Short Stories

[Anonymous No.8396038]

what are some of /lit/'s favorite short stories? it seems like short fiction is underrated here

[Anonymous No.8396040]

Its a collection of short stories, but The Last Wish by Andrei Sapkowski (idk how to spell properly) is really good. Technically the first book in a fantasy series, this one is far batter than the others and each story provides a fascinating look at Polish medieval myths and culture, and an introduction to the grizzled character of Geralt the Witcher.

[Anonymous No.8396048]

The Dubliners by James Joyce is my favourite short story.

[Anonymous No.8396052]

>>8396038
>short fiction is underrated here
Not really, it's just that there aren't very many that are very good.

If you're looking for collections that are god-tier in their entirety, more or less, you can't go wrong with Joyce's Dubliners or Borges' Ficciones or OP's pic related. Chekhov and Carver are two other masters of the form.

If you're asking for some of my personal favourites who I believe are somewhat underrated these days, check out Silvina Ocampo and Bruno Schulz.

[Anonymous No.8396083]

Last book I finished was a collection of short stories by Breece D'J Pancake entitled 'Trilobite'.
Honestly, I haven't been that engaged by a book of short stories since the last time I read a collection of Henry Lawson's. Yeah, the theme's and some of the plots were kind of done-already, even though it was written in the 1970's. The prose was timeless. It really felt like contemporary West Virginia (inb4) with the heartfelt characters and simple but still all-encompassing domestic issues. It was a basic type of writing sure, but the sincerity of story-telling was pretty compelling, and made every story worth reading.

I can't recommend the collection enough.

'The Honored Dead' was my personal favourite, hopefully the link works.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1981/01/the-honored-dead/376302/

Also, I'll link a popular classic if anyone hasn't read it...
http://styrofoam.voidaudio.net/ihavenomouthandimustscream.pdf

[Anonymous No.8396091]

>>8396083
>Yeah, the theme's and some
Sorry, kinda drunk = renegade apostrophes.

[Anonymous No.8396093]

>>8396052
>it's just that there aren't very many that are very good.
I'd argue that still makes them underrated, maybe even moreso

[Anonymous No.8396094]

>>8396038
Gene Wolfe Best of
Flannery O'Connor, Eveything That Rises Must Converge
Gogol, Collected Short Stories
Chekov, Collected Short Stories
Chesterton, Father Brown Stories
Joyce, Dubliners

[Anonymous No.8396124]

Kjell Askildsen all day every day!

[Anonymous No.8396130]

Elephant and other stories by Raymond carver is goat
You won't be disappointed

[Anonymous No.8396136]

>>8396038
-Barn Burning by Faulkner
-All of Bartheleme
-Most of Saunders
-Ficciones by Borges (this one is particularly prime)
-Dubliners (though it can be boring af at times)
-Most of Ann Beattie
-Jesus Son by Dennis Johnson
-Collected Cheever
-Collected Kafka
-Complete Hemingway
-Winesburg, Ohio by Anderson
-Poe (for nostalgia, mostly)
-Scattered bits of Zadie Smith
-Good Old Neon by Wallace
-Jumping Frog of Cavaliers County by Twain

[Anonymous No.8396140]

Hemingway's short stories are superior to his novels. I'd even go as far as to say they're the best English language short stories you'll find.

[Anonymous No.8396157]

>>8396094
wonderful choices. I am going to be specific on individual stories.

Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories Gene Wolfe
The Changeling Gene Wolfe
The Life you save may be your own O'connor
A good man is hard to find O'connor
A rose for emily Faulkner
Nine Hundred Grandmothers Lafferty
Ride a Tin Can Lafferty
bianca's hand Sturgeon
Rose for Ecclesiastes Zelazny
Circular Ruins Borges
Scanners Live in Vain Cordwainer Smith
The Tell Tale Heart or Cask of Amontillado Poe
NIghtingale and the Rose Wilde
Gift of the Magi O Henry
the story of an hour chopin
araby Joyce
the vane sisters Nabokov

[Anonymous No.8396170]

>>8396157
addition: Repent Harlequin said the ticktock man or I have no mouth and I must scream, ellison
perfect day for bananafish salinger
hills like white elephants or snows of kilimanjaro by hemingway

[Anonymous No.8396374]

Richard Yates' collections: Eleven Kinds of Loneliness and Liars in Love.

[Anonymous No.8396403]

>>8396374
This was rad as fuck I'm glad someone else appreciates it

>>8396038
Also pic related is for you OP

[Anonymous No.8396406]

>>8396403
There's not enough love for Yates on this board. He's one of my favourites.

[Anonymous No.8396704]

>>8396374
I heard about these collections and they seem right up my alley, suburban tales of quiet devastation. I'll probably read these soon.

Also what's the consensus on Cheever here? He's never talked about, but I've heard him described as the Carver of New England.

[Anonymous No.8396842]

>>8396403
Really no Carver in there ? wew, to hell with this board

[Anonymous No.8396948]

Oscar Wildes'. Also Lovecraft and Poe are great.

Big fan of short stories.

[Anonymous No.8398210]

>took an elective on the American short story
>every single short story is by Edgar Allen Poe

JUST
U
S
T

[Anonymous No.8398222]

True Trash by Margaret Atwood.

[Anonymous No.8398227]

>>8398210
So far, to me Poe has been pretty much hit or miss. Way more hits than misses, but still there's the odd short story that just isn't good enough.

[Anonymous No.8398245]

>>8396136
Where would you place Sherwood Anderson in terms of American shirt story writers? I'm intrigued by Winesburg, Ohio's format, but isn't it just what Eliot did in Middlemarch or Woolf in various pieces?

[Anonymous No.8398258]

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, The Battler and Fifty Grand, all by Hemingway.

[Anonymous No.8398297]

>>8398227

I get what your saying, but after reading so many it's becoming repetitive. His formula of:

>Latin/German/foreign language quote
>paragraph on how horrible the world is
> story of "unspeakable horrorrrrr"
>the usual live burial or fits of rage/monomania
>end with violence and gore

Just gets old after a while.

Oh well

[Anonymous No.8398345]

>>8396038
The Last Question has gone without a mention. Yet more hate crimes committed daily by 4chan. It's not great prose, just great thinking.

Gonna rec Catherine Anne Porter's The Jilting of Granny Weatherall as well.

[Anonymous No.8398360]

>>8396052
heavily reccing carver - "would you please be quiet please" was phenomenal.

[Anonymous No.8399799]

lost in the funhouse

[Anonymous No.8399888]

>>8396124
>Kjell Askildsen
Selected Stories by Kjell Askildsen does anyone have the epub please?

[Anonymous No.8400222]

I greatly enjoyed Nabokov's short stories

[Anonymous No.8400298]

>>8396038
this collection has some pretty good ones

[Anonymous No.8400423]

>>8398245
Oh god no. Anderson couldn't be further from those two stylistically, let alone content wise. The "veneration of muh country folk" is a superficial reading of Anderson. I like to think of him as Hemingway before Hemingway was a thing, a worthy predecessor to Twains "muh corncobby storyteller" aesthetic but with the dignity and self-control of Chekhov. He's just really pretty at times with his stories.

[Anonymous No.8400427]

>>8400423
*successor, I meant

[Anonymous No.8400487]

The most recent ones I read were last evenings on earth and I enjoyed it a lot.

[Anonymous No.8400741]

>>8400487
Bolaño is dope af. I really enjoy his short stories. You should try Nazi Literature in the Americas.

[Anonymous No.8401033]

>>8400741
>>8400487
is it possible that his translations make it better?

I mean, I've read most of his work in its original translation (i'm spanish) and I really didn't like it, too dragging

[Anonymous No.8401082]

>>8401033
that's his thing. So you might not enjoy them translated. Give one a try I guess.

[Anonymous No.8401144]

>>8401082
Oh okay, I just wanted to make sure it was just me lmao
By the way, I do enjoy some of his, it's just that I don't think he's the genius people make him out to be... still have to read 2666.

Have read Llamadas Telefonicas, Putas Asesinas and Literatura Nazi in America (this one was my favorite).

[Anonymous No.8401171]

>>8401144
broder, la verdad que no se que decirte. Maybe he's just not for you.

[Anonymous No.8401201]

>>8401171
Quizás no ! I assumed that but I just wondered for a sec there if it was maybe something else... seeing how praised he is i couldn't not get it!!! jk, peace, still respect his style tho (i kinda like Vila-Matas better? idk i knew him through him)

should i try 2666 or not even?

[Anonymous No.8401299]

>>8401201
It's big for a reason. He tends to drag but I like that. there is not a lot of action going on in many of it's parts. I dont want to ruin the book for you but it sounds like you wont enjoy it. either way read the first part and if you enjoy it keep going, if not then drop it because most of the book except for some parts here and there are very similar.

[Anonymous No.8401304]

Etgar Keret is one of the best contemparary short story writers.

Read him if you haven't yet.

Supposedly a Knock on the Door is the place to start. Funny, imaginative, easy to read. He's from Isreal. Jew, but a great one.

[Anonymous No.8401318]

>>8401299
Yeah, I see. So I guess my problem is with his dragging which is what makes him a master... fuck.

I guess you could say I tried. Gracias hermano! I'll keep that in mind if i decide to read it. (btw, no sabia que había españoles en /lit/)