Thanks
to my readers for calling my attention to some omissions in my posting of
important stories of the first 50 years of the 20th century. Just overrsight on my part. Here's what I
left out:
O.
Henry "The Cop and the
Anthem" 1906
"The Furnished
Room"
"The Gift of the
Magi"
Saki "The Lumber Room"
1914
"The Open
Window"
"The
Schartz-Metterklume Method"
"Sredni
Vashtar"
William
Sansom "Through the
Quinquina Glass"
"The
Vertical Ladder"1946
James
Thurber "The Catbird Seat" 1939
"The Greatest Man
in the World"
"The Secret Life of
Walter Mitty"
"The Unicorn in the
Garden"
One
of my readers pointed out that two entries—Dubliners
and Winesburg, Ohio--were not
individual short stories. I listed them
this way because practically all the stories in Dubliners have been widely anthologized and analyzed and because Winesburg is more important as a series
of linked-stories than it is for individual stories.
This
list of stories between 1950 and 2000 is somewhat more problematical than the
list of stories between 1900 and 1950, for they have not been around long enough
to settle themselves into a tradition based on being anthologized and analyzed. Once again, I urge readers to let me knowwhat
I have left out or should have included.
1950-1960
Achebe,
Chinua "Dead Man's
Path" 1952
Agee,
James "Mother's
Tale" 1952
Aichinger,
Ilse "Bound Man"
1952
Baldwin,
James "Come Out of the
Wilderness" 1958
"Sonny's Blues" 1958
Bellow,
Saul "Father
to Be" 1955
"Leaving the Yellow House"
1958
Berriault,
Gina "Stone Boy" 1957
Boll,
Heinrich "Murke's Collected
Silences" 1958
"Laugher" 1955
"Across the Bridge" 1950
"Christmas Every Day" 1951
Brodkey,
Harold "First Love" 1957
Buzzati,
Dino "Seven Floors"
1958
Calisher,
Hortense "In Greenwich, There
are Many" 1951
Camus,
Albert "The
Guest" 1957
Cheever,
John "Country
Husband" 1953
Cortazar,
Julio "Axolotl"
1956
"Blow-up"
Dinesen, Isak "Babette's Feast" 1950
"Blank Page" 1957
"Cardinal's First Tale" 1957
Elliott,
George "Among
the Dangs" 1958
Gold,
Hebert "Susanna
at the Beach" 1954
"Heart of the Artichoke" 1951
Gordimer,
Nadine "The Defeated" 1952
Grau,
Shirley Anne "Black Prince" 1952
Hall,
Lawrence Sargent "The Ledge" 1958
Hildsheimer,Wolfgang"World
Ends" 1952
Keyes,
Daniel "Flowers for
Algernon" 1959
Landolfi,
Tommaso "Gogol's Wife" 1953
Lavin,
Mary "Great
Wave" 1959
Lispector,
Calirce "Imitation of the
Rose" 1955
Mailer,
Norman "Time of Her
Time" 1959
Malamud,
Bernard "Magic Barrel" 1953
"Angel Levine" 1955
"Take Pity" 1956
"Last Mohican" 1958
Mishima,
Yukio "Swaddling
Clothes" 1953
Nabokov,
Vladimir "Vane Sisters" 1959
O'Connor,
Flannery "Good Man is Hard to
Find" 1952
"Life you Save May Be Your
Own" 1953
"The River" 1953
"Displace Person" 1953
"Artificial Nigger" 1955
"Good Country People" 1955
"Greenleaf" 19546
O'Connor,
Frank "Man of the World"
1957
O'Faolain,
Sean "Lovers of the
Lake"
Paley,
Grace "The
Loudest Voice" 1959
"Used-Boy Raisers" 1959
Pavese,
Cesare "Suicides" 1953
Purdy,
James "Don't Call Me By
My Right Name" 1956
"Color of Darkness" 1957
"Why Can't They Tell You Why" 1957
Rooney,
Frank "Cyclist's Raid" 1951
Roth,
Philip "Conversion of
the Jews" 1958
"Defender of the Faith" 1959
Rulfo,
Juan "Because
We Are So Poor" 1942
"Tell Them Not to Kill Me"
1953
"Talpa" 1953
Salinger,
J.D. "For Esme, with
Love and Squalor" 1950
Sillitoe,
Alan "Loneliness of
Long Distance Runner" 1959
Stafford,
Jean "A Country Love
Story" 1950
"In the Zoo" 1953
Svevo,
Italo "This Indolence
of Mine" 1957
Taylor, Peter "What
You Hear from Em?" 1951
"Venus, Cupid,
Folly, and Time" 1958
Tellez,
Hernando "Just Lather, That's
All" 1950
Welty,
Eudora "No Place for You,
My Love" 1952
Olsen,
Tillie "I Stand Here
Ironing" 1956
Williams,
Tennessee "Three Players of a Summer's Game" 1952
1960-1970
Baldwin,
James "This Morning, this
Evening, So Soon" 1960
Baraka,
Amira "Screamers"
1967
Barth,
John "Night
Sea Journey" 1966
"Lost in the Funhouse" 1967
"Life Story" 1968
Barthelme,
Donald "Shower of Gold" 1961
"Margins" 1964
"Balloon" 1966
"Indian Uprising" 1968
Blattner,
H.W. "Sound of
a Drunker Drummer" 1961
Butor,
Michel "Welcome to
Utah" 1962
Buzzati,
Dino "Falling Girl"
1965
Cheever,
John "Brigadier
and the Gold Widow" 1964
"Swimmer" 1964
Colter,
Cyrus "Beach
Umbrella" 1962
Coover,
Robert "Babysitter"
1969
"Brother" 1969
Cortazar,
Julio "Island
at Noon" 1965
"Axotol" 1964
Eastlake,
William "Long Day's
Dying" 1964
Elkin, Stanley "Poetics for Bullies" 1965
"I Look
Out for Ed Wolfe" 1961
Fort,
Keith "Coal
Shoveller" 1969
Fuentes,
Carlos "Aura" 1962
Gaines,
Ernest "Just
Like a Tree" 1963
"Sky is Gray" 1963
Gallant,
Mavis "Ice
Wagon Going Down the Street" 1963
Gass,
William H. "Order of
Insects" 1961
"In the Heart of the Heart of"
1967
Hughes,
Ted "Snow" 1960
Larner,
Jeremy "Oh the
Wonder" 1965
Lavin,
Mary "Happiness"
1969
Lessing,
Doris "Homage
for Babel" 1961
"To Room Nineteen" 1963
"Woman on the Roof" 1963
Lind,
Jakov "Journey
Through the Night" 1961
Malamud,
Bernard "Jewbird"
1963
"Idiot's First" 1961
Marquez,Gabriel
Garcia "Old Man with Enormous Wings" 1968
"Handsomest Drowned Man" 1968
Michaels,
Leonard "City Boy" 1969
Mishima,
Yukio "Patriotism" 1961
O'Connor,
Frank "My Oedipus
Complex"
O'Connor,
Flannery "Everything That
Rises" 1961
"Revelation" 1964
Oates,
Joyce Carol "Upon the Sweeping
Flood" 1963
"Where Are You Going? 1966
"How I Contemplated the World"
1969
Olsen,
Tillie "Tell Me a
Riddle" 1961
Paley,
Grace "Faith
in a Tree" 1967
Paredes,
Americo "Hammon and The
Beans" 1963
Plath,
Sylvia "Johnny
Panic and the Bible of Dreams"
Price,
Reynolds "Warrior
Princess Ozimba" 1962
Purdy, James "Daddy
Wolf" 1961
Robbe-Grillet, "Secret
Room" 1961
Rogin, Gilbert "Judging
Keller" 1964
Rosa,
Joao Guimaraes "Third Bank of the River" 1961
Silko,
Lellie Marmon "Man to Send Rain
Clouds" 1969
Solzhenitsyn,
Aleksandr "Matryona's House" 1963
Spark,
Muriel "Black
Madonna" 1966
Taylor,
Peter "Miss Lenora
When Last Seen" 1960
"Reservations: A Love Story" 1961
Updike,
John "A&P"
1961
"Pigeon Feathers" 1961
"Lifeguard" 1962
Walker,
Alice "To Hell with
Dying" 1967
1970-1980
Adams,
Alice "Roses,
Rhododendron" 1975
"Truth or Consequences"
Atwood,
Margaret "Rape Fantasies"
1974
"Man From Mars" 1975
"Sin Eater" 1977
Bambara,
Toni Cade "Gorilla, My Love"
1971
"Raymond's Run" 1971
"The Lesson" 1972
"My Man Bovanne" 1972
Holst,
Spencer "Language
of Cats" 1971
Beattie,
Ann "Shifting"
1977
"Burning House" 1978
"A Vintage Thunderbird" 1977
"Greenwich Time" 1979
Carver,
Raymond "Neighbors" 1971
"Will
You Please Be Quiet, Please" 1976
"So Much Water Close to Home "
1977
Dubus,
Andre "Fat Girl" 1975
Gallant , Mavis "Speck's Idea" 1979
Gardner,
John "Redemption"
1977
Godwin,
Gail "Dream
Children" 1971
"Sorrowful Woman" 1971
Hannah,
Barry "Testimony
of Pilot" 1974
"Water Liars"
Helprin,
Mark "Schreuderspitze"
1977
Le
Guin, Ursula "Ones Who Walk
Away" 1973
Madden,
David "No Trace" 1970
Munro,Alice "How I Met My Husband" 1974
"Beggar Maid" 1975
"Royal Beatings" 1975
"Wild Swans" 1978
O'Brien,
Tim "Going After
Cacciato" 1976
O'Faolian,
Sean "Faithless Wife"
Paley,
Grace "Conversation
with Father" 1971
"Long Distance Runner" 1974
Phillips,
Jayne Ann "Home" 1978
"Black Tickets" 1978
"Lechery" 1979
Price,
Reynolds "Truth and
Lies" 1970
Robison,
Mary "Pretty Ice"
1976
Silko,
Leslie Marmon "Yellow Woman"
1974
Taylor,
Peter "Old
Forest" 1979
Walker,
Alice "Everyday
Use" 1973
Williams
Joy "Train" 1972
1980-1990
Abbott,
Lee K. "The Final Proof of Fate and Circumstances"
1983
Apple, Max "Bridging"
1984
"Oranging of America" 1976
Banks, Russell "Sarah Cole: Type of Love Story" 1984
Barthelme,
Donald "Chroma" 1987
Bass,
Rick "The Watch" 1989
Bausch,
"Old West"
1989
"All the Way in Flagstaff, Arizona,
1987
"Fireman's Wife" 1989
Busch,
Frederick "Ralph The
Duck" 1988
Baxter,
Charles "Gryphon 1985
Beattie,
Ann "Jacklighting"
1982
"Janus" 1985
Bell,
Madison Smartt "Naked Lady"
1983
"Finding Natasha" 1989
Bloom,
Amy "Silver Water"
1991
Bourjaily,
Vance "Amish Farmer"
1980
Boyle, T.C. "Greasy
Lake" 1981
"Hector Quisadilla" 1984
Canin, Ethan "Emperor
of the Air" 1984
"Star Food" 1986
Carter, Angela "Black
Venus" 1980
"Tis Pity She's a Whore" 1988
Carver,
Raymond "Cathedral" 1981
"Errand" 1986
Conroy,
Frank "Midair" 1985
Doer,
Harriet "Edie: A Life" 1988
Dubus,
Andre "A Father's
Story" 1983
Dybek,
Stuart "Bijou" 1985
"Chopin in Winter"
Erdrich,
Louise "Saint Marie"
1984
"Fleur"
"The Bingo Van"
Faust, Irving "Year
of the Hot Jock" 1985
Ford,
Richard "Rock
Springs" 1987
"Communist" 1985
Gaitskill,
Mary " A Romantic Weekend"
1988
Gallant , Mavis "Lena" 1983
Gilchrist,
Ellen "Victory Over
Japan" 1984
Hempel,
Amy "Going"
1985
"Al Jolson" 1985
"Today Will be a Quiet Day"
1985
Johnson,
Denis "Car Crash While
Hitchhiking" 1989
Kaplan,
David Michael "Doe Season" 1985
Leavitt,
David "Territory"
1982
Mason,
Bobbie Ann "Shiloh" 1980
"Residents and Transients"
1982
"Big Bertha Stories"
"Graveyard Day"
"The Retreat"
Miller,
Sue "Inventing
the Abbotts" 1987
Millhauser,
Steven "Eisenheim, the
Illusionist" 1989
Minot,
Susan "Lust" 1984
Mukherjee,
Bharati "Management of
Grief" 1988
"Wife's Story" 1988
"The Tenant" 1986
Ozick,
Cynthia "The
Shawl" 1980
Robison,
Mary "Coach" 1981
"Amateurs Guide to the Night"
1983
Simpson,
Mona "Lawns" 1985
Sontag,
Susan "Way
We Live Now" 1986
Stone,
Robert "Helping"
1987
Swift Graham "Learning
to Swim" 1982
Tan,
Amy "Two
Kinds" 1989
Tilghman,
Christopher"In a Father's Place" 1989
Trevor,
William "Beyond the
Pale" 1981
Updike,
John "Afterlife"
1986
"A Sandstone Farmhouse" 1990
Wideman,
John Edgar"Damballah" 1981
"Daddy Garbage" 1991
Williams,
Joy "The Skater"
1984
"Health" 1985
"The Wedding"
Wolff,
Tobias "In the Garden of
North American" 1980
"Rich Brother" 1985
"The Liar"
1990--2000
Allen,
Paula Gunn "Deer Woman"
1991
Barnes , Julian "Dragons" 1996
Barrett,
Andrea "Behavior of the
Hawkweeds" 1994
Bausch,
Richard "The Fireman's
Wife" 1990
Boyd,
William "Dream
Lover" 1993
Brown,
Larry "Big
Bad Love" 1990
"Facing the Music"
Butler,
Robert Olen "A Good Scent from a
Strange Mt." 1992
Byatt,
A.S. "Medusa's
Ankles" 1990
Chang,
Lan Samantha "Pippa's Story 1993
"The Eve of the Spirit
Festival" 1995
Cisneros,
Susan "One Holy Night"
1991
"House on Mango Street" 1991
Dixon, Stephen "Man,
Woman, and Boy" 1992
Dubus,
Andre "Dancing After
Hours" 1996
Dybek,
Stuart "We Didn't"
1993
Gaitskill,
Mary "Girl on the
Plane" 1992
Gordon,
Mary "City
Life" 1996
Gilchrist,
Ellen "The Stucco
House" 1994
Hospital,
Janette Turner"Unperformed Experiments Have No Results" 1994
Houston,
Pam "Cowboys
Are My Weakness" 1992
Johnson,
Denis "Emergency"
1991
Johnson,
Charles "Exchange Value"
Jones,
Thom "A White
Horse" 1993
"Pugilist at Rest" 1991
"Cold Snap" 1993
Jones Edward "Lost
in the City" 1992
Millhauser,
Steven "The Barnum Museum"
1990
"Knife Thrower" 1998
Moore,
Lorrie "People Like That
Are the Only People Here" 1997
Munro,
Alice "Love of a Good
Woman" 1998
O'Brien,
Tim "The Things They
Carried" 1990
Offutt, Chris "Aunt
Granny Lilith" 1990
"Melungeons" 1993
Rushdie,
Salmon "Good Advice is Rarer
Than Rubies" 1994
2 comments:
I've downloaded one from each of your lists as most of the short stories I've read are from the last two decades. But I am curious how many of these authors' stories are known mostly by association with the author's novels. A cursory glance tells me quite a few. Not to create work for you but I'd love to see a list of highly regarded stories which have stood the test of time by authors primarily known for short stories.
I so appreciate your blog!
"Crazy Life" by Lou Mathews (Pushcart Prize 1990) is a great story
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