Complete fiction: why 'the short story renaissance' is a myth

With soaring sales, viral hits like Cat Person and a cameo by Tom Hanks, the form seems to be staging a comeback. But did it ever go away?In 2017, almost 50% more short story collections were sold than in the previous year. It was the best year for short stories since 2010. Booksellers are reporting a surge in popularity for the form, commentators note publishers are buying more collections and issuing them with greater care and enthusiasm; in December the newcomer Kristen Roupenian cut five- and seven-figure deals in the UK and US after her New Yorker story “Cat Person” went viral. On top of all that, collections are being reviewed more than ever before, the Sunday Times EFG short story award (worth £30,000) has received its highest ever number of entries and the BBC national short story award continues to grow in popularity. We are experiencing the renaissance of the short story form, right?Wrong; which isn’t to say 2017 wasn’t a good year for the short story – it was, but the “renaissance of the short story” story is an old one that is rolled out year after year. Does that matter? I think it does. By getting caught up in this recurring phantom narrative, and dwelling on press release froth rather than the work being produced, we spurn the opportunity to talk about short stories in a way that might actually deepen how they are understood and engaged with by readers.How can the short story ever have time to wither, given the frequency of its rebirth?In the cases of Tom... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2018-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]

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Rachel Pollack, trans activist and comic book writer, dies aged 77

Pollack, who created the first mainstream transgender superhero, Kate Godwin, had been fighting Hodgkin’s lymphomaRachel Pollack, award-winning author, leading authority on tarot and the occult, trans activist and comic-book writer who created the first mainstream transgender superhero, has died... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-04-08 10:45:56 UTC ]
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‘Wilderness Tales’ unfolds short stories with a sense of place

Collected stories about the wild, uncharted frontiers of North America expand to include everything from classic nature tales to dystopian climate fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2023-03-29 16:23:08 UTC ]
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Kelly Link Can’t Write Narrative Before 3pm: And Other Tips For Purposeful Writing

In her latest short story collection, White Cat, Black Dog, MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellow Kelly Link reinvents seven fairytales into modern, realist short stories about, for example, an aging billionaire choosing a successor, and a house-sitting gig that goes awry. Link is also the author of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-28 08:54:06 UTC ]
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10 of the Best Shirley Jackson Short Stories Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Shirley Jackson (1916-65) wrote six novels and around two hundred short stories during her brief career. Probably best-known for her novel The Haunting of Hill House and her oft-anthologised short story ‘The Lottery’, Jackson was a writer with a... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-25 18:00:23 UTC ]
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Ukrainian Author Andrey Kurkov Among National Book Critics Circle Award Winners

A collection of fantastical short stories and a book of poems about escaping capitalist society were also among the 2022 winners. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-03-24 00:51:07 UTC ]
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Mary Rayner obituary

Children’s author who devised the adventures of the Pig family and illustrated stories including Dick King-Smith’s The Sheep-PigThe writer and illustrator Mary Rayner, who has died aged 89, was best known for her picture books about Mr and Mrs Pig, and the escapades of their 10 piglets. In... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-03-23 16:59:39 UTC ]
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‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’: Key Quotes Explained

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’ is one of the few short stories of the last half-century or so which can truly be called a modern myth. Indeed, Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018), the story’s author, called her 1973 tale a ‘psychomyth’, inspired […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-21 15:00:42 UTC ]
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10 of the Best Flannery O’Connor Short Stories Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) In a short life beset by ill health, the American writer Flannery O’Connor (1925-64) wrote two novels, Wise Blood (1952) and The Violent Bear It Away (1960). But it is for her short stories, many of which were collected in just two volumes, that […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-14 18:00:54 UTC ]
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So Happy Together: The Very Particular Pleasure of Linked Stories

These linked short stories are a great way to discover an author's style, and a thrill for folks who love a good Easter egg. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-03-13 10:33:00 UTC ]
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10 of the Best Edna St. Vincent Millay Poems Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) The American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) was a poet, playwright, andfeminist, who enjoyed considerable success during the ‘Roaring Twenties’. As A. Mary Murphy notes in The Facts on File Companion to 20th-Century American Poetry,... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-09 18:00:15 UTC ]
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8 Sad Short Stories to Quickly Bring the Tears

If you want a little shot of sadness, here are some of the best sad short stories to get the emotions flowing in no time! Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-03-08 11:36:00 UTC ]
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The Best Short Stories by Latin American Writers

If the literary landscape of the early twentieth century, at least when it comes to short stories, is dominated by Anglophone writers like Katherine Mansfield, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, then the mid-twentieth century arguably belongs to the Latin American writers who helped to move the... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-05 18:00:38 UTC ]
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A Summary and Analysis of Angela Carter’s ‘Wolf-Alice’

‘Wolf-Alice’ is a short story from The Bloody Chamber, the 1979 collection of modern fairy tales written by the British author Angela Carter (1940-92). The story tells of a girl raised by wolves who goes to live with a Duke who is a werewolf. You can read ‘Wolf-Alice’ here before […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-03 15:00:49 UTC ]
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Rebecca Makkai’s New Mystery Novel Is Anything But Cozy

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[ Electric Literature | 2023-03-02 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Rediscovered Terry Pratchett stories to be published

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[ The Guardian | 2023-02-27 14:52:08 UTC ]
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8 Peruvian Books in Translation

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[ Book Riot | 2023-02-22 11:33:00 UTC ]
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This Week's Bestsellers: February 20, 2023

Heather Gay, one of the 'Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,' makes her debut with the memoir 'Bad Mormon,' the #1 book in the Mountain region of the U.S. Plus two February book club picks hit our lists: 'Someone Else’s Shoes' by Jojo Moyes and Sadeqa Johnson’s 'The House of Eve.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A Summary and Analysis of Sarah Orne Jewett’s ‘A White Heron’

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[ Interesting Literature | 2023-02-08 18:00:40 UTC ]
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A Summary and Analysis of Alice Walker’s ‘Women’

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[ Interesting Literature | 2023-02-08 15:00:50 UTC ]
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The Symbolism of ‘A Rose for Emily’ Explained

‘A Rose for Emily’ is one of the most widely studied American short stories of the twentieth century, but the subtle narrative style and William Faulkner’s use of symbolism are often difficult to interpret. Starting with the ‘rose’ in the story’s title, the text is rich with symbols whose... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-02-03 18:00:07 UTC ]
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