“But the amazing and beautiful thing about the short story is the elasticity of the form. As soon as you complete a description of what a good story must be, a new example flutters through an open window, lands on your sleeve, and proves your description wrong. With every new artist, we simultaneously refine and expand our understanding of what the form can be.”
~Anthony Doerr
I enjoy the writing of the talented Anthony Doerr ("Cloud Cuckoo Land"), so I was curious when I learned he curated "The Best American Short Stories 2019" -- especially after I had a great experience reading the 2018 version.
The set is dominated by themes of the challenges and temptations of adolescence and the vagaries of late-20th-century America, shot through with a haunting paranoia.
“We set off down a foot-trail, flashlight flickering over cypress knees that looked like Druids kneeled in prayer.”
“I pictured myself shut up in the air-conditioning, sealed off from summer in this twilight house of whispers and swallowed words.”
~ Julia Elliott, “Hellion”
A few of the standouts include Kathleen Alcott’s “Natural Light,” Deborah Eisenberg’s “The Third Tower,” Julia Elliott’s “Hellion,” Manuel Munoz’s “Anyone Can Do It,” and Karen Russell’s “Black Corfu."
“To survive here required one to sip the air; the wide sky belong to the nobles.”
~ Karen Russell, “Black Corfu”
Doerr's curation unveiled a number of brilliant tales, identified and explored by a diverse and talented group of writers.
“How I feel about Marlene: she could keel over plus die and I’d be happy plus ecstatic.”
~ Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, “The Era”
“I need you to fill that place beside me in which only you fit.”
~ Jim Shepard, “Our Day of Grace”
No comments:
Post a Comment