Great Short Stories…
In keeping with the literature theme, I figured I would move on from books to short stories, a personal favorite genre of mine. These are shorter works of fiction and nonfiction, though do not be confused by their genre title, they are packed and filled with themes, symbols, and other literary devices. The only difference between a novel/book and a short story is that there is much less jargon and minutia to plough through; though it must be stated, I do enjoy sifting through diction and dialect in order to find meaning.
Below are a list of short stories that are impacting, insightful, and phenominal. They have changed the way readers and critics observe and analyze works of literature; for that very reason, is why I have chosen the selection that I have. I have made an effort to find links for all of these works so you may take the time to read and appreciate them yourselves. I hope you enjoy.
Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Few would probably agree with me, but I would wager that this is probably one of the best pieces of fiction, Fitzgerald gave the American auidence, perhaps the world in general. I would also wager that at times, this work rivals his most famous of works, The Great Gatsby; again, merely an opinion, not a fact. Yet I would entertain the notion that this is quintasential Fitzgerald, down to a “t;” it has the character development, plot, and criticisms that all of his works have and in this short work, he plays with diction more so than in Gatsby or Tender is the Night. Dexter Green is a “Fitzgerald-style” character, in essence, the epitome of the 1920s culture and a person who will learn the harshness of the fallacy of dreaming to be rich. Though the criticism from story to story never truly changes with Fitzgerald, I feel that this story places more weight on the superficial lifestyle of society than his other workds; at times, it has parallels to Mainstreet by Sinclair Lewis, a modern contemporary of Fitzgerald. It is a “see it for yourself” type of story.
-Link- Winter Dreams
The Dead by James Joyce
Found in his collection of short work entitled The Dubliners, Joyce sets out to change the way stories and novels are read. In his uncommon belief, Joyce felt that the language of the work could stipulate meaning within as opposed to the framework of plot and characters. He set out to do just that and to fully appreciate his value, works such as Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, would need to be taken into consideration. You can tell his style in the writings of Kurt Vonnegut and Anthony Burgess, so apparently, the writers diction and syntax can create meaning. To get back to the story, The Dead is a longer work that exhibits a great literary device, the epiphany. Gabriel Conroy goes to a party only to have a “glorious epiphany” which translates in a higher degree of self-awareness over the meaning of living, of life and death. A quite spectacular work of short fiction.
-Link- The Dead
Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Typically I would stay away from Hawthorne just because he is a writer I just do not enjoy on subconscious level; and yes I have read The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables so I cannot be judged on that point. However, this short work of fiction is great read, filled with suspense and mystery only to lead up to a criticism of religion and morality. Hawthorne always seems to do this and I guess, when you are criticizing Puritans and Wesleyans of New England, its not a truly difficult task to do so, yet this is a story that becomes a great analysis for the early colonies of the Americas such as Jamestown and Plymouth. In this selection, Hawthorne tackled the issues of Christian radicalism of the time, namely witchcraft, and does so in a disturbing way that it is easy to see how he influenced Edgar Allen Poe, one of the greats in American literature.
-Link-Young Goodman Brown
The Yellow Wallpaper-Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Gilman work this story to criticize the way psychologists used solitude in order to combat depression in patients; now we know that this is a horrible treatment, yet in the late 19th century, we did not. Told in a series of journal entries, the unnamed narrator is confined to her attic as her husband feels that this will help relieve her depression and cure her of psychosis, something she developed after the birth of her first child. As she gradually loses her grip on reality she starts destroying the wallpaper in the attic, which is said to smell of dust and mildew. As she starts peeling down the wallpaper, something breaks inside of her and a sense of freedom overcomes her. Probably the only work of feminism that I will put on anything I write.
-Link- The Yellow Wallpaper
The Fall of the House of Usher- Edgar Allen Poe
Poe had to make it on this list, was there any doubt? I feel that this is quite possibly one of my favorite works of fiction by him, though The Cask of Amontillado always seems to appear on a short story list and it is due to its fear of being buried alive. I chose Usher because its complex, it is a story in which we can disect through many different frameworks of criticism. Poe preys on the fears of the reader throughout every work he created and this story is no different. Usher is told by an unamed narrator who visits his friend, Roderick Usher, who now is growing more hysterical by the day. He eventually learns that Usher buried his sister only to be haunted by the grizzly fact that she was not died when she was entombed. This is a great horror classic.
-Link- The Fall of the House of Usher
