Great Short Stories

As Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff wrote in The New York Times, "A short story is by definition an odder, more eccentric creature than a novel; a trailer, a fling, a warm-up act, a bouillon cube, a championship game in one inning. Irresolution and ambiguity become it; it's a first date rather than a marriage. When is it mightier than the novel? When its elisions speak as loudly as its lines." If you enjoy reading fiction and want to explore the succinctness of the short story, join this study group. The very brevity of the form invites lively discussion and differing interpretations of the material. This study group will give a brief but fascinating introduction to a variety of contemporary authors. Each study group member will act as discussion leader for one or two stories of their choice, and also will share a biography of the story's author. Two anthologies will serve as texts. The Best American Short Stories 2022, edited by Andrew Sean Greer with Heidi Pitlor (Mariner Books, 2022), contains short stories published in 2021. The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction, edited by Lex Williford and Michael Martone (Scribner, 2007), contains short stories written since 1970.