Short but sweet: Celebrating short stories

DEBBIE JACOB

YOU’RE forgiven if you didn’t know that May is International Short Story Month, a time meant to celebrate a form of literature that tends to get ignored. Short stories are as powerful as novels, maybe even more so, because they pack a punch in less space.

By definition, short stories are fiction from 1,000 to 10,000 words long. They don’t have the luxury of time to develop multiple themes, characters, conflicts or other elements of literature. Still, a good short story does justice to those elements in a streamlined form.

Short stories reflect a writer’s voice, so they indicate how a writer approaches his craft. If you want to discover new writers, but don’t want to invest the time or the money in a novel, start with a writer’s short stories and see if they grab you.

Here are some of my favourite short stories in no special order. I recommend them for both entertainment and lessons in good writing.

Red Dirt Don’t Wash by Roger Mais – Every time I reread Jamaican writer Roger Mais’s stories, I discover a new layer of meaning. In this story, a country boy, Adrian, makes the ultimate sacrifice, wearing shoes for the first time, to impress Miranda, the maid he sees as the epitome of sophistication in the house where they both work. The shoes give the story a timeless impact and develop characterisation like Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson. This is symbolism at its best.

The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream by Alice Senior – The tension is unimaginable in this story as a young boy from the country prepares to taste ice cream for the first time. Jamaican writer Olive Senior captures the wonder we all have for an experience that never lives up to our imagination. This is a deceptively simple story, which reminds us that good stories explore all senses.

Light is Like Water by Gabriel José García Márquez – When two Colombian children living in Madrid ask their father for a rowboat, if they pass their exams in school, no one expects them to flood the city with light. There’s no example of magical realism more brilliant than this one.

Blackout by Roger Mais – Setting shapes a story in ways we take for granted. This one features a conversation between a black Jamaican smoking a cigarette on a street corner and a white tourist waiting for a bus in Kingston one night during a blackout. The darkness could function as an equaliser. Instead, it shows that prejudice is inescapable. Mais wraps theme and conflict together without ever overwriting or explaining.

Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor – As a devout Catholic and writer from Georgia, US, O’Connor, who had lupus, wrote stories exploring life's dark side and spirituality. This one explores guilt. You have to pause and brace yourself for an O’Connor ending. They are almost unbearable to face.

Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville – The bizarre story of Bartleby, a clerk who starts off well in his job and then stops working, is a protest story about mindless work.

The Baker’s Story by VS Naipaul – This early story by TT’s Nobel laureate in literature uses humour to make an essential statement about prejudice. It’s refreshing to revisit Naipaul’s lighter side.

I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen – In this story, a mother’s recent conversation with her daughter’s teacher moves back and forth in her mind like the iron in her hand. The iron’s symbolism and movement contain and confine her thoughts, allowing no escape for the mother.

Children of the Sea by Edwidge Danticat – In many ways, refugees and their stories define this period in world history. Haitian writer Edwidge Danticat captures the dreams, aspirations, loss and sadness of leaving a home behind in this story on a small boat in the middle of the sea. As the young narrator moves forward to her new home, memories flood her mind, creating conflict that can never resolve.

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway – The tragic story of a man’s new-found bravery showcases Hemingway’s talent in advancing the plot and showing characterisation with dialogue.

The list of great short stories is endless. Try stories by Raymond Carver, Anita Desai, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Anton Chekhov, Jorge Luis Borges, Reinaldo Arenas, Guy de Maupassant and Franz Kafka. The list is endless. Check out Forbes’s list of the 25 greatest short stories. https://www.forbes.com/sites/entertainment/article/greatest-short-stories/

Here’s a guide to Hemingway’s stories. https://interestingliterature.com/2021/12/best-ernest-hemingway-short-stories/

Sometimes it’s good to make your reading short but sweet. Happy reading!