Writing short stories. What should I read?

[Anonymous No.10826951]

I'm writing short stories but I'm not nearly as well read as I should be. What are some great short stories, collections, authors, analyses, or even philosophy that I should read to optimize my short story writing or literary fiction writing in general? Even books on writing would help, as I've seen noticeable improvement from reading Art of Fiction by Gardner.

[Anonymous No.10826992]

>>10826951
Bump

[Anonymous No.10827058]

John Updike's 'A&P' might be the most perfect American short story ever written. if you Ignore all my other recs, read this one.
http://www.tiger-town.com/whatnot/updike/

Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge; you read it in high school but read it again
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/375/375-h/375-h.htm

Disnae Matter by Irvine Welsh
https://thebaffler.com/stories/disnae-matter

Also Wodehouse really knocks short stories out of the park; particularly 'Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend'.

You definitely want to read a wide cross-section of styles, to get a good idea of what short stories can be. Also try to read collections cover-to-cover instead of trying to pick out the interesting ones. They're grouped together for a reason.

[Anonymous No.10827064]

>>10827058
Thanks a lot I'll check this all out

[Anonymous No.10827133]

>>10826951

>Raymond Carver
"Less is more." Read everything he wrote. If you don't want to do that, read Fat and Cathedral.

>Guys and Dolls (Damon Runyan)
Who needs the past tense? (Or the future tense?)

>900 Grandmothers (R.A.Lafferty)
This collection might be hard to find these days, but you can look for other stuff by him. Ostensibly sci-fi but they aren't really. Anarchic, wacky, anything-goes, cartoonish, and serious at the same time.

>Tales of the Unexpected (Roald Dahl)
"Twist-in-the-tale" done just about perfectly. Try "The Hitch-Hiker" for a taster.

>Flannery O'Connor
Gotta try at least one. Everyone will point you at "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", but there are many other gems. "Good Country People" is just about the best account in literature of how easily a bluestocking and her leg can be parted.

>Ernest Hemingway
An influence on Carver, obviously. The Nick Adams Stories, Hills Like White Elephants, etc, etc

>John Cheever
If you want "unease lurking just below a well-ordered surface with a touch of magic realism", there's no-one better. Try The Enormous Radio or The Swimmer (which everyone will throw at you anyway).

>The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle)
If you only read one, make it The Speckled Band. There's not much of a mystery but that's not the point. The point is Holmes. And Watson. The perfect comfy antidote to Cheever's uneasiness.

[Anonymous No.10827183]

B

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[Anonymous No.10828700]

>>10826951
just don't read the feminist ones

[Anonymous No.10829652]

>>10827133
This is great thanks

[Anonymous No.10829708]

>>10826951
Read Borges' Collected Fictions, Cortázar's Blow-Up, Rulfo's The Burning Plain.

[Anonymous No.10829720]

>>10826951
Alice Munro, Chekhov, Hemingway, for starters

Or just buy a subscription to any pseudo-pretentious lit mag.

[Anonymous No.10829741]

>>10829720
>Or just buy a subscription to any pseudo-pretentious lit mag.

Don't, for the love of god don't.
A bunch of litmags I've been published in include a year's subscription with the submission fee and I feel so embarrased that my fiction appears next to some of the shit they clear for print.

Get an anthology, avoid lit mags at all costs.

[Anonymous No.10829744]

Dubliners

[Anonymous No.10830561]

>>10826951
>Guy de Maupassant
>Anton Chekhov
those are two great short story writers to start with. Both of them came damn near to perfection with their short fiction. And both can be found easily online.