Short Stories
Short stories. Who reads them? I didn’t – until I took a class and fell in love with the form! There’s such a fascinating range of authors, who tell complex and engaging stories. Stories that make you laugh, cry, wonder, gasp, chuckle, shake your head in agreement or disbelief.
The Same Story, yet Different…
I’m not sure what made me open my eyes and see the amazing similarities between Tilly Olsen’s, As I Stand Here Ironing and Sonny’s Blues, by James Baldwin.
Initially, I didn’t connect the two at all. They seemed to be quite different stories – one told by a poor woman, ironing through the night and rationalizing her own role in the hard life her daughter seems destined to follow and the other expressed from the point-of-view of a successful black man as he looks out on the brother he sees struggling to overcome failure and drug addiction.
As I looked deeper, though, I began to see that these were, at their heart, the exact same story. Someone taking an honest look at the person they perhaps loved most in the world, and to whom they felt a deep and abiding responsibility and yet feared were beyond their care.
I loved making new discoveries and complexities as I wrote this paper. Read More »»
Wonderful writers, wonderful stories
Pick a story. Any story. Take 15 or 20 minutes and discover people and places you’d forgotten – or never knew – existed!
American Literature Short Stories
Appreciate a wide variety of authors and stories…
- Ambrose Bierce – Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
- Shirley Jackson – The Lottery
- D.H. Lawrence – The Rocking Horse Winner
- Tim O’Brien – The Things They Carried
- Edgar Allen Poe – The Cask of Amontillado
- Eudora Welty – A Worn Path
