Truly great short stories

[chaplin]

Logically, the best short story ever should come from the best short story writer ever.
And since Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is that writer, the best(s) would be:

A Boring Story (a.k.a. A Dreary Story)
In the Ravine
The Bishop
The Lady with the Little Dog

And Tolstoy also would have a few pieces in contention (even if they are long short, stories:

The Death of Ivan Ilych
Father Sergius
Hadji Murad

And Gogol:

The Overcoat
Diary of a Madman
Nevsky Prospect

Non-Russian pieces (and thus slightly lower in rank):

The Dead - Joyce
Benito Cereno - Melville
The Fall of the House of Usher - Poe
The Metamorphosis - Kafka
To Build A Fire - London

[greowulf]

The Carver story about the blind man was "Cathedral"....also Lawrence wrote "The Odour of Chrysanthemums" - not to be confused with Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums"....

[ballb]

Try anything by Ray Bradbury or William Trevor. Masters of the craft. But my own favourite is a little known short story by PG Wodehouse "In Alcala". It is written with an intensity that I found stunning in Plum`s writing. Suddenly you realize that the jokes have stopped and it hits you between the eyes like a rake from long grass.

[ThousandthIsle]

My favorite short story is The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell. Two other favorites are Robert Louis Stevenson's Olalla and Poe's Fall of the House of Usher.

Short stories are ideal for making any sort of profound "statement" (or portrayal), or writing something with the intention of making an intense impact. I find that open-ended stories that leave room for interpretation are often the ones that stick with me most... Certain ones seem to pop up in my memory from time to time, when an event or person in my own life will make me 'wonder' in the same way certain short stories did.

[Quark]

I'm trying to start a thread about my favorite short story writer, Chekhov. It's over at:

http://www.online-literature.com/for...770#post429770

Here's some of the explanation I gave over in that discussion:

"Chekhov is great for online discussion because he's an author that's accessible; but, at the same time, he's poetic and philosophical. Short stories don't make quite the demand that full length novels do, and laconic Realism is easier to grasp than voluble Modernism. But, that doesn't mean that just because Chekhov is terse the stories don't have subtlety. Often, clever turns of the plot reveal meaning and feeling to the story without the author having to directly explain to the reader the importance of events. Joseph Conrad, for example, has to purposely intervene in many of his stories to tell the reader what to think. In The Heart of Darkness, Marlowe has his adventure, but then he has to tell all the other sailors in asides and a final monologue how its important. That isn't to say Joseph Conrad is a horrible writer who should never be discussed online--in fact, I'm reading Nostromo right now. I'm only arguing that it's easier for the reader when the meaning is slowly revealed and not dictated at certain moments. Chekhov is considered one of the masters of the short story for his ability to manipulate the story and not the reader. He doesn't resort to sentimentality or weak intellectualism to tell his stories, yet he is still able to discuss the most important ideas in life like loss, death, memory, idealism, and self-image. It's literary things like this that I hope people get interested in."

Right now we're discussing "Rothschild's Violin". It's one of his best short stories talking about death and loss. You can get the full story, here, on LitNet at:

http://www.online-literature.com/anton_chekhov/1272/

[stanley]

hi guys.Im a chinese in south china.i love reading and im so happy to meet you here.

could you recommend some short stories?or the authers?

if i write wrong sentence,plx forgive my stupid brain.

[amalia1985]

Please, regard this as my personal opinion, because someone once "stoned" me when I recommended a book, and it happened not to be of his liking...

I would suggest you read Oscar Wilde's short stories, which is a classic for me. They would seem like tales, and that's what they are, but their undertone is shocking, indeed. Especially, "The Happy Prince", and "The Selfish Giant", and others.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's ones are also very interesting, dealing with a lot of themes, from science -the amasing "Birth-Mark"- to religion and society.

Last, I would suggest the collection of Tennessee Williams's short stories.They are my personal all-time favourites, thought-provoking, dark, and challenging.

Again, I must say that this is only a personal suggection.

Have a nice time here, stanley!!

[stanley]

wow,you gave me a great suggection!THX MUCH!!!

what did you say.i just need your personal suggection.HAHAH

[amalia1985]

You're very welcome.Have a great reading-time!!

[Nossa]

I loved a short story called 'There Will Come Soft Rains' by Ray Bradbury, I studied it last year and it's pretty good, so you might wanna read this along with other Bradbury short stories. James Joyce's Dubliners is also good. Earnest Hemingway's short stories are also a good read.

[manolia]

I second Joyce's "Dubliners". I am currently reading it and i like it very much
Try some Edgar Allan Poe's short stories (like "The Black Cat" or "The gold bug" or "The mask of the red death")..i'll always consider him as the best
I'd also recommend R.L Stevenson's short stories (like "The merry men" don't know if this can be called a short story or a novella ?? but it is rather short anyway) and Dicken's ghost stories (like "The haunted man and the ghost's bargain")

[bazarov]

Dostoevsky's Story from the Underground is the best short story in my opinion (IMO ), and his other stories are also very good.

[Nossa]

Try some Edgar Allan Poe's short stories (like "The Black Cat" or "The gold bug" or "The mask of the red death")

I second that. I have the complete short stories and they're terrific.

[lavendar1]

You've got some good suggestions already, but let me add a few:

"The Story of an Hour" -- Kate Chopin (short, sweet, and a good study on form of the short story)

"The Bet," "The Student," or "The Lady With the Lap Dog" -- Anton Chekhov

"Cathedral" or "Why Don't You Dance?" -- Raymond Carver

"The Found Boat" -- Alice Munro

Have fun reading! I like short stories because they're short (duh...) and if they're good, they pull you in right away and (by the time you're done) they give you a bit of a different way of looking at things.

[lisahead]

I once read a short story about a boy who kind of went crazy and thought that his house was buried in snow- does anyone know this story? I would like to re-read it.