# 5 Best English Language Short Stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618 "2003-04-05T02:52:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Adam\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Adam\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adam_P)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/1 "2003-04-05T02:52:05Z")
My picks: 1. BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER by Herman Melville 2. THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH by Edgar Allen Poe 3. FIRST LOVE by Samuel Beckett 4. THE DEAD by James Joyce 5. THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE by Henry James ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/2 "2003-04-05T03:03:25Z")
_A Christmas Carol_, Charles Dickens. You can never go wrong with Dickins. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/3 "2003-04-05T03:11:33Z")
And see this thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168184](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168184) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/4 "2003-04-05T03:20:05Z")
I’d go with: **A Perfect Day for Bananafish** by J. D. Salinger \*\*A Good Man is Hard to Findp/b] by Flannery O’Connor **I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream** by Harlan Ellison **Lost in the Funhouse** by John Barth **The Cask of Amontillado** by Edgar Allan Poe ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/5 "2003-04-05T04:38:03Z")
Absolutely no doubt about the top slot: “The Idyll Of Miss Sarah Brown” by Damon Runyon. Finest short story ever written. Also worth mentioning… “The Verger” by Somerset Maugham “The Gold Bug” by Edgar Allen Poe “A Christmas Memory” by Truman Capote O Henry and Ring Lardner also wrote some terrific short stories. So did Guy de Maupassant, who was thoughtless enough to write in French, but thankfully his work has been translated into readable words. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/6 "2003-04-05T06:01:49Z")
“An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge” - Ambrose Bierce “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” - Ernest Hemingway “The Old Man and the Sea” - Hemingway “NightFall” - Asimov ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/7 "2003-04-05T06:25:29Z")
I know that you’re all going to moan and call me trite, etc. – but “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson really is the best short story ever. And that’s DESPITE all the people who say it’s the best short story ever. Four other greats: “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber “The Mysterious Stranger” by Mark Twain “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde and I’ll second “Bartleby the Scrivener” by Melville. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/8 "2003-04-05T07:21:15Z")
“The Moon Moth” by Jack Vance “Explaining Death to the Dog” by Susan Perabo “Dermuche” by Marcel Ayme “Greasy Lake” by T.C. Boyle “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/9 "2003-04-05T07:42:39Z")
don’t see The Call of Cthulhu or anything else by Lovecraft on here. The Tell-Tale Heart (poe) Cask of Amantillado (poe) ok I don’t really think I have enough for 5… ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/10 "2003-04-05T08:03:38Z")
Jack London’s _To Build a Fire_ ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/11 "2003-04-05T14:27:22Z")
“A Child’s Christmas in Wales.” “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![Duncan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@Duncan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duncan)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/12 "2003-04-05T15:35:13Z")
“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes “Sredni Vashtar” by Saki “The Unrest Cure” by Saki “Five Letter from an Eastern Empire” by Alasdair Gray “Portrait of the Artist as a Foaming Deathmonger” by Tibor Fischer ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/13 "2003-04-05T16:17:03Z")
“The Lottery” Shirley Jackson “Yellow Wallpaper” ?? Who’s that by? Is that even the right title? It’s about the woman with some problems who goes to live in a new house, with hideous wallpaper… yeah, and its kind of horror story My number 1 pick (skipping number 3 & 4, which I’m not sure about), is one I also can’t remember. It’s by Bradbury, in The Illustrated Man, I think, and its about these astronauts who visit a planet, where a quite special visitor has just been. Can I say who it is? Is that a spoiler? A little help, someone! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/14 "2003-04-05T18:01:43Z")
I’m glad to see Joyce’s _The Dead_ represented in the OP. It’s what I popped in to scream at the top of my lungs about with a fanatical look in my eye. That out of the way, I’d like to mention a lesser-known story: _ **With the Night Mail** _, by Rudyard Kipling-- a brilliant story that works on many, many levels: It’s “science-fiction” from the turn-of-the-century. It’s a coded meditation on some of the more esoteric aspects of hermeticism, and their relation to other mystical systems. It’s a ripping adventure yarn. It comes bundled with several pages of paratextual material in the form of several pages of news and advertising from the year 2000. It’s breathtaking. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/15 "2003-04-05T18:51:37Z")
I will still go with “The Lottery” too. It is extraordinarily well-crafted. I _think_ that it appeared in [i[The New Yorker\* first. There is also a story by Ray Bradbury about a primitive deepsea monster and a lighthouse. Can’t think of the name but it is sterling! ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/16 "2003-04-05T19:02:38Z")
“why I live at the P.O.” ~ Eudora Welty ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/17 "2003-04-05T19:31:28Z")
> [@](#): > > “Yellow Wallpaper” ?? Who’s that by? Is that even the right title? It’s about the woman with some problems who goes to live in a new house, with hideous wallpaper… yeah, and its kind of horror story. Yeah, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the right title. It’s by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/18 "2003-04-05T20:24:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sunshine and Smiles \* > \*\*… > My number 1 pick (skipping number 3 & 4, which I’m not sure about), is one I also can’t remember. It’s by Bradbury, in The Illustrated Man, I think, and its about these astronauts who visit a planet, where a quite special visitor has just been. Can I say who it is? Is that a spoiler? A little help, someone! \*\* That reminds me of “The Man” A story where the local inhabitants were singularly unimpressed by the astronauts. My own choice is: 1…Diabologic by Eric Frank Russell. A lone Earthman is captured by unimaginative aliens and who come to regret it as he uses his logic to dumbfound them. 2… Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke A group of monks who think their purpose in life is to catalogue all the names that are used to signify God decide to shorten the process by buying a computer to help them. 3…Resurrection ( or The Monster) by A E Van Vogt Vicious aliens land on Earth from which all life has vanished, but the planet appears untouched with all cities etc. still standing. They have the technology to resurrect some members of the human race which turns out to be a big mistake. 4…Nightfall by Isaac Asimov Confusion on a planet not used to dark nights 5… The Last Question by Isaac Asimov The last computer ever built is asked the final question I read a lot of science fiction by the way. V ---
**Author:** ![Short\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Short\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/19 "2003-04-05T21:01:50Z")
**Zoe** , the Bradbury story is called “the Foghorn”. It’s the story the film “The Beast from 20,000 fathoms” is based on. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618/20 "2003-04-05T21:11:50Z")
By HP Lovecraft At the Mountains of Madness The Call of Cthulhu The Shadow over Innsmouth I also second Nightfall and the Last Question by Isaac Asimov. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-best-english-language-short-stories/166618.md?page=2)