The Art
of the
Short Story
DANA GIOIA
R. S. GWYNN
Lamar University
SUB Gottingen
217 782 094
7
2005 A 3176
PEARSON
Longman
New York Boston San Francisco
London Toronto Sydney Tokyo Singapore Madrid
Mexico City Munich Paris Cape Town Hong Kong Montreal
CONTENTS
Preface xi
About the Authors
Parti
xiii
Introduction
THE ART OF THE SHORT STORY 3
Part 11 Stories
7
CHINUA ACHEBE, Nigerian 9
Dead Men's Path 10
Author's Perspective
Achebe: Modern Africa as the Crossroads of Culture
12
American 14
Hands 15
Author's Perspective
Anderson: Words Not Plot Give Form to a Short Story
SHERWOOD ANDERSON,
MARGARET ATWOOD, Canadian 21
Happy Endings 22
Author's Perspective
Atwood: On the Canadian Identity
24
19
iv
CONTENTS
American 26
Sonny's Blues 27
Author's Perspective
Baldwin: Race and the African-American Writer
JAMES BALDWIN,
Argentine 53
The Garden of Forking Paths 55
Author's Perspective
Borges: Literature as Experience
49
JORGE LUIS BORGES,
62
ALBERT CAMUS, French, born in Algeria
64
The Guest 65
Author's Perspective
Camus: Revolution and Repression in Algeria
74
American 76
Cathedral 77
A Small, Good Thing 88
Author's Perspective
Carver: Commonplace but Precise Language
104
RAYMOND CARVER,
American 106
Paul's Case 107
Author's Perspective
Cather: Art as the Process of Simplification
WILLACATHER,
JOHN CHEEVER, American
121
122
The Swimmer 123
Author's Perspective
Cheever: Why I Write Short Stories
131
Russian 133
\
The Lady with the Pet Dog 135
Misery 147
Author's Perspective
Chekhov: Natural Description and "The Center of Gravity"
ANTON CHEKHOV,
American 152
The Storm 153
The Story of an Hour 157
Author's Perspective
Chopin: My Writing Method
KATE CHOPIN,
SANDRA ClSNEROS, American
160
Barbie-Q 160
Author's Perspective
Cisneros: Bilingual Style
162
159
151
CONTENTS
JOSEPH CONRAD, Polish, Naturalized British
The Secret Sharer 165
Author's Perspective
Conrad: The Condition of Art
164
193
American 195
The Open Boat 196
Author's Perspective
Crane: The Sinking of the Commodore 213
STEPHEN CRANE,
American 217
A Party Down at the Square 218
Author's Perspective
Ellison: Race and Fiction 222
RALPH ELLISON,
American 224
Barn Burning 225
A Rose for Emily 238
Author's Perspective
Faulkner: The Human Heart in Conflict with Itself
WILLIAM FAULKNER,
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, American 246
Babylon Revisited 247
Author's Perspective
Fitzgerald: On His Own Literary Aims
262
French 264
A Simple Heart 265
Author's Perspective
Flaubert: The Labor of Style 286
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT,
Colombian 287
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings 289
Author's Perspective
Garcia Marquez: My Beginnings as a Writer
GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ,
American 296
The Yellow Wallpaper 297
Author's Perspective
Gilman: Why I Wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper"
293
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN,
Russian 310
The Overcoat 311
Author's Perspective
Gogol: On Realism 331
NIKOLAI GOGOL,
309
245
vi
CONTENTS
NADINE GORDIMER, South African 333
A Company of Laughing Faces 334
Author's Perspective
Gordimer: How the Short Story Differs from the Novel
American 347
Young Goodman Brown 348
The Birthmark 357
Author's Perspective
Hawthorne: On the Public Failure of His Early Stories
345
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE,
369
American 370
A Clean Well-Lighted Place 372
Author's Perspective
Hemingway: One True Sentence 375
ERNEST HEMINGWAY,
ZORA NEALE HURSTON, American 377
Sweat 378
Author's Perspective
Hurston: Eatonville When You Look at It
387
American 389
The Lottery 390
Author's Perspective
Jackson: The Public Reception of "The Lottery"
SHIRLEY JACKSON,
HENRY JAMES, American, Naturalized British
The Real Thing 400
Author's Perspective
James: The Mirror of a Consciousness
399
418
HA JlN, born in China, Resident American 419
Saboteur 420
Author's Perspective
Jin: Deciding to Write in English 427
Irish 429
Araby 430
The Dead 434
Author's Perspective
Joyce: Epiphanies 464
JAMES JOYCE,
Austm-Hungarian 465
Before the Law 466
The Metamorphosis 467
Author's Perspective
Kafka: Discussing The Metamorphosis 500
FRANZ KAFKA,
396
'i
CONTENTS
D. H. LAWRENCE, English 502
Odour of Chrysanthemums 503
The Rocking-Horse Winner 517
Author's Perspective
Lawrence: The Novel Is the Bright Book of Life
528
URSULA K. LE GUIN, American 530
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 531
Author's Perspective
Le Guin: On "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"
DORIS LESSING, Rhodesian, Naturalized British
A Woman on a Roof 538
Author's Perspective
Lessing: My Beginnings as a Writer
535
537
545
American 547
To Build a Fire 548
Author's Perspective
London: Defending the Factuality of "To Build a Fire"
JACK LONDON,
MANSFIELD, New Zealander 561
Miss Brill 562
The Garden-Party 565
Author's Perspective
Mansfield: On "The Garden-Party" 575
KATHERINE
American 511
Shiloh 578
Author's Perspective
Mason: Minimalist Fiction 588
BOBBIE ANN MASON,
French 590
The Necklace 591
Author's Perspective
Maupassant: The Realist Method
GUY DE MAUPASSANT,
597
American 599
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street
Author's Perspective
Melville: American Literature 626
HERMAN MELVILLE,
YUKIO MlSHIMA, Japanese 628
Patriotism 629
Author's Perspective
Mishima: Physical Courage and Death
646
600
559
viii
CONTENTS
ALICE MUNRO, Canadian 648
How I Met My Husband 649
Author's Perspective
Munro: How I Write Short Stories
661
American 663
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Author's Perspective
Oates: Productivity and the Critics 676
JOYCE CAROL OATES,
664
FLANNERY O'CONNOR,
American 611
A Good Man Is Hard to Find 678
Revelation 689
Author's Perspective
O'Connor: The Element of Suspense in "A Good Man
Is Hard to Find" 704
American 101
The Fall of the House of Usher 708
The Tell-Tale Heart 721
Author's Perspective
Poe: The Tale and Its Effect 725
EDGAR ALLAN POE,
American 126
Flowering Judas 727
Author's Perspective
Porter: Writing "Flowering Judas" 736
KATHERINE ANNE PORTER,
American 738
The Man to Send Rain Clouds 739
Author's Perspective
Silko: The Basis of "The Man to Send Rain Clouds"
LESLIE MARMON SILKO,
742
ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER, Yiddish (born in Poland), Naturalized
American 744
Gimpel the Fool 745
Author's Perspective
Singer: The Character of Gimpel 755
Russian 757
The Death of Ivan Ilych 758
Author's Perspective
Tolstoy: The Moral Responsibilities of Art
LEO TOLSTOY,
American 799
Separating 800
Author's Perspective
Updike: Why Write? 808
JOHN UPDIKE,
797
CONTENTS
American 809
Everyday Use 810
Author's Perspective
Walker: The Black Woman Writer in America
ix
ALICE WALKER,
EUDORAWELTY, American 819
Why I Live at the P.O. 820
Author's Perspective
Welty: The Plot of the Short Story
829
EDITH WHARTON, American 831
Roman Fever 832
Author's Perspective
Wharton: The Subject of Short Stories
English 843
A Haunted House 844
Author's Perspective
Woolf: Women and Fiction
816
841
VIRGINIA WOOLF,
845
Part HI Writing
847
THE ELEMENTS OF SHORT FICTION
PLOT
849
CHARACTERIZATION
POINT OF VIEW
SETTING
THEME
STYLE
849
854
857
859
860
861
WRITING ABOUT FICTION
863
CRITICAL APPROACHES TO LITERATURE 878
FORMALIST CRITICISM
879
• Michael Clark, Light and Darkness in "Sonny's Blues" 880
BIOGRAPHICAL CRITICISM
8 81
Virginia Llewellyn Smith, Chekhov's Attitude to Romantic Love 882
HISTORICAL CRITICISM
884
John King The Argentine Context of Borges's Fantastic Fiction
885
x
CONTENTS
PSYCHOLOGICAL CRITICISM
887
Daniel Hoffman, The Father-Figure in "The Tell-Tale Heart"
MYTHOLOGICAL CRITICISM
890
Edmond Volpe, Myth in Faulkner's "Barn Burning"
SOCIOLOGICAL CRITICISM
891
892
Daniel P. Watkins, Money and Labor in "The Rocking-Horse
Winner" 893
GENDER CRITICISM
895
Juliann Fleenor, Gender and Pathology in "The Yellow
Wallpaper" 896
READER-RESPONSE CRITICISM
897
Stanley Fish, An Eskimo "A Rose for Emily"
DECONSTRUCTIONIST CRITICISM
899
Roland Barthes, The Death of the Author
CULTURAL STUDIES
898
900
901
Mark Bauerlein, What Is Cultural Studies?
902
Part iv Glossary of Literary Terms
Acknowledgments
921
Chronological Listing of Authors (inside covers)
905