Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (1853)
Once, while I was walking in Brooklyn, carrying my Bartleby tote bag, a woman in an SUV pulled over (on Atlantic Avenue, folks) to excitedly wave at me and yell “Melville! That’s Melville!” Which is all you really need to know about that.
Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890)
I will leave it to Kurt Vonnegut, who famously wrote, “I consider anybody a twerp who hasn’t read the greatest American short story, which is “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Bierce. It isn’t remotely political. It is a flawless example of American genius, like “Sophisticated Lady” by Duke Ellington or the Franklin stove.”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892)
Odds are this was the first overtly Feminist text you ever read, at least if you’re of a certain age; it’s become a stand-in for the idea of women being driven insane by the patriarchy—and being ignored by doctors, who deem them “hysterical.” This is another one with lots of adaptations to its name, including a memorable episode of The Twilight Zone, which concludes: “Next time you’re alone, look quickly at the wallpaper, and the ceiling, and the cracks on the sidewalk. Look for the patterns and lines and faces on the wall. Look, if you can, for Sharon Miles, visible only out of the corner of your eye or… in the Twilight Zone.”
Anton Chekhov, “The Lady with the Toy Dog” (1899) Alan: When I saw this recommendation, I thought, "Wow! How bold to even suggest
"the best" of Chekhov's stories. (I do not know this story.)
Widely acknowledged as one of Chekhov’s best stories, if not the best, and therefore almost no students get through their years at school without reading it. Has been adapted as a film, a ballet, a play, a musical, and most importantly, a Joyce Carol Oates short story.
W. W. Jacobs, “The Monkey’s Paw” (1902)
So iconic—be careful what you wish for, is the gist—that you probably didn’t even know it started out as a short story. My favorite version is, of course, the Laurie Anderson song. Alan: I think I have already recorded this story and will see if I can track it down. I first read "Monkey's Paw" in high school and the utterly unique - and hair-raising - feeling imparted by this "be careful what you wish for story" has lasted all my life.
O. Henry, “The Gift of the Magi” (1905) Alan: This love story is a perfectly cut gem, even if the language is dated.
According to Wikipedia, there have been 17 different film adaptations of O. Henry’s classic short story about a couple’s thwarted Christmas; the essential format—Della sells her hair to buy Jim a watch chain; Jim sells his watch to buy Della a set of combs—has been referenced and replicated countless times beyond that. I even heard Dax Shepard refer to this story on his podcast the other day, and so I rest my case.
Franz Kafka, “The Metamorphosis” (1915) Alan: This is not a feelgood story, but, my God, it's brilliant.
Everyone has to read this in school, at some point—which is probably the reason why it’s been parodied, referenced, and adapted many times in just about every format. And why not? What could be more universal than the story of the man who wakes up to find himself transformed into an enormous insect.
Zora Neale Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits” (1933)
Hurston is most famous for Their Eyes Were Watching God, but those who know will tell you that this story of love, marriage, betrayal, and love again—which was also made into a 2001 film—is a classic, too.
J. D. Salinger, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” (1948)
The very first story to destroy many a young mind. In a good way, obviously. Alan: I love Salinger. As you may know have already recorded his story, "The Howling Man". Monique and Kris can get a sense of what our "radio theater" would be like by tuning in at https://soundcloud.com/
Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (1953)
Another oft-assigned (and oft-argued-over) story, this one with so many title rip-offs. Alan: When people learn that Flannery O'Connor was a committed Catholic, they are even more amazed at the stories she wrote.
Elmore Leonard, “Three-Ten to Yuma” (1953)
I know, I know, it’s “Fire in the Hole” that gave us Justified, and we’re all so very glad. But “Three-Ten to Yuma” has more name recognition—after all, it was adapted into two separate and very good films, the former of which (1957) actually created contemporary slang: in Cuba, Americans are called yumas and the United States is La Yuma.
James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” (1957)
Baldwin’s best known short story pops up in plenty of anthologies, and can be thanked for being the gateway drug for many budding Baldwin acolytes.
Alan Sillitoe, “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” (1959)
Not only is the story itself widely known and read—just ask Rod Blagojevich (remember him?)—that title has been rewritten and reused thousands of times for varying ends—just ask the reporter who wrote that piece about Blagojevich. Or Adrian Tomine.
John Cheever, “The Swimmer” (1964)
Cheever’s most famous story nails something essential about the mid-century American sensibility, and particularly the mid-century American suburbs, which is probably why everyone knows it (it’s also frequently anthologized). Or maybe it’s more about Burt Lancaster’s little shorts? Either way.
Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (1966)
Another frequently anthologized and unwaveringly excellent short story; and look, it’s no one’s fault that Laura Dern turns everything she touches iconic.
Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson” (1972)
Yet another story often assigned in schools (the good ones, anyway), which hopefully means one day we’ll wake up and find out that everyone has read it.
Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (1973)
As others have pointed out before me, Le Guin’s most read and most famous short story is almost always chillingly relevant. Alan: I have not read this story, but I treasure Ursula (who was introduced to me at St. Mike's by Rev. J. Edgar Bruns, the best and most memorable professor I ever had. Ursula's "Wizard Of Earthsea" -- which I recorded on cassette tape years ago -- is my "pscyho-spiritual biography". I have no idea how she got inside my head-soul. I would welcome recording it again. I think El Guin's masterful use of English in "Wizard" is on a par with Shakespeare. (Ursula was daughter of Alfred Kroeber, the Berkeley anthropologist who was "put in charge" of Ishi, the last native American to leave the wild. https://history.library.
Donald Barthelme, “The School” (1974)
This one might only be iconic for writers, but considering it’s one of the best short stories ever written (according to me), I simply couldn’t exclude it.
Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl” (1978)
Another staple of a writer’s education, and a reader’s; “are you really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?” being a kind of bandied-about shibboleth.
Raymond Carver, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” (1981)
I struggled choosing a Carver story for this list—”Cathedral” is more important, and probably more read, but “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” has transcended its own form more completely, at least with its title, which has spawned a host of echoes, including Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and Nathan Englander’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, to the point that I think it’s recognizable to just about everyone. A quick Google search will reveal that the framing has been used for almost everything you can think of. There’s—and I kid you not—a What We Talk About When We Talk About Books/War/Sex/God/The Tube/Games/Rape/Money/Creative Writing/Nanoclusters/Hebrew/
Stephen King, “The Body” (1982)
Otherwise known, to the general public, as Stand By Me. Alan: Have you seen "Stand By Me"?
Amy Hempel, “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” (1983)
Want to feel bad about your writing? This was the first short story Amy Hempel ever wrote.
Lorrie Moore, “How to Be an Other Woman” (1985)
A very very good short story that has given rise to so many bad ones. Alan: If you live in the south long enough, the chances are overwhelming you'll develop a taste for country music, at least non-twangy country music. Here's a relatively new song that GRABS my attention every time it "comes on the radio." It is sooooo sad. I have tears in my eyes as I listen to it through headphones for the first time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried” (1990)
Why, it’s only the most anthologized short story of the last 30(ish) years. That’s why even the people you know who haven’t picked up a book in their adult lives have read it.
Denis Johnson, “Emergency” (1992)
When I left New York to go get my MFA, a friend gave me a copy of Jesus’ Son with the inscription “Because everyone in your MFA will talk about it and you don’t want to be the girl who hasn’t read it. (It’s also really good).” He was not wrong.
Alice Munro, “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” (2001)
At this point, almost everyone has read at least some Alice Munro, right? This story is one of the best from one of the greats, and was also adapted into a fantastic but heartbreaking film, Away From Her.
Kristen Roupenian, “Cat Person” (2017)
Sure, it’s recent, so it’s not quite as ingrained as some of the others here, but it’s also the story that broke the internet—and quite possibly the only New Yorker story that thousands of people have ever read.
*
Finally, as is often the case with lists that summarize the mainstream American literary canon of the last 200 years, it is impossible not to recognize that the list above is much too white and male. So for our future and continuing iconography, your friends at Literary Hub suggest reading the following stories, both new and old:
Eudora Welty, “Why I Live at the P.O.” (1941)
Clarice Lispector, “The Imitation of the Rose” (1960)
Leslie Marmon Silko, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” (1969)
Ralph Ellison, “Cadillac Flambé” (1973)
Octavia Butler, “Bloodchild” (1984)
Bharati Mukherjee, “The Management of Grief” (1988)
John Edgar Wideman, “Fever” (1990)
Sandra Cisneros, “Woman Hollering Creek” (1991)
Christine Schutt, “To Have and to Hold” (1996)
ZZ Packer, “Brownies” (2003)
Edward P. Jones, “Marie” (2004)
Karen Russell, “Haunting Olivia” (2005)
Kelly Link, “Stone Animals” (2005)
Edwidge Danticat, “Ghosts” (2008)
Yiyun Li, “A Man Like Him” (2008)
Claire Vaye Watkins, “Ghosts, Cowboys” (2009)
Ottessa Moshfegh, “Bettering Myself” (2013)
Amelia Gray, “House Heart” (2013)
Zadie Smith, “Meet the President!” (2013)
Carmen Maria Machado, “The Husband Stitch” (2014)
Diane Cook, “The Way the End of Days Should Be” (2014)
Kirstin Valdez Quade, “Five Wounds” (2015)
NoViolet Bulawayo, “Shhhh” (2015)
Mariana Enriquez, “Spiderweb” (2016)
Ken Liu, “State Change” (2016)
Helen Oyeyemi, “Sorry Doesn’t Sweeten Her Tea” (2016)
Lesley Nneka Arimah, “What Is a Volcano?” (2017)
James McBride, “The Christmas Dance” (2017)
Viet Thanh Nguyen, “War Years” (2017)
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, “Friday Black” (2018). . .
Alan: I hope you (and perhaps Monique and Kris as well) like the idea of "radio theater" well enough to try it out. It would give us enough to do with the rest of (our hopefully long) lives together, that we would never have to visit "too intense feelings" again --- unless and until you give me the word: "Hey, Ale'! Hit me up with intense feeling!"
Con gusto.
Ale'
PS The Drifters' curtain call: https://www.youtube.com/
PPS I just saved a copy of this email in a Word document, so I won't risk losing it.
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