I thought of another:
Maupassant, Boule de Suif
And an American,
Shirley Jackson, The Lottery
But to me, the short story blossomed in the mid-20th century, and surpasses anything which might be in the classic canon.
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I thought of another:
Maupassant, Boule de Suif
And an American,
Shirley Jackson, The Lottery
But to me, the short story blossomed in the mid-20th century, and surpasses anything which might be in the classic canon.
I have to put a plug in for "A Haunted House" by Virginia Woolf.
You can find it right here:
http://www.online-literature.com/virginia_woolf/856/
At just 700 words it reads more like poetry, and it's positively beautiful.
No one has listed 15 short stories yet...:lol:
My favorites:
"The Vanishing American" by Charles Beaumont
"Solo on the Drums" by Ann Petry
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce
"Pigs is Pigs" Ellis Parker Butler
"The Confession" by Anton Chekhov
"A Nincompoop" by A. Chekhov
"A Cure for Drinking" by A. Chekhov
"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Tell-Tale Heart" by E. A. Poe
"White Nights" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
"A Dream of a Ridiculous Man" by F. Dostoevsky
Heck, I only can name 11 off the top of my head. :D
A Rose For Emily - William Fualkner
Bartleby, the Scrivener - Herman Melville
The Blue Hotel - Stephan Crane
The Lady With the Dog - Aton Chekov
I am not a big fan of short story, so my choices are from a small pool.
I give my Booker to Edgar Allen Poe and Julio Cortazar, not choosing any story, with their complete works.
I once read and like Erskina Caldwell, with his "Martha Jean", "Looking at you Agnes". Surely a lot Heinrich Böll, I cant recall story names. Also I can find a few stories from known names as Borges, Chekhov, Hemingway.
Anyway to make you search and find, I 'll give one story name,
-apologizing Poe- my Booker of Booker goes to "End of the Game"
from Julio Cortazar.
Dubliners by joyce has some pretty good short stories (the Encounter, Two Gallants, A Little Cloud, Counterparts, Clay, A Painful Case,), but then theres some boring ones to that i just couldnt get into (mostly the longer one towards the end).
the best short story ive read is 70,000 Assyrians by William Saroyan. Its In The flying Trapizist and other short stories by William Saroyan writting always flows very well, althought sometimes he gets too descriptive in a few of the short stories and i lose intrest in what he was saying
I love The Hunger Artist too. Hmm, short stories...I liked the Diamond as big as the Ritz by F Scott Fitzgerald. Although maybe you'd call that a novella?Quote:
Originally Posted by ;5089
Ooh, and I like The Metamorphosis :)
Here's a few of my favorites.
The Wide Net - Eudora Welty (My favorite short story. I think Welty is one of the greatest writers of all time and it makes me sad that she doesn't get more attention)
See The Moon - Donald Barthelme (My favorite short story writer. His stories are always very strange and fun. I picked this one because I love the underlying sweetness behind it.)
A Haunted House - Virginia Woolf (Tiny and beautiful. It may be my favorite thing that Woolf ever wrote)
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - Ambrose Bierce
Harrison Bergeron - Kurt Vonnegut
The Diary of Adam and Eve - Mark Twain
Now these both were amazing stories! I especially remember getting very emotionally hit by the narration in A Dream of a Ridiculous Man.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dori
Its funny you should mention A Dream of a Ridiculous Man as I have it out to read tonight, its the last short story in a little compilation of Dostoevsky's short stories that I have. I'm glad its good :) I'm looking forward to it now.
Back to OP topic, I'm not sure that I have a favourite short story, I've only read a few, of those I've read I guess I liked Dostoevsky's White nights and Sartre's The Wall the most, though I've only read these in the last 2-3 months.
Diamond as Big as the Ritz is a strange one. There is so much description, but for some reason you can't wait to read more of it to feed your craving of picturing this absolute luxury.
Absolutely genious, yes. Jackson is the master of gloomy atmospheres.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tabac
I remember reading that story in like middle school I think it was.
I really like The Last Leaf by O Henry
"Babylon Revisited" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
"The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg" by Mark Twain
"The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Washington Irving
"An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce
Hm...