Borges is probably the biggest short writer in the second half of the 20th century. For Americans, O Henry is probably the biggest for the first half.
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Borges is probably the biggest short writer in the second half of the 20th century. For Americans, O Henry is probably the biggest for the first half.
I jsut googled something about SHort story writers and found this page. I flipped throught the first three pages of this forum looking for Mansifield, and nada. Then I clicked on the last apge or something and Waa-laa! My two favorites, Gogol and Mansfield. However I just discovered K.M. Three days ago and Im absolutely Smitten.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zybahn
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. Absolutely amazing. It's been years since I've read it but it definitely left an impression.
recently i found O. Henry's short stories are very impressive and meaningful. but i think Anton chehov's short stories are the best ♡
I must try KM's short stories. I had read a poem by her not long ago online and loved it. She was good friends with D.H. Lawrence, who I adore, so I am sure I will like her writing very much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mercury Gone
Ambroise Pierce, humm.... I was just looking at my library audiobook website and saw a collection of short stories that was compiled by AP. I must try his stories, also. They sound so meaningful. I like Maupassant and also Chekhov and D.H. Lawrence, for short stories.
Dennis Lehane just came out with some of his short stories and I loved all of those.
Either Chekov's "Sorrow" or Wilde's "The Happy Prince"
We have a thread about "ten favourite novels", but I couldn't find any about favourite short stories... and I'm sure many of us read them quite a lot. So I thought it could be interesting to find out what other people think is "the best of the best of the best" :)
Try to write down:
- the name of the stories / collections
- the name of the author - please don't think that if it's your favourite book, others will surely know who wrote it as well.
- very briefly why you liked it or what's it about
Nathaniel Hawthorne "A Wonder Book"
his other short stories
James Joyce "The Dubliners"
A.S.Pushkin
G.K.Chesterton father Brown stories
Serbian short stories by Matavulj, Kocic, Domanovic, Kis.
1.The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
He's my favorite author and this is his best story. If I had to say why it's the best, I'd have to start with his amazing sense of style, and the actual rhythm of the language he uses. Then I would mention concrete all of his details are, how true to life his narrative is. Then there is the personality of the characters, and finally the subject matter itself: how a man faces death.
2.The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe
This is dark. It is funny. It is revenge at it's finest. It is four and a half pages without a word out of place. It is almost a poem.
3.To Build a Fire by Jack London
Another bleak, man versus nature, man versus self story. Hemingway and London are both masters of making nature into a character in their work. I love this story because it shows not the stoic facing of death as in Hemingway's story but the frantic struggle of it's protagonist to stay alive.
4.The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
The Ultimate man versus man scenario. A man uses his wits to overcome exceptional odds. A feature of this story is another element of numbers one and three on my list, and that is the understated tone of the narrators. Stories are often better when things are implied or left unsaid. Such is the case in this story's climactic ending.
5.The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Another example of things left unsaid. I love the build up and the misdirection at the beginning, and then the twist at the end which drives the whole thing home.
6.The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
What a beautiful example of repetition for effect and the rhythm of language.
7.All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
Such a sad story of childhood innocence. I read this as a kid and never forgot it.
8.Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor
An insightful account of modern family relationships.
9.The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
The master of irony.
10.Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell
Moral, thoughtful, and frequently violent: Orwell.
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, in Hemingway's collection Hemingway on Hunting. Come to think of it, everything in that collection is pretty top-notch.
If anyone says Annie Proulx's "The Half Skinned Steer," I'm going to leave this website and never come back. My god, what a terrible writer.
Thank you for mentioning Macomber. That would have made the list, but I figured one story by each author was enough and I wanted to limit my list to ten. I'd also recommend 12) The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 13) Was by William Faulkner from his Go Down, Moses, and 14) A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Technically it's a prose poem, but I also enjoy 15) The Bad Glazier by Charles Baudelaire from The Parisian Prowler.
My favourite short stories,in no particular order:
How Much Land Does a Man Need? - Tolstoy
The Wall - Sartre
In the Penal Colony,A Hunger Artist - Kafka
And,pretty much all of the short stories by Andrić.
great short works of fyodor dostoevsky i love dostoevsky and notes from the underground is amazing, as the rest of the stories in this collection
the dubliners joyce
any set of chekhov's longer stories with the black monk, ward 6,etc...
labyrinths by borges so many good stories
collected short stories marquez again full of amazing stories
a collection of kafka's short works...
and there are probably others that I cannot think of at the moment..
cheers