Comments on: The Best Short Stories: PW Staff Picks

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 03:36:17 +0000

*Jhumpa (sorry-typing on a new cell phone)

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 03:35:02 +0000

As a teacher of freshman composition, there is one short story that I have found brings about a reaction among all students in some way: A Temporary Matter by Jhunpa Lahiri. This may be because divorce affects so many people, but also because the ending can be read as either positive or negative which causes students to really consider the smaller elements in the story.

By: Tara Masih

Tara Masih — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 15:49:12 +0000

Thanks so much for highlighting short stories this week! Shows their enduring power, that some of these were written two centuries ago.

By: jenn

jenn — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 14:17:14 +0000

you must add Alice Munro, one of the best all time contemporary short story writers. Just finished a story of hers yesterday The Progress of Love, which strikes me as a perfect model for a short story. 1985. Flannery O’Connor’s haunting southern stories (the one where a woman sleeps with her dead husband’s body or vice versa) still stick with me. Katherine Mansfield is another favourite.

By: Rick Rofihe

Rick Rofihe — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:03:27 +0000

Not so short, but “Bartleby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville.

By: Hannah

Hannah — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:14:01 +0000

“All That You Love Will Be Carried Away” by Stephen King. I first heard about this one from a librarian and since the first time I’ve read it, the last few lines have never gone out of my mind.

And for more dark, grim fun: “The Scythe” by Ray Bradbury and Stanley Ellin’s “The Specialty of the House.”

And I second Joyce’s “The Dead” – reading that story definitely changes you forever.

By: Timothy Tocher

Timothy Tocher — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 17:29:55 +0000

Glad to see Wodehouse included. That’s a great story. I’m a Thurber fan. Hard to top The Secret Life of Walter Mitty or the less well known Sitting in the Catbird Seat.

By: Marcia

Marcia — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:54:31 +0000

oops. If I hadn’t been late to the party, I would have championed Flannery O’Connor. But Raymond Carver is here, so it’s all good.

By: Lori Belton

Lori Belton — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:22:12 +0000

The Reach by Stephen King

By: Chris Roberts

Chris Roberts — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:44:12 +0000

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is absolutely devastating in a refined way. William Faulkner’s makes use of the provincial as an actual character in his “Barn Burning.” There are many others, but these two put the story in short story.