{"id":191,"date":"2012-10-03T16:17:02","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T16:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joecarter\/?p=191"},"modified":"2012-10-03T16:17:02","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T16:17:02","slug":"25-favorite-short-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joecarter\/2012\/10\/25-favorite-short-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"25 Favorite Short Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In his\u00a0Devil\u2019s Dictionary<\/em>, Ambrose Pierce defined a novel as \u201ca short story padded.\u201d This is an all too apt description. The inability to prune a story to its essential story is an unfortunate quality shared by many modern writers and the primary reason that bookshelves are filled with bloated novels. William Faulkner once wondered if writers didn\u2019t become novelists after having failed at the short story, \u201cthe most demanding form after poetry.\u201d Perhaps this is the reason there are even fewer great short stories than there are great novels.<\/p>\n

Since I don\u2019t presume to know what works would fill the category of \u201cgreatest\u201d short fiction, the following list of short stories is not intended to be representative of the best or most profound works in a particular category. These are merely my favorite 25 stories (at least the ones I could remember) and not necessarily the ones I would argue are the best. (Yes, I know. This is a bit of a cop-out.)<\/p>\n

Except for the first entry\u2014which I\u00a0would<\/em>\u00a0argue is one of the greatest of all times\u2014the list is in no particular order. Links to the stories are provided whenever the stories are available online.<\/p>\n

1. Flannery O\u2019 Connor,\u00a0Parker\u2019s Back<\/em>\u00a0(The last story O\u2019Connor wrote should be, in my estimation, the first on any list of great short stories.)<\/p>\n

2. Leo Tolstoy,\u00a0Three Questions<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

3. Norman Maclean,\u00a0A River Runs Through It<\/em><\/p>\n

4. Frank Stockton,\u00a0The Lady or the Tiger?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

5. W.W. Jacobs,\u00a0The Monkey\u2019s Paw<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

7. Stephen Vincent Benet,\u00a0The Devil and Daniel Webster<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

8. George Saunders,\u00a0Pastoralia<\/em><\/p>\n

9. Jonathan Lethem,\u00a0Hardened Criminals<\/em>\u00a0(A strange tale that describes a prison in which walls are made entirely out of convicts.)<\/p>\n

10. Flannery O\u2019Connor,\u00a0Good Country People<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(A Cinderella story\u2014Southern Gothic style)<\/p>\n

11. Ring Lardner,\u00a0Haircut<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

12. Shusaku Endo,\u00a0The Final Martyrs<\/em>\u00a0(A moving tale of cowardly regret by one of Japan\u2019s best Christian writers.)<\/p>\n

13. Ernest Hemingway,\u00a0A Clean, Well-Lighted Place<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

14. Thom Jones,\u00a0The Pugilist at Rest<\/em><\/p>\n

15. Franz Kafka,\u00a0A Hunger Artist<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

16. Franz Kafka,\u00a0The Metamorphosis<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

17. Nathaniel Hawthorne,\u00a0The Birth-mark<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

18. James Thurber,\u00a0The Secret Life of Walter Mitty<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

19. Shirley Jackson,\u00a0The Lottery<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(A brilliant piece of fiction from a most underrated genre\u2014horror.)<\/p>\n

20. Jack London,\u00a0To Build A Fire<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

21. Richard Connell,\u00a0The\u00a0Most Dangerous Game<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

22. John Cheever,\u00a0The Swimmer<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(On first reading this story I couldn\u2019t see what all the fuss was about. But it\u2019s subtlety is its power. Years later I still can\u2019t forget the haunting ending.)<\/p>\n

23. Flannery O\u2019 Connor,\u00a0A Good A Man Is Hard To Find<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

24. George Saunders,\u00a0CivilWarLand in Bad Decline<\/em><\/p>\n

25. Jonathan Lethem,\u00a0The Happy Man<\/em>\u00a0(The soul of the main character in this strange story makes occasional visits to hell. His body, though, remains behind in a zombie-like state to be cared for by his exhaustively patient family. A peculiar, moving tale of speculative fiction by one of the best writers in America.)<\/p>\n

Honorable Mention \u2014 The shortest short story Ernest Hemingway ever wrote is one of his best\u2014and only six words long: \u201cFor Sale: Baby shoes, never Worn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which stories make your list?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his\u00a0Devil\u2019s Dictionary, Ambrose Pierce defined a novel as \u201ca short story padded.\u201d This is an all too apt description. The inability to prune a story to its essential story is an unfortunate quality shared by many modern writers and the primary reason that bookshelves are filled with bloated novels. William Faulkner once wondered if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\n25 Favorite Short Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In his\u00a0Devil\u2019s Dictionary, Ambrose Pierce defined a novel as \u201ca short story padded.\u201d This is an all too apt description. 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