcome_to_the_monkey_houselar ge.jpg

Genre: Science Fiction, Allegory


A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen – upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right side up. The picture showed the full length of Harrison against a background calibrated in feet and inches. He was exactly seven feet tall.

Summary: In a future dedicated to absolute equality, those of extraordinary talent, beauty or intelligence are handicapped to make them more normal. This is challenged by Harrison Bergeron, an impossibly handsome, strong, brilliant boy.

Why it's great: This is a story that has grown on me over the years. The first I read it, it rankled me, because even for a science fiction story, it is deliberately and obviously unrealistic. Only as I read and reread the story did the story's excesses begin to make sense to me. It's a story of superlatives. I really love it now.

You can read it: here. (http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html)

Mara
08-10-2009, 07:02 PM
Notes to self:

Read:
"Put Yourself in My Shoes" by Raymond Carver
"The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane (? Maybe)
That book of M. R. James ghost stories that I totally bought but haven't read yet
"The Hunger Artist" by Franz Kafka
"Yam Gruel" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
"Kaleidoscope" by Ray Bradbury (? May have read before)
"The Bear" by William Faulkner

Reread:
"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" by Ernest Hemmingway
"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner

Ezee E
08-12-2009, 02:01 PM
Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway (1927)


Just read this, and I loved it. I should really check out more Hemingway, love that style of writing.

Mara, have you read The Pardoner's Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales? I had to study one of the Tales in High School, and adored that one. I even modernized it into a short script that I never filmed.

Sven
08-12-2009, 02:12 PM
Did you ever see the film version of Harrison Bergeron? It's weird.

Mara
08-12-2009, 02:26 PM
Mara, have you read The Pardoner's Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales? I had to study one of the Tales in High School, and adored that one. I even modernized it into a short script that I never filmed.

I read the Canterbury Tales whole years and years ago. I need to check that one out again, as my memory of it is fuzzy.



Did you ever see the film version of Harrison Bergeron? It's weird.

Hmm what now? Why would anybody do that? Apparently, it's been done repeatedly.

Sean Astin did a made-for-tv version... Sean Astin. Sweet, cuddly Sean playing the handsomest, most intelligent man in the world. Way to cast, dumb-person-who-cast-this.

Mara
08-12-2009, 02:30 PM
YouTube has it. Dare I? It looks just awful.

Ezee E
08-12-2009, 02:31 PM
I read the Canterbury Tales whole years and years ago. I need to check that one out again, as my memory of it is fuzzy.



The rest of them I didn't care for, but that one has stuck in my head ever since I read it. Ten years ago now.

The only other Canterbury Tale I remember is what basically remember being a farting contest. Seriously.

Mara
08-12-2009, 02:36 PM
A few of the stories I listed would make good films or short films. "Hills Like White Elephants," if kept quiet and subtle, would make a great short film. And I know I saw a film version of "All Summer in a Day" back in my elementary school days. And someone said that "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" was made into a Twilight Zone episode.

But "Harrison Bergeron," no. Not everything was made to translate to a different format.

Ezee E
08-12-2009, 02:42 PM
A google of Hills Like White Elephants showed some youtube clips. Student films I'm guessing, but I'm curious how they approach it.

Mara
08-12-2009, 02:47 PM
A google of Hills Like White Elephants showed some youtube clips. Student films I'm guessing, but I'm curious how they approach it.

Yes, you're right... they all look so cheap, though. I'd like to see someone do it seriously. In Spain. With real actors and original beautiful-but-restrained music. The clink of the beer bottles. Tiny, polite beads of sweat on the brow. Gorgeous period costumes. Hushed voices and despondency.

Hugh_Grant
08-12-2009, 02:57 PM
There is a short film adaptation of "A&P" starring Sean Hayes as Sammy. I showed it to my students once and afterwards asked the difference between the film and the story. One smart aleck said, "Jack doesn't like girls."

Mara
08-12-2009, 03:07 PM
By the way, I did a science fiction short story unit in, like, seventh grade that I still remember fondly. Several of the stories stuck with me and I've reread over the years, but there's one I keep looking for and I can't find. All this "Harrison Bergeron" talk reminds me of it, because it has similar themes.

It was probably written for kids or young people. It's in a future where a little boy is going in for intelligence testing, and his parents keep shushing him and telling him not to ask so many questions. At the end, he's killed by the government for being too smart. Anyone know this one?

Mara
08-12-2009, 03:09 PM
There is a short film adaptation of "A&P" starring Sean Hayes as Sammy. I showed it to my students once and afterwards asked the difference between the film and the story. One smart aleck said, "Jack doesn't like girls."

One could argue that Sammy doesn't much like girls, either.

Mara
08-12-2009, 03:15 PM
Yes, you're right... they all look so cheap, though. I'd like to see someone do it seriously. In Spain. With real actors and original beautiful-but-restrained music. The clink of the beer bottles. Tiny, polite beads of sweat on the brow. Gorgeous period costumes. Hushed voices and despondency.

Anthony Minghella should have done this. :sad:

Ezee E
08-12-2009, 03:17 PM
Anthony Minghella should have done this. :sad:
I wonder how many times we see the woman rub her belly in the short film, or how horrible the actors are. I'm going to watch a bit of it when I get home.

Hugh_Grant
08-12-2009, 03:17 PM
Found it ("A&P"):
http://www.spike.com/video/p/978359

It's 17 minutes long.

This morning, while going through stacks of books, I found an anthology of American short stories. I'll give the table of contents a look-see.

D_Davis
08-12-2009, 10:24 PM
Notes to self:

Read:

That book of M. R. James ghost stories that I totally bought but haven't read yet


Yep.

You'd probably like Arthur Machen and Robert W. Chambers as well. Check out The Great God Pan (Machen) - it's a novella - and Chambers' brilliant collection The King in Yellow.

D_Davis
08-12-2009, 10:26 PM
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/10064449The-Tell-Tale-Heart-the-Mur.jpg
.

Great story - and what a cool picture.

Qrazy
08-14-2009, 09:55 PM
Notes to self:

Read:
"Put Yourself in My Shoes" by Raymond Carver
"The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane (? Maybe)
That book of M. R. James ghost stories that I totally bought but haven't read yet
"The Hunger Artist" by Franz Kafka
"Yam Gruel" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
"Kaleidoscope" by Ray Bradbury (? May have read before)
"The Bear" by William Faulkner

Reread:
"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" by Ernest Hemmingway
"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner


Hunger Artist (http://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/kafka/hungerartist.htm)

I'm just going to assume without re-reading it that this is a legit copy.

Qrazy
08-14-2009, 09:55 PM
Great story - and what a cool picture.

It reminds me of my childhood.

Philosophe_rouge
08-17-2009, 05:35 AM
I’m surprised to have read any of these, I was already familiar with The Yellow Wall Paper and Hills like White Elephants, two short stories that are different in presentation and prose, but seemed thematically linked by troubled relationships and childbirth. I’m slowly making my way through the others you’re posting, I’ve already read the first three, and you’ve yet to lead astray. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is particularly affecting, and it evokes a strange and beautiful dream feeling. Though the title is familiar, I didn’t know what to expect, though reading it, I was struck my how much it feels like my own nightmares. It evokes a relationship with surroundings that is unnatural, and unconscious… something that is so difficult to pull off, and yet, is done so perfectly.

Also, I ADORE the Tell Tale Heart, perhaps still my favourite Poe. I adapted as a film project for a course, and it was probably the best thing I’ve ever done. I kinda screwed up the tone and perception in the second half, but I think it translated well. I transformed the protagonist to a woman, and the old man, to her husband, who had a smile that drove her mad. I also changed the setting somewhat, updating it to the first half of the 20th century, though still somewhat undefined.

Yea. Also love Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, which someone on Match-cut actually introduced to me, though I don’t remember who exactly. Maybe Daniel Davis?

Mara
08-17-2009, 12:30 PM
I transformed the protagonist to a woman

Interesting note-- there is nothing in the story that implies, in any way, that the narrator is a man. Could very well be a woman. I left that out of my analysis because it just feels like a man is speaking.

Philosophe_rouge
08-17-2009, 03:52 PM
Interesting note-- there is nothing in the story that implies, in any way, that the narrator is a man. Could very well be a woman. I left that out of my analysis because it just feels like a man is speaking.

You know, I never even thought of that, and apparently few others have as I've only ever seen it played by a man. Do any Poe stories have a female "voice" or protagonist? I can't think of one off hand.

Mara
08-17-2009, 04:02 PM
You know, I never even thought of that, and apparently few others have as I've only ever seen it played by a man. Do any Poe stories have a female "voice" or protagonist? I can't think of one off hand.

A teacher pointed it out to me, once. A quick google search pulled up this (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides2/Telltale.html) rebuttal:


The Narrator: Deranged unnamed person who tries to convince the reader that he is sane. The narrator's gender is not identified, but Poe probably intended him to be a man. Here is why: Poe generally wrote from a male perspective, often infusing part of himself into his main characters. Also, in major short stories in which he identifies the narrator by gender–stories such as "The Black Cat," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "The Fall of the House of Usher"–the narrator is male. Finally, the narrator of "A Tell-Tale Heart" exhibits male characteristics, including (1) A more pronounced tendency than females to commit violent acts. Statistics demonstrate overwhelmingly that murder is a male crime. (2) Physical strength that would be unusual in a female. The narrator drags the old man onto the floor and pulls the bed on top of him, then tears up floorboards and deposits the body between joists. (3) The narrator performs a man's chore by bringing four chairs into the old man's bedroom, one for the narrator and three for the policemen. If the narrator were a woman, the policemen probably would have fetched the chairs. But they did not.

lovejuice
08-21-2009, 03:38 PM
love your choices especially Bradbury and Bananafish.

what do you think of O. Henry and Raymond Carver? I expect people who dig Roal Dahl and Hemmingway will dig them respectively.

Mara
08-27-2009, 03:35 PM
I can't find them online to save my life, but I find myself wanting to reread some Daphne Du Maurier, particularly "The Apple Tree" and "The Blue Lenses," which are both excellent. They are less literary than some of the choices on this list, but Du Maurier is very good at her particular brand of scary story.

Ezee E
08-29-2009, 11:03 PM
A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J. D. Salinger (1948)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/maragirl/031676950901LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Genre: Fiction



Summary: Seymour Glass and his wife, Muriel try to vacation in Florida. Seymour is shell-shocked from the war.

Why it's great: The debate about Salinger's greatest works will be settled by people with far more patience than I. They will laud and decry The Catcher in the Rye, they will rave and cry about Franny and Zoe. They will shout "Esme!" and they will pick apart the Glasses. For my part, and heaven knows I'm not going to get into an argument about it, you can't go wrong with Bananafish. It covers Salinger's favorite picking points: isolation, materialism, death, anger, sexual confusion, mental illness and loss of love.

Also check out: The other eight stories in Nine Stories.
Just read this one. It's the first out of the nine stories, and a perfect companion for Catcher in the Rye. Looking forward to the rest of the stories.

Dead & Messed Up
08-31-2009, 07:06 AM
I can't find them online to save my life, but I find myself wanting to reread some Daphne Du Maurier, particularly "The Apple Tree" and "The Blue Lenses," which are both excellent. They are less literary than some of the choices on this list, but Du Maurier is very good at her particular brand of scary story.

Yes to this.

Also, loving this list. I just caught up with it in the past thirty minutes. Some thoughts:

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
I haven't read it, but I have seen the Zone episode, and it is a superb one. If there's a way for you to Netflix it or find it online, I recommend it highly.

"The Yellow Wallpaper"
You say it's comparable to Poe and Lovecraft, and you're right. I'd also suggest that it's better than Lovecraft. Great choice, and its feminist angle gives it an inviting sense of depth.

"The Rats in the Walls"
With Lovecraft, the shorter the better. His novella stuff kinda bores me, but punchy stories like this one work damn well. Other shorter ones I liked include "Pickman's Model," "The Music of Erich Zann," and "The Cats of Ulthar."

"The Tell-Tale Heart"
A great one - I memorized the thing and performed it for a speech class back in high school. Of his macabre stories, my favorite is "The Fall of the House of Usher," but you're right to ask people to expand. My favorite Poe growing up was "The Gold Bug," and there's still a terrific sense of discovery and intelligence to that one.

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"
...is fun. Damn fun.

"Harrison Bergeron"
I read this last year, and I enjoyed it very much. Disturbing, uplifting, deflating, and awfully funny. It was my first exposure to Vonnegut, and I hope to read more soon.

---

Were I making a list, I would include "The Miller's Tale" from Chaucer, which is a wonderfully debauched sex farce (an "interlinear" text is available here (http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/milt-par.htm)). Just in general, The Canterbury Tales is a deep, impressive piece of work - I think you'd dig it.

Since you're receptive to darker short stories, I'd recommend Clive Barker's "In the Hills, the Cities" and Thomas Ligotti's "The Red Tower."

Oh, and this:


That book of M. R. James ghost stories that I totally bought but haven't read yet

made me laugh. I also have a book of M. R. James short stories, and I've read maybe three of them so far, of which I can't remember much.
[quote]

Wryan
09-01-2009, 06:26 PM
Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann" is one of my absolute favorite pieces of short fiction. It has such punch and detail. I can see it instantly and throughout.

Mara
09-04-2009, 03:16 PM
The Swimmer by John Cheever (1964)....


This story was most assuredly read by those who write for Mad Men.


I KNEW IT. I just read an article that mentioned several clever references to Cheever in Mad Men, particularly that Don Draper's family lives in Ossining, New York, which was Cheever's home town.