THE CONTEMPORARY SHORT STORY
TAO LIN | SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE
MON, 6PM-8PM (9/10-12/21, 2012) WREX SP
SHORT STORY RESOURCES
New World Writing archive (formerly Mississippi Review, edited by Frederick Barthelme)
Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular by L. Rust Hills
The Rea Award | O'Henry Prize Stories
KCRW's Bookworm: 15+ years of interviews by Michael Silverblatt
Don Swaim, huge archive of interviews
"Gordon Lish Knopf Bibliography"
Pindeldyboz archive | elimae.com archive | eyeshot.net archive
09/10
Curtis Sittenfeld (b. 1975) "1993-94" from Mississippi Review (1999)
~7400 words | Thom Jones commentary | ending analysis
James Purdy (1914 - 2009) "Color of Darkness" from "Color of Darkness" (1957)
~4200 words | Gore Vidal essay | NYTimes review | NYTimes obituary | more info
09/17
Lorrie Moore (b. 1957) "Willing" from "Birds of America" (1998)
~6000 words | 2005 interview
Kevin Brockmeier (b. 1972) "The Ceiling" from "Things That Fall From The Sky" (2002)
~5000 words
09/24
Todd Hasak-Lowy "The End of Larry's Wallet" from "The Task of This Translator" (2005)
~15,800 words
Rebecca Curtis "The Wolf at The Door" from "Twenty Grand" (2007)
~2300 words
10/01 Charles Johnson (b. 1948)
TAO LIN | SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE
MON, 6PM-8PM (9/10-12/21, 2012) WREX SP
SHORT STORY RESOURCES
New World Writing archive (formerly Mississippi Review, edited by Frederick Barthelme)
Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular by L. Rust Hills
The Rea Award | O'Henry Prize Stories
KCRW's Bookworm: 15+ years of interviews by Michael Silverblatt
Don Swaim, huge archive of interviews
"Gordon Lish Knopf Bibliography"
Pindeldyboz archive | elimae.com archive | eyeshot.net archive
09/10
Curtis Sittenfeld (b. 1975) "1993-94" from Mississippi Review (1999)
~7400 words | Thom Jones commentary | ending analysis
James Purdy (1914 - 2009) "Color of Darkness" from "Color of Darkness" (1957)
~4200 words | Gore Vidal essay | NYTimes review | NYTimes obituary | more info
09/17
Lorrie Moore (b. 1957) "Willing" from "Birds of America" (1998)
~6000 words | 2005 interview
Kevin Brockmeier (b. 1972) "The Ceiling" from "Things That Fall From The Sky" (2002)
~5000 words
09/24
Todd Hasak-Lowy "The End of Larry's Wallet" from "The Task of This Translator" (2005)
~15,800 words
Rebecca Curtis "The Wolf at The Door" from "Twenty Grand" (2007)
~2300 words
10/01 Charles Johnson (b. 1948)
"China" from "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (1986)
10/08 "Kmart realism"/"minimalism"
"On The New Fiction" issue of Mississippi Review (1985)
"Less is Less: The Dwindling American Short Story" essay in Harper's (1986)
"On The New Fiction" issue of Mississippi Review (1985)
"Less is Less: The Dwindling American Short Story" essay in Harper's (1986)
Frederick Barthelme (b. 1943) "Driver" from "Chroma" (1987)
on own writing | 1988 essay "On Being Wrong: Convicted Minimalism Spills Beans"
on own writing | 1988 essay "On Being Wrong: Convicted Minimalism Spills Beans"
Ann Beattie (b. 1947) "Shifting" from "Secrets and Surprises" (1978)
Bobbie Ann Mason (b. 1940) "Graveyard Day" from "Shiloh and Other Stories" (1982)
1997 interview | 2012 interview
1997 interview | 2012 interview
Mary Robison (b. 1949) “Pretty Ice” from "Days" (1979)
10/15
Joy Williams (b. 1944) (view questions/answers here) (scroll down)
“Train” from "Taking Care" (1982)
“Rot” from "Escapes" (1990)
“Honored
Guest” from "Honored Guest" (2005)
“Shifting Things” essay
"Why I Write" essay from "Ill Nature" (2001)
2005 interview re “Honored Guest”
"Why I Write" essay from "Ill Nature" (2001)
2005 interview re “Honored Guest”
10/22 (NO CLASS)
10/29
Lydia Davis (b. 1947)
“Story” “Five Signs of Disturbance” from "Break It Down" (1986)
“The Silence of Mrs. Iln” from "Varieties of Disturbance" (2007)
“Story” “Five Signs of Disturbance” from "Break It Down" (1986)
“The Silence of Mrs. Iln” from "Varieties of Disturbance" (2007)
Amy Hempel (b. 1951)
“In The Cemetery Where Al Jonson is Buried" from "Reasons To Live" (1985)
"To Those of You Who Missed..." from "At The Gates of The Animal Kingdom" (1990)
“In The Cemetery Where Al Jonson is Buried" from "Reasons To Live" (1985)
"To Those of You Who Missed..." from "At The Gates of The Animal Kingdom" (1990)
11/05 Noon Magazine
issue 13
TLS article | Wikipedia
Diane Williams ( b. 1946) "Very, Very, Red" from "Romancer Erector" (2001)
11/12 "postmodernism"/"metafiction"
Donald Barthelme (1931 – 1989)
“Robert Kennedy Saved From Drowning” from "Unspeakable Practices..." (1968)
1981 interview | archive of stories/essays/etc.
John Barth (b. 1930)
“Lost in The Funhouse” from "Lost in The Funhouse" (1968)
1986 essay "A Few Words About Minimalism"
issue 13
TLS article | Wikipedia
Diane Williams ( b. 1946) "Very, Very, Red" from "Romancer Erector" (2001)
11/12 "postmodernism"/"metafiction"
Donald Barthelme (1931 – 1989)
“Robert Kennedy Saved From Drowning” from "Unspeakable Practices..." (1968)
1981 interview | archive of stories/essays/etc.
John Barth (b. 1930)
“Lost in The Funhouse” from "Lost in The Funhouse" (1968)
1986 essay "A Few Words About Minimalism"
11/19
George Saunders (b. 1958)
“CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” from "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline" (1996)
2005 interview | 2012 interview
Patrick Somerville
“Trouble and The Shadowy Deathblow” from "Trouble" (2006)
~9000 words
“CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” from "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline" (1996)
2005 interview | 2012 interview
Patrick Somerville
“Trouble and The Shadowy Deathblow” from "Trouble" (2006)
~9000 words
11/26
David Foster Wallace (1962 - 2008)
“Forever Overhead” from "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" (1999)
“Good Old Neon” from "Oblivion" (2004)
Sherman Alexie (b. 1966)
"What You Pawn I Will Redeem" from the New Yorker (2003)
~6000 words | 2003 interview
“Forever Overhead” from "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" (1999)
“Good Old Neon” from "Oblivion" (2004)
Sherman Alexie (b. 1966)
"What You Pawn I Will Redeem" from the New Yorker (2003)
~6000 words | 2003 interview
12/03 post 2000 & internet
Trinie Dalton “Bienvenido el
Duende” from "Wide Eyed" (2005)
Ofelia Hunt "Don't Slide The Couches" from bearparade.com (2006)
Deb Olin Unferth "La Peña" from "Minor Robberies" (2007)
Matthew Rohrer (b. 1970) "Dog Boy" "Mongolian Death Worm" from "A Green Light" (2004)
Sam Pink (b. 1983) "Juliana" "Bees" from "Hurt Others" (2011)
Mazie Louise Montgomery "In a Moose Language..." from bearparade.com (2007)
Miles Ross (b. 1984) "Bad Smelling Person in Nautica" from muumuuhouse.com (2009)
Sheila Heti (b. 1976) "The Poet and The Novelist as Roommates" from "The Middle Stories" (2001)
John Haskell "Dream of a Clean Slate" from "I Am Not Jackson Pollock" (2003)
Michael Earl Craig "A Gorgeous Hotel, In a Grand City" from "Yes, Master" (2006)
Noah Cicero (b. 1980) "A Cold Wind Blows Tonight" from muumuuhouse.com (2008)
Gary Lutz "Middletown" from Agricultural Reader, issue 4 (2011)
R.B. Glaser "Butt Teen" from Capgun, issue 2 (2008)
Tara Wray "Flatbed, Seabed" from Pindeldyboz, issue 3 (2003)
Brandon Scott Gorrell (b. 1984) "Jeffrey, Vincent, Jeffrey... " from electricliterature.com (2009)
Megan Boyle (b. 1985) "Clams" from muumuuhouse.com (2009)
Ofelia Hunt "Don't Slide The Couches" from bearparade.com (2006)
Deb Olin Unferth "La Peña" from "Minor Robberies" (2007)
Matthew Rohrer (b. 1970) "Dog Boy" "Mongolian Death Worm" from "A Green Light" (2004)
Sam Pink (b. 1983) "Juliana" "Bees" from "Hurt Others" (2011)
Mazie Louise Montgomery "In a Moose Language..." from bearparade.com (2007)
Miles Ross (b. 1984) "Bad Smelling Person in Nautica" from muumuuhouse.com (2009)
Sheila Heti (b. 1976) "The Poet and The Novelist as Roommates" from "The Middle Stories" (2001)
John Haskell "Dream of a Clean Slate" from "I Am Not Jackson Pollock" (2003)
Michael Earl Craig "A Gorgeous Hotel, In a Grand City" from "Yes, Master" (2006)
Noah Cicero (b. 1980) "A Cold Wind Blows Tonight" from muumuuhouse.com (2008)
Gary Lutz "Middletown" from Agricultural Reader, issue 4 (2011)
R.B. Glaser "Butt Teen" from Capgun, issue 2 (2008)
Tara Wray "Flatbed, Seabed" from Pindeldyboz, issue 3 (2003)
Brandon Scott Gorrell (b. 1984) "Jeffrey, Vincent, Jeffrey... " from electricliterature.com (2009)
Megan Boyle (b. 1985) "Clams" from muumuuhouse.com (2009)
12/10
Grace Paley (1922 - 2007) "Mother" from "Later The Same Day" (1985)
Larry Brown (1951 – 2004) "92 Days" from "Big Bad Love" (1990)
Larry Brown (1951 – 2004) "92 Days" from "Big Bad Love" (1990)
Denis Johnson (b. 1949) "Emergency" from "Jesus' Son" (1992)
12/17 Sherman Alexie (b. 1966)