tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post3950329733955686343..comments2024-03-09T00:19:36.011-08:00Comments on Reading the Short Story: The 2014 Canadian Literature Symposium on Alice MunroCharles E. Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11642048806407593585noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-36006123585271290162014-06-08T03:40:02.392-07:002014-06-08T03:40:02.392-07:00Thank you for your answer Dr. May. Since you put ...Thank you for your answer Dr. May. Since you put particular emphasis on me not identifying myself, I decided to post and say that my name is Ali. I hit the submit button too early last time and did not get to add my name, nor check the spelling and grammar. But rest assured, I do have a name.<br /><br />My best.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-1663372046451733052014-06-07T10:21:11.816-07:002014-06-07T10:21:11.816-07:00I would rather speak to you by name than by "...I would rather speak to you by name than by "anonymous," but in my opinion, "anonymous," what marks the difference between a "story" and a mere account of a series of events is that a story reflects someone's attempt--the narrator, a central character, the author, the reader--to create, perceive, understand some "significance" or "meaning" in that series of events. <br /><br />What marks the difference between a great story and a not-so-great story, in my opinion is the universality of that significance or meaning, the perceptive way the author apprehends and humanizes that universality, the author's careful use of language to explore that significance, the rhythm of reality the story evokes--all reflected by the honesty of the author in trying to capture that reality. <br /><br />Beyond these expectations a reader has the right with which to engage with a story, a story can be any damn thing the writer wants it to be and reader understands it to be--assuming, of course, that both writer and reader are intelligent, honest, perceptive, sensitive to language, and empathetic to other human beings in the world.Charles E. Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11642048806407593585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-42780476796455716072014-06-04T03:52:14.229-07:002014-06-04T03:52:14.229-07:00Hi Dr May,
I'm glad to have found your blog b...Hi Dr May,<br /><br />I'm glad to have found your blog because I was considering starting reading some good short stories. In fact, that's how I found your site, looking for lists of greatest short stories (not necessarily American though at least translated to English).<br /><br />I have a request. Having read so many stories, will you be able to make a post about what makes a story...a story? Does it have to have a conflict, a climax, must there always be change, insight, surprise, emotions, connection with the reader? Must it make sense?<br /><br />Story is the telling of a sequence of events. For instance:<br /><br />I felt like looking up list of stories to read. I looked them up online. I found a blog. I made a post in the blog. The End.<br /><br />I have read a few stories where, for the lack of better word, I felt manipulated. I experienced the equivalent of a movie's sudden closeups and MTV style editing. Surprise after surprise, important information hidden till the end, a hand reaches out and grabs your heart just to make sure you are emotionally invested. <br /><br />Of course there could also be stories where nothing important happens and you just don't care about the characters. But why are you reading? Because it captures life. I don't know if you read this post or bother answering me, so this right here...that's life! I don't have to learn from you, you don't have to be changed by this post. In fact, one of us could be dead in a week, right before any kind of realization or insight could occur. And it could be a very trivial thing too, like falling in a hole somewhere. No, that's too symbolic, let's say slipping in a grocery store and dying. That's a story, is it not, a sequence of events? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-67968755539043873912014-06-02T21:21:22.756-07:002014-06-02T21:21:22.756-07:00Thanks for catching that typo. I made the correct...Thanks for catching that typo. I made the correction.Charles E. Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11642048806407593585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-65484867354577092812014-06-02T17:27:03.788-07:002014-06-02T17:27:03.788-07:00Hello,
You mention Munro's final collection &...Hello,<br /><br />You mention Munro's final collection 'Real Life' a couple of times. I think you mean 'Dear Life'?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com