Is The Short Story Becoming Hip?

In noting, earlier this month, the appearance of major articles in both the New York Times and the Guardian on the short story (on the same day no less), Short Review editor Tania Hershman asked, “Have we slipped through a wormhole into another dimension?” Maybe not, but April was a good month for the short story:

• In the New York Times, A.O. Scott’s “In Praise of the American Short Story” acknowledges the commercial limitations of the form, but also warns against undervaluing it. The appearance of biographies of Flannery O’Connor, John Cheever and Donald Barthelme offers occasion to look back at 20th century masters. And Wells Towers’ new Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (getting a lot of attention these days) “provides the most vivid recent example of the way a good story, or a solid collection of them, can do more than a novel to illuminate the textures of ordinary life and the possibilities of language.”
• In his Guardian piece, James Lasdun “celebrates growing confidence in an often overlooked form.” He does so with a tough look at five recent story collection debuts from around the world: the Wells Tower from America, but also authors from Ukraine, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.
• The 2009 Pulitzer for Fiction, just announced, went to Elizabeth Strout for Olive Kitteridge, a collection of linked stories “set in small-town Maine that packs a cumulative emotional wallop, bound together by polished prose and by Olive, the title character, blunt, flawed and fascinating.”
• Finally, the online journal The Rumpus earlier this week premiered a new column by Peter Orner (Esther Stories) called The Lonely Voice focused on… the short story (and, of course, taking its name from Frank O’Connor’s classic study of the form). His plan is to check in every week or so with thoughts about a particular story. This week: Peter Taylor’s “Allegiance.”

Alix Ohlin (2)

I posted previously about Alix Ohlin’s amazing short story, “Simple Exercises for the Beginning Student,” and vowed to read and review the collection it’s from, Babylon and Other Stories. Well, finally, here is my review, in the April issue of The Short Review. This is a wonderful collection. Buy it at Powell’s or from you local independent bookseller.

Some Alix Ohlin interviews, and other odds & ends:

• a short interview at Hobart
• and a longer interview at About.com, which includes this fascinating metaphor: “When I’m writing I often think of the character as being underwater at the beginning of the story, and the action of the story is that character breaking the surface.”
• at Beatrice.com, her reflections on Greg Hollingshead’s The Roaring Girl
• a video of a talk she gave in 2007 as part of the Zocalo Public Square lecture series, called “Why Mysteries Matter: Detectives, Literature & Life” (it’s 53 minutes long, so wait until you have the time).

Ohlin is previously the author of a novel, The Missing Person.

Emerging Writers Network

A nice mention of New Madrid and my story “Call It Beautiful” in Dan Wickett’s February 20 post at the Emerging Writers Network blog. Both at EWN and Dzanc Books, Dan is a tireless champion for new literary voices, and has a particular love for short stories. He edited a recent anthology called Visiting Hours published by Press 53, another independent press doing great work.

The Short Review

This is a terrific website devoted exclusively to reviewing short story collections, and started by a friend from Tin House, Tania Hershman (herself the author of a new collection, The White Road & Other Stories–more on that later). It has a number of great features, including author interviews, links to other reviews, and a big push on buying independent. There are ongoing reviews of both current and older titles, and a blog.

I have my first review up now in the February edition of the The Short Review–of A Happy Man, by Axel Thormahlen–a book I wanted to like more than I did. But it’s worth a look, and it’s published by a Los Angeles press, Les Figues, doing some very interesting stuff.