The Short Story
I’ve been up to my metaphorical armpits in short stories lately. I’m editing an LDS short fiction anthology for Zarahamla Books and as a result I’ve been reading back issues of all the RBS magazines (of course) as well as Googling relatively obscure Mormon authors and emailing relatively famous ones. It’s been fun. Sure, I’ve read a number of so-so stories, but I’ve also come across some real gems. The short story as a form is alive and well in Mormon letters, and I’m excited about this anthology and all the literary goodies it will include.
But I realize short stories aren’t, well, popular. Conventional wisdom says that short stories don’t sell. Actually, conventional wisdom says it, and the people at publishing houses who are responsible for making money say it too. Of course, we’re hoping that this short story anthology will sell well, especially if it gets picked up for college courses, but it’s very rare that a short fiction anthology or collection breaks out and sells in the same way a well-received novel might.
As a short story lover, I look forward to every October when I can buy the latest installment of Best American Short Stories, and I thoroughly enjoy judging Irreantum’s annual short fiction contest, even when it means wading through 75 entries to come up with the three or four stories that really wow me, like our 2007 winner by Jack Harrell. And even though I’ve tried writing a traditional novel (and I haven’t given up on that goal yet), my book Bound on Earth is a novel-in-stories, and most of the chapters were written as stand alone short stories before they came together in a novel-like form. I get the short story. It speaks to me, delights me, occupies this sweet spot between the novel and the poem where (I believe) story and language are equally valued.
My question to you then: Do you love short stories? And if so, why? And which stories are some of your favorites? (Stories that have stayed with me since high school: Conrad Aiken’s “Silent Snow, Secret Snow”; Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”; Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”; Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People.” Contemporary stories I love: Michael Cunningham’s “White Angel”; Raymond Carver’s “A Small, Good Thing”; Sherman Alexie’s “What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” among many others.)
And if you don’t particularly care for short stories (and don’t worry, I know there are a many of you and will love you just the same), why? Especially if you’re a novel reader. What is it about the genre of the story that doesn’t engage you?
Finally, my list of short stories I’d like to include in the anthology is just about set, but if you have any suggestions for short fiction with a Mormon element written since 2000, let me know. I feel like I’ve been pretty thorough, but I’d hate to let any truly excellent stories fall through the cracks.
p.s. Check out A Motley Vision’s plan to further the cause of the Mormon short story.
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February 11th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
People like Michael Chabon and Stephen King are always talking about the death of the short story, so I suppose it must be true. But I still read them; my favorites are like springs. They’re tightly wound, and pack a punch when they release, or they squeeze every last drop of joy out of a wild conceit that would never work in novel form. As I write this I realize it seems odd, because some of my favorite novels are the opposite; they’ve got long, meandering plots, full of interesting vignettes and wonderful writing – Watership Down, James Ellroy’s earlier stuff, and Susanna Clarke’s wonderful Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.
Anyhow, the ones that jump to mind are: O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Norman Spinrad’s “Carcinoma Angels.” Italo Calvino’s “Good for Nothing,” Card’s “The Porcelain Salamander.” Carver’s “Cathedral” struck me at a very personal level. Alice Munro had a great one in the New Yorker a year or so ago called “Free Radicals.” Elmore Leonard’s “How Carlos Webster Changed His Name to Carl and Became a Famous Oklahoma Lawman.” Hemingway’s “Indian Camp” for that wonderful last line. Oh, and HP Lovecraft. Heh.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
I suppose a lot of the problem short stories have is, like several media that I love, not having as much of a selling venue. Novels sell because buying the whole feels like a full purchase, but short stories can’t really sell individually, and buying a collection for one or two I like always feels disappointing. You’d think that the internet would offer a nice venue, but they don’t seem to sell, and I don’t know what kinds of websites would get them well known, out to the public. I think if short stories can find themselves a new readership niche/forum, they’ll not die half so fast, but finding ways to really get them out there (to people not specifically looking for them) is the difficulty.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:15 am
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Angela—
I have to recommend a One Story subscription. By far (imho) the best fiction outlet anywhere at present.
As for stories that have really changed me: James Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat”, DH Lawrence’s “The Horse-Dealer’s Daughter”, Roald Dahl’s “Taste”, Earl Godwin’s “Daddy”, the potato-head story from a mid90s Halloween New Yorker, a short story by Jonathan Winters (of all people)…. Plenty.
I love the short story.
February 12th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Matt, I’m with you on many of the stories you cited. And I agree about long, sprawling novels–I’m reading Middlesex right now (okay, listening to it on audiobook while I work out, which doesn’t quite qualify as reading, I know)–but I’m loving it. I love a nice meaty multi-generational novel. But I also love a tightly wound short story.
Christian, you make a very good point. Too bad there’s no iTunes for short fiction, where you can build your own “playlist” of great stories and buy them that way. Wouldn’t that be cool? Print on demand personalized short story collecitons? “One Story” is a great idea too, though, Eric. And now I’m intrigued about the potato-head story . . .
February 12th, 2009 at 8:26 am
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I tried to find it online to be more specific, but no luck. I don’t know the author or title. I was pretty sure it was a double-issue Halloween-themed 1994, but the cover looked wrong and I couldn’t figure out how to see the ToC. That issue does have the Stephen King story I thought was with it though, so if you’re at a library (or have the complete NY on DVD) hopefully you could find it.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:05 am
1. Thanks for the plug, Angela.
2. Here’s a (hopefully) corrected link for One Story.
3. I love short stories. And I’ve also expressed love for the novella (and novelette) and suggested that it’s a good genre for the Web (and for Mormons). My love for short stories really took off when my grandfather purchased a copy of The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald (the Matthew J. Bruccoli edition — not the later lame ones) when I was a high school. I had enjoyed Gatsby and discovered that Tender is the Night wasn’t that great, but when I visited my grandparents and dug in to the short stories, I realized what a great writer Fitzgerald was — and what a great and varied form the short story could be.
Some of his stuff may seem a bit out of date, but I think if you can get past The Modern Idea of the Short Story, some of the stories are very moving, meaningful and fun.
Later I read Joyce’s Dubliners, of course, and “The Dead” quickly became the standard by which I judged all other stories.
I could go on much longer, but one thing I like about the short story is that it not only can pack a punch, but it’s a great venue for experimentation in creation, style, point of view, etc. What would be annoying or lame in a novel can sometimes work well in a short story.
One example from my own meager creative writing output (which has mainly been short stories so far) is a short story I wrote based on the Postal Service album “Give Up.” As I mentioned at Kulturblog (where you can also find a link to the story), I wrote each movement or episode of the story while listening to a track from the album.
The ending is a bit weak, but it was a lot of fun. And not something that I would do with a novel.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
For future reference (since I have a comment stuck in moderation) — what’s the “max number of links” you all have WordPress set to? Is it two or three? Because I’ll just break up my comment in the future so I can avoid moderation.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
William, I don’t know about the comment moderation thing (but thanks for the heads up so I could go in and approve your final comment.) I’m not all that techno-savvy. Rory’s our blog guy, so I’ll ask him. And yes, “The Dead,” definitely. Thanks for your links, too.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
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And thanks for fixing my link, Wm.
February 12th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
I don’t think I care too much for the modern short story. It seems like they tend towards unhappy endings, or worse, abrupt endings with no resolution. I guess those are ok, if they lead me to ponder.
I do like the bite-sized morsels, though. My favorites tend to be collections by authors that I already enjoy. (King and son, Connie Willis, for example.)
Also, Congrats to you on your Whitney nominations! Outstanding! =)
February 12th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
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Stephen King? And which son? I know of two that write excellent short stories. I’ve read many of Joe Hill’s and only one of Owen King’s, but both have impressed me mightily.
February 12th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I’m mostly a novel reader myself, but in the last few years I’ve really enjoyed Jhumpa Lahiri’s collections, “The Interpreter of Maladies” and “Unaccustomed Earth,” although the stories in the latter were interconnected enough that I felt like I’d been reading a novel when I finished.
February 13th, 2009 at 8:39 am
FHL, I agree that so many short stories have a sense of sadness, or an “incomplete” quality. I get bugged by that occasionally, too. I think it’s harder for a short piece to earn its happy ending. It’s so difficult to pull off without dipping into sentimentality. In a novel, I think the challenges are bigger, so an ultimate triumph comes off as justified. It seems, too, that since a short story is short, the conflicts are (usually) smaller by necessity, and the resolutions are often a small change with little sense for what the future holds. One of the reasons I like Alexie’s “What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” is because it is infused with this sense of hope–and ends, in its own way, happily–without feeling treacly or sentimental. (Oh, and thanks for the congratulations!).
Shelah, “The Interpreter of Maladies” is really good. I especially like the title story with those monkeys. Alas, it doesn’t end well.
February 14th, 2009 at 10:12 am
I agree about “What You Pawn I Will Redeem.” It was published in the New Yorker during a time when I was reading the magazine regularly because my grandparents subscribed to it. I found it difficult to like or even admire most of the short stories that ran during that period when I was reading it weekly. But Alexie’s story was different. It hit all the right notes for me.
February 16th, 2009 at 10:25 am
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Shelah.
If you like Lahiri, I recommend Mary Clyde for your Mormon story jones.
February 17th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I am a lover of the short story
Wm Morris- I am with you on the F Scott Fitzgerald (I don’t love any of his novels but adore his short stories– I have the same Bruccoli ed., which is fabulous!) My husband and I read them our first year of marriage. My favorite is “Emotional Bankruptcy”. I lvoe how he toys with various concepts. I also love his Basil and Josephine stories – like “That Kind of Party” absolutely delightful, about kissing games something every child can relate to!
My other all time favorite is Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies (better than unaccustomed earth IMO) I really love the story “Sexy”. One day I will blog about it’s very interesting lingering question.
March 16th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
This is right here, in the present, not the future.