Jane Wagner | 06/12/2009 3:13 pm
Jane Wagner Pays Homage to the Best Short Story Writers
In response to: What is your favorite short story of all time?
I love so many short story writers. It’s so hard to pick my very favorite. Let me take this opportunity to pay homage to some of the ones I love the best. Isaac Asimov, Italo Calvino, William Gibson, Philip Dick, Margaret Atwood, Ursula Le Guin, Robert Olen Butler, Raymond Carver, Ring Lardner, Damon Runyon. But I can’t leave out Patricia Highsmith, ‘cause I actually knew her, and I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate her or her writing at the time.
Then there are the great masters I read early on that had so much impact, maybe because I was so young when I read them. O’Henry, I guess his surprise endings seem old-fashioned, today, but I remember being surprised with those surprise endings when I first read them. Others I read when I was young, Guy de Maupassant, Chekhov, Arthur Conan Doyle, Voltaire. Now, as I look over this list, I would feel bad, of course, if I left out Grace Paley, Louise Erdrich, James Joyce. I still recall being thrilled by his Dubliners.
Oh no, I see I’ve left out two of the most important to me, personally, because I related so deeply to their exquisite, Southern sensibility, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor.
I could go on and on … this is the hardest question you’ve ever asked me.
Then there are the great masters I read early on that had so much impact, maybe because I was so young when I read them. O’Henry, I guess his surprise endings seem old-fashioned, today, but I remember being surprised with those surprise endings when I first read them. Others I read when I was young, Guy de Maupassant, Chekhov, Arthur Conan Doyle, Voltaire. Now, as I look over this list, I would feel bad, of course, if I left out Grace Paley, Louise Erdrich, James Joyce. I still recall being thrilled by his Dubliners.
Oh no, I see I’ve left out two of the most important to me, personally, because I related so deeply to their exquisite, Southern sensibility, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor.
I could go on and on … this is the hardest question you’ve ever asked me.
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25 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
Hi Jane,
What about Mark Twain? I like O’Henry, too, especially "The Last Leaf".
Cheryl
Dear Ms. Jane: My favorite short story is actually a childrens book. It is called "So Many Cats". It was written by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers and illustrated by Ellen Weiss. I think you will like this book as much as I do so I hope you can get a copy and read it. Purrs from DtN
Jane, me too. I think the short story is the quintessential American form, much like jazz. It suits us especially somehow. It is, however, no great surprise to anyone who knows me that I particularly love the short fiction of Virginia Woolf. The story "The Symbol" for whatever reason has always reminded me of your work, Ms. Jane. Flannery O’Connor, well, what can one say in the presence of such greatness? Grace Paley seems well-suited to our times. Shirley Jackson always takes us on a good ride. Work of utter, show-stopping brilliance, of course is Ella Leffland’s Last Courtesies and Other Stories. But the list is endless because we have been given so many wonderful short-story writers in the English language, particularly women.
Kay Boyle, who lived her last years in my neighborhood, told me on one of our walks that she had the unfortunate fate of having outlived everyone who ever knew she was famous. "Not quite," I reminded her. Then I recounted a story to her, which I think might have been "The Visitor," and said it had lingered in my memory long long after I had read it. "Oh, yes, that story," she said. "One time I was reading one of those endless collections of American short stories, and I came across that one, which I read with enthusiasm. ‘Yes, yes, this is how a story ought to be written,’ I said. So I looked back to see who had written it and I had, 30 years ago!"
I’ve never read Shirley Jackson but thanks for the suggestion!
Love and light.
Flannery O’Connor’s “Wise Blood”:
“She shut her eyes and saw the pin point of light but so far away that she could not hold it steady in her mind. She felt as if she were blocked at the entrance of something. She sat staring with her eyes shut, into his eyes, and felt as if she had finally got to the beginning of something she couldn’t begin, and she saw him moving farther and farther away, farther and farther into the darkness until he was the pin point of light.”Awesome!
Dear Jane
Thanks for mentioning Italo Calvino my all time short story fave. I just swoon over his CosmicComics! Every time I re-read it, it just blows me away a little bit more such awesome creativity. Have you read and been blown away by it as well? Cheers From Toronto
Hello…wonderful topic, ladies…
I am in the middle of great household upheaval known as downsizing (the de-clutter thing…I "fenged" when I should have "shuied" …awfully hard…but necessary…)
But thank you for reminding me about the books to keep….Flannery and Eudora…thanks….