# Best American short story ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 3, 2006, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037 "2006-07-03T13:51:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/61 "2006-07-06T01:23:08Z")
It’s not world class, probably, but I love _The Djinn Who Watches over the Accursed_, by Stephen R. Donaldson. Add my votes to those for Hawthorne’s \*Rappacini’s Daughter \* and **Bartleby the Scrivener**. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/62 "2006-07-06T01:40:00Z")
Can’t believe I misspelled “Sredni Vashtar”. Anyway, it isn’t American. I know we’re already heavy with “genre” stories, but “It’s a _Good_ Life” is a masterpiece. ---
**Author:** ![cookeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@cookeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cookeze)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/63 "2006-07-06T03:10:01Z")
“Tomorrow” by William Faulkner. One of the best stories ever about what it means to love. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/64 "2006-07-06T03:27:35Z")
No love for “Brokeback Mountain,” by Annie Proulx? ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/65 "2006-07-06T15:03:01Z")
couple comments & questions - first, Thanks to the original poster & respondents - I am not well versed in the short story form and appreciate all the recommendations. The straight dope has already given me leads to more good books than I can get to in my lifetime…but at least these are short. second - Tho, as I said I’m no short story afficianado (sp?) I stumbled across a collection of them edited by David Sedaris, called Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules . Dumb name, but boy were there a lot of great stories in it, most not yet mentioned in this thread. I guess my taste must be similar to Mr. Sedaris. Anyway, check it out. third - Does it matter how we define “short story”? Probably not - but I think of “Flowers for Algernon” and “Brokebak Mountain” as novellas. And while I really like “Those who walk away from Omelas”, is it really a story? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/66 "2006-07-06T16:20:59Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] No love for “Brokeback Mountain,” by Annie Proulx? [/QUOTE] I love that one. It’s worth reading several times. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/67 "2006-07-06T16:55:38Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. A Rose for Emily. Anything by Flannery O’Connor, although my high school English teacher neighbor assigned “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. [/QUOTE] I’ll second [A Rose for Emily](http://www.mrrena.com/misc/emily.shtml) by William Faulkner. Although I loved the classic Sourthern gothic aspect of the story, Faulkner’s technical proficiency was stunning. I haven’t read it for a while, but the story is written in five non-linear time sections. Each section is necessary to tell the story, and in that order. The bridge between each section is seamless. When I was toying with short story writing, this story more than anything else let me know that I would never be able to play with the big boys. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/68 "2006-07-06T17:12:17Z")
I came back to mention “For Esme With Love And Squalor” by Salinger. I remember it as a short story, though it may actually be a novella. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/69 "2006-07-06T19:26:39Z")
> [@](#): > > I know we’re already heavy with “genre” stories, I think there’s a very good reason for that. Different formats are suited for different types of stories, which correspond roughly to the various genres. A character-driven story (like most “literature”), for instance, needs space to develop the characters properly, which generally means a novel. Short stories are better suited for concept-driven stories, and concept-driven stories are by and large “genre” (SF and mystery especially). ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/70 "2006-07-06T19:50:00Z")
[QUOTE=ddgryphon] I came back to mention “For Esme With Love And Squalor” by Salinger. I remember it as a short story, though it may actually be a novella. [/QUOTE] It’s a short story. It’s in the book Nine Stories, so even Salinger and his publisher thought so. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/71 "2006-07-06T21:41:01Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] It’s a short story. It’s in the book Nine Stories, so even Salinger and his publisher thought so. [/QUOTE] Novellas are considered stories. This is true in every genre, including literary. Esme is only about 10,000 words. You might call it a novelette, if you wanted to get technical. The sf world divides its awards into short story, under 7500 words; novelette, 7500-17,500 words; novella, 17,500-40,000 words; novel, over 40,000 words. These are pretty sound dividing lines for reference purposes. Anything under novel length gets referred to as a story, though. Short novel is a term sometimes used in the literary world for stories up around 40-50,000 words. They sometimes get published by themselves, more frequently in collections of “short novels,” and most often as stories in a collection. ---
**Author:** ![mojave66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mojave66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mojave66)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/72 "2006-07-06T22:56:38Z")
All props to “Brokeback Mountain”, but Proulx’ “The Bunchgrass End of the World” is even more amazing, in my completely uneducated opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/73 "2006-07-06T23:16:55Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Anything by Flannery O’Connor, although my high school English teacher neighbor assigned “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. [/QUOTE] Thoroughly seconded. Or thirded. Or fourthededed. I’m not sure where we’re at on this. The aforementioned story is the best of her best collection which goes by the same name. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/74 "2006-07-07T00:16:30Z")
I’m a big fan of The Eighty-Yard Run by Irwin Shaw, and Why I Live at the P.O. by Eudora Welty. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/75 "2006-07-07T00:21:59Z")
Love Saki, Vonnegut, Bradbury and Proulx most of all, but Stephen King’s [You Know They’ve Got A Hell Of A Band](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Know_They_Got_a_Hell_of_a_Band) (from _Nightmares and Dreamscapes_) is delicious fun. Who doesn’t love trapped-in-a-creepy-small-town-stories with slow revelations and horrific endings? ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/76 "2006-07-07T00:42:38Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] But I just read an anthology called “You’ve Got to Read This” (or something like that) in which authors nominate their favorite short stories and write a few paragraphs on their reasons for nominating that story, so I thought I’d ask you all if you’d like to give me your choices. [/QUOTE] Just wanted to mention that the author of “Paper Garden,” one of the stories included in _You’ve Gotta Read This!_, is a good friend and was a groomsman at my wedding. You should all read it immediately. My vote: “Paper Garden,” of course :), followed by Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/77 "2006-07-07T14:11:49Z")
_The Secret Life of Walter Mitty_ **James Thurber**. Lots of **Poe** and **Lovecraft**. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/78 "2006-07-08T05:59:37Z")
[QUOTE=mojave66] All props to “Brokeback Mountain”, but Proulx’ “The Bunchgrass End of the World” is even more amazing, in my completely uneducated opinion. [/QUOTE] After my first experience with Annie and Ang and not getting over it for a couple of weeks, I’m scared to read any more of her stuff. 😃 (I don’t think BBM would be a novella - it’s really a very short story - surprisingly short for the punch it packs.) ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/79 "2006-07-08T09:45:32Z")
I’m astonished we managed to go this far into the thread without a reference to one of the handful of the finest, most subtle and nuanced short stories ever written (and my personal favorite), Hemmingway’s **A Clean, Well-Lighted Place**. James Joyce – _James Joyce!_ – called it “one of the best stories ever written”. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037/80 "2006-07-08T15:58:34Z")
[QUOTE=ambushed] I’m astonished we managed to go this far into the thread without a reference to one of the handful of the finest, most subtle and nuanced short stories ever written (and my personal favorite), Hemmingway’s **A Clean, Well-Lighted Place**. [/QUOTE] I’m astonished you claim to have read the thread and yet missed post #58. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-american-short-story-ever/363037.md?page=5)