fiction files redux discussion

Below is a calendar, list of stories and URLs. Last updated December 7, 2009.

As we start each story I will create a folder, post seemingly pertinent information/questions. We'll start with one story a week on Mondays, but I will play it by ear based on participation, holidays, Dorkapalooza, etc.

I will add suggestions to this list, trying to create some kind of rhyme and reason to the order of selections, moving stuff as necessary.

Stories we can't find online, or links that die as we go... I'll find the story in some collection and scan it into my MobileMe file sharing area as needed.

March 16
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov’s The Lady with the Dog
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13415

March 23
O.Henry’s “Fox-in-the-Morning” from Cabbages and Kings and Proof of the Pudding
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2777
http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/O_Henr...

March 30
Jorge Luis Borges’ Garden of Forking Paths
http://www.english.ucsb.edu/faculty/r...

April 6
Haruki Murakami’s A Poor Aunt Story
http://magna.cs.ucla.edu/~hxwang/newy...

April 13
Katherine Mansfield's The Fly
http://www.geocities.com/short_storie...

April 20
Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~surette/go...


April 27
Guy de Maupassant’s La Parure (The Necklace) and Henry James’ Paste
(Paste proposes a new ending to The Necklace, so we should probably read them together)
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3080
http://www2.newpaltz.edu/~hathawar/pa...

May 4
Donald Barthelme's The School
http://www.npr.org/programs/death/rea...

May 11
Leo Tolstoy's Three Hermits
http://www.online-literature.com/tols...


May 18
Cynthia Ozick's The Shawl
http://books.google.com/books?id=O290...

May 25
Edgar Allan Poe's Berenice
http://infomotions.com/alex2/authors/...

September 8 (after Labor Day)
(I will leave the thread up just in case)
Sherwood Anderson's The Egg
http://www.online-literature.com/sher...

////////extended break due to lazy moderator//////

January 4
Joyce Carol Oates' Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been
http://www.usfca.edu/~southerr/works/...

//Shel gets realistic and schedules these for every 2 weeks//


February 1
Theodore Sturgeon's The Man Who Lost the Sea
http://fasterthanfashion.blogspot.com...

February 15
Anton Chekhov's The Huntsman
http://chekhov2.tripod.com/030.htm

March 1
Shirley Jackson's The Lottery
http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/...

March 15
Chinua Achebe's Civil Peace
URL TBD

March 29
Roald Dahl’s Bitch
(URL coming)

April 12
Albert Camus’ The Adulterous Woman
(URL coming)

. . .excellent resource, shel!

Excuse me Shel if you have a minute? I followed the link to the O Henry. Am I skipping the first story? Only reading Fox in the morning? Is that right? Its seems they are ment to be read in order. And together? Thanks Margaret

The first one appeared to me to be something of an intro to the characters, and too short to be a "real" story. So yes, the second one. If you want to read that first one go right ahead.

Really, it's a collection of short stories that build on each other. That's why I picked #2, to not load anyone up...

(That said, Margaret, if you think the first story is a story we should read instead I'm happy to reconsider.)

oh no. I didnt even look beyond the table of contents. I was just asking. Dont want to be confused during the discussion. Onward!

the link to Wolff's Bullet in the Brain appears to be broken

I will figure it out. Thanks for letting me know.

Shel,

Thank you very much for organizing this short story discussions and links. I feel I have a lot to learn about story telling.

And Thank You and everyone else for participating. I have been wanting to do this kind of thread for a while and I'm glad so many people have joined in.

I have a ton to learn about storytelling... particularly dialogue. So this short story thing is teaching me a lot.

I'd like to add my kudos to you, Shel! Short stories are great for someone like me who has very little time these days.

The Diamond Necklace by Guy de Maupassant(story begins on p.52)

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/worl...

I'm only getting one page for "The Three Hermits" is that right just one page? ok.

I sure hope so. That's all I could find, anyway, and the end of the page seemed like it was the end of the story...

OK good. thanks.

I'm currentl orbiting the moon with limited communication capabilities. so I haven't read the las two. I'll catch up later.

Since we are taking a little summer vacation, now would also be a good time for people to submit suggestions.

Did I pick a story by an author that isn't their best work, in your opinion? Let me know.

Do you have more to add to the list? Please let me know.

Do you have URLs or copies of the stories we have on the list that I'm missing (plus access to a scanner)? Would you be willing to post a scanned copy to Brian's public folder area? Let me know.

Oh, and at the Lit Fair yesterday (in Chicago) I saw this amazing book called The Great Books Foundation's Short Story Omnibus, which I am going to go back to and buy (but oddly, there is no image for this quite cool book cover):

Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? is one of the most menacing short story I ever read.

I have no ideas of links, but I could suggest something to open the horizons (Horacio Quiroga, Felisberto Hernades, Guimaraes Rosa, Adolfo Bioy Casares)...

As long as it's English, I'll add whatever your favorites might be...

Patrick, that's a good JCO one... I'll add it...

yeah, the english is always a trouble...

Patrick wrote: "Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? is one of the most menacing short story I ever read. "

That IS a good one, Patrick.

Anybody read Tim Gautreaux? I discovered him through STORY, a great magazine that tragically folded about ten years ago--ALL they published was fiction. Anyway, Tim Gautreaux's collection "Welding with Children" is awesome. Anything by him--the title story, or especially "Good for the Soul"--is worthwhile.

I had Roald Dahl's story Bitch at the bottom of the list. I will look for some Gautreaux, Swanny.

Gautreaux's short stories are mostly from the nineties. He's written a few novels, too, which I haven't read yet. Good stories on rural Louisiana folks, a bit like Flannery O'Connor with the Southern Gothic tropes, but less harsh without being sentimental.

Chris wrote: "Gautreaux's short stories are mostly from the nineties. He's written a few novels, too, which I haven't read yet. Good stories on rural Louisiana folks, a bit like Flannery O'Connor with the Sout..."

Gautreaux sounds a little like Robert Olen Butler, another great SS writer from the nineties.

Shelby, we talked a little about reading Joyce's "The Dead." I have next week open (while we await the tabulation of votes for House of Mirth) and would love to squeeze in a short story, even if it's only an informal chitchat, if anyone is up for this or another story not scheduled for Sept.

What a great idea, SmartyKate! I will post an event.

Can we add a short story by Edna Ferber on the list? Maybe, The Eldest? http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnL...

So Edna Ferber and Gautreax if I can find it. Got it.

Reading The Dead right now...

Guys, I think I'm going to retire this thread until interest or traffic picks up again.

Not because I have some kind of ego issue with the size of our little group, but because I would rather see more people in here, maybe some new blood, too...

I don't really know what to do about the interest level in the group as a whole other than try to generate content, and that doesn't seem to really be working.

Suggestion: Nikolai Gogol's The Nose, or something else, like The Overcoat, which I haven't read yet.

Or a story by Cortazar or Borges. Don't leave out the South Americans!

Hey cool, I notice you updated this? Or am I mistaken? Looking forward to discussing CHEKHOV!!! woo!

I did update it. Starting next year, we'll be rejuvenating this thread and I added suggestions from others as we went. I am looking forward to more Russkis, myself.

What happened to the rest of the stories in this list? Seems like we discussed JC Oates but not the other ones... the dates came and went? Or am I missing something?

You're missing the fact that you have a lazy moderator. ;)

I have to get my act together. I just moved myself and my kids, and got a new job, so things have been more fast paced for me in the last month or so.

Excuses, excuses. ;)

Maybe we could find some contemporary Russian Lit or South American. There must be some links out there with translations of short stories. I am not going to read another dead Russian whinning about his life and not doing anything to make it right.

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/...

http://sayberklas.tripod.com/antholog...

Margaret wrote: "Maybe we could find some contemporary Russian Lit or South American. There must be some links out there with translations of short stories. I am not going to read another dead Russian whinning abou..."

Sorry about the disgruntled hostility.

It is a problem, to find good contemporary stuff for free online, and that's one of the rules for my thread here.

I mean, they're short stories; I wouldn't expect a trip to the library or bookstore to be made.

That said, I'm totally open to suggestions like the one you made. And it's not complaining if you make a suggestion. :)

Found some Maupassant The first one is a semi biography of the writer with a lot of links to his short stories. The second is a link to his Short Story Masterpiece "Ball of Fat".

http://www.classicallibrary.org/maupa...

http://www.classicallibrary.org/maupa...

What's up next? The Lottery?

Civil Peace 2 parts

http://www.englishdaily626.com/storie...

Are people in this group still active and reading short-story collections?

If people want to resurrect the thread I can re-invest the time and energy to run it ...

hey shel we should give this a go again. Im in