the long and short of it
Short stories are symmetrical in ways that novels, long drawn-out affairs, can't be. That is why I am reminded of poetry when I read a patiently crafted short story. A good short story is like a good coffee after dinner, a complement to the day that is almost over, a reverie after things have run their course. Nothing needs to be added to it.
Often, there is a moment of surprise at the end, a point at which the reader realizes how much he or she still doesn't know and never will know. The story fades into the blank of the space after the last words, and the reader is as desolate as an orphan. What else is there to do? It seems wrong to start on the next story in the book when the story just finished is still filling up the corners of the room where the reader is seated or lying on the sofa. Everything outside the story seems frivolous and immaterial.
With stories that have such an effect on me, I have all the time in the world. If you are looking for an experience like the one I've described above, stories that are manifestly from another hand and yet seem imaginable within your everyday span, then the stories of two writers, the first a master and the second a stellar first-timer, Franz Kafka and Yiyun Li, should more than satisfy.
Often, there is a moment of surprise at the end, a point at which the reader realizes how much he or she still doesn't know and never will know. The story fades into the blank of the space after the last words, and the reader is as desolate as an orphan. What else is there to do? It seems wrong to start on the next story in the book when the story just finished is still filling up the corners of the room where the reader is seated or lying on the sofa. Everything outside the story seems frivolous and immaterial.
With stories that have such an effect on me, I have all the time in the world. If you are looking for an experience like the one I've described above, stories that are manifestly from another hand and yet seem imaginable within your everyday span, then the stories of two writers, the first a master and the second a stellar first-timer, Franz Kafka and Yiyun Li, should more than satisfy.
Labels: books
posted by wheyface at 9:24 PM
2 Comments:
Apart from Metamorphosis (which is a long short story) I don't believe I have read K's other short stories. I should check them out.
Actually Herman Melville, if I remember correctly, had some nice short stories too. Bartleby (the Scrivener??) was not bad. Rushdie also has a few gems. And Borges, of course!!!
You're dead right about not being able to go on to the next short story in the book after finishing a really good one. It feels complete in itself, just enough for the night.
For Kafka, my favourites are "The Judgment", "The Great Wall of China" and "In the Penal Colony".
Will go check out Melville, thanks for the tip-off!
Borges, yes, yes, OF COURSE!!! :-)
Have you read Yiyun Li? Her stories may resonate differently with you since most of them are set in contemporary China.
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