##### Here are some texts you could choose for one of the [[assignments for fiction]] (or to read just for your own enjoyment). [“Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird” by Toni Cade Bambara](https://drive.google.com/file/d/13o7S_o-Pfc9TiGYjeqvRsL9coyBkTdGe/view?usp=share_link) > Published when I was one years old! I did not read this story until several years after that, when my favorite high school English teacher featured it in class one day. I guess my daughter was right when she reassured me that teachers do occasionally do something useful. Remember to sometimes read stuff that you wouldn’t have read if someone else hadn’t put it in front of you—otherwise you may miss out on being haunted by a sentence or a phrase, for the rest of your life, long after you’ve forgotten where it came from, until eventually you are driven by an intractable impulse to look it up, search until you find the story, read it all over again, and burst into tears at the end even though you still don’t fully understand why the phrase “Perhaps … if you there and ready” has never left your mind and heart, and now seems to have taken on more significance than ever. [“Weekend” by Amy Hempel](https://drive.google.com/open?id=12pWJR5iro47PMjPqUV4Tf3ed1bLZ6bHI&authuser=mschulte%40waukesha.k12.wi.us&usp=drive_fs)* > from some blurb somewhere: “Amy Hempel is the author of *Sing to It,* *The Dog of the Marriage,* *Tumble Home,* *At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, Reasons to Live,* and the coeditor of *Unleashed.* Her stories have appeared in *Harper’s, Vanity Fair, GQ, Tin House, The Harvard Review, The Quarterly,* and have been widely anthologized, including *Best American Short Stories* and *The Best Nonrequired Reading.* She teaches in the Graduate Writing Program at Bennington College, and at Stony Brook Southampton. She lives near New York City.” > > More importantly (to me), “Weekend” is my favorite short story ever. > > *(it’s just the left column of the page, the part with the box around it. This old scan of Harper’s magazine was the only place I could find the text!)* [“Bartleby, The Scrivener <small>(A STORY OF WALL-STREET)</small>” by Herman Melville](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11231/pg11231-images.html) <small>([other formats here](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231))</small> > I didn’t know what to make of it when I read it in high school, and I still don’t. But somehow over the intervening decades, it has sneakily become another of my favorites. Everything reminds me of it. As short stories go, it’s a little long, some might even say *long winded,* but how about we take a break from fulfilling the self-fulfilling prophecy that “no one has any patience for reading anymore,” and just read it, yeah? <small>(Or, you know, don’t, if you would prefer not to.)</small> > > There is an [[Bartleby the Scrivener|accompanying assignment]], as well. [“Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather](https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss006) > This is another story that is home to an unanswerable question; it always stuck with me too though I never exactly knew why. [“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin](https://www.ceremade.dauphine.fr/~ekeland/lectures/Mathematical%20Models%20in%20Social%20Sciences/ursula-k-le-guin-the-ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas.pdf) > I think it’s more than just a fancy version of the trolley problem. What do you think? You may enjoy one (or more) of these Gary Soto stories. **These would be good for the [[Emulating Story Structure]] assignment, because they’re short and the structure is easy to see:** - [“Seventh Grade”](https://drive.google.com/open?id=14ROf__M_i9R5SIiqmJ8XI-MBmdJYDzJP&authuser=mschulte%40waukesha.k12.wi.us&usp=drive_fs) - [“The Bike”](https://drive.google.com/open?id=143hg7agq9FywlFD5o50r3fVIf8LvbZYh&authuser=mschulte%40waukesha.k12.wi.us&usp=drive_fs) - [“The Jacket”](https://drive.google.com/open?id=14-elyfUg9FepPSrJxT2cw_ecImPoGy61&authuser=mschulte%40waukesha.k12.wi.us&usp=drive_fs) [“Told in the Drooling Ward” by Jack London](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-N9rkTezSAiqe5a9k4SW8JqQqIao7zYP/view?usp=sharing) > Jack London's brilliant 1914 short story, “Told in the Drooling Ward” is narrated by a man living in a California mental institution. The narrator has been in the ward over 25 years; he helps feed and care for the others. The story is more complex than it might at first appear; it's also funny, ironic, and perhaps frightening. As you read, pay special attention to how London revelas his characters; what does he show us directly? What do we discover indirectly? In addition, we must consider the reliability of the narrator. Who is this man? What do we know about him? What does London gain (in terms of storytelling) by employing this type of narration? [“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes](https://www.sdfo.org/gj/stories/flowersforalgernon.pdf) > “Flowers for Algernon” is another awesome short story that explores some similar themes and makes you think about [[point of view]], though in a very different way. Highly recommended! [A Good Man is Hard to Find](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P54UHIG7vmsZnAb_9bvroGmR--Pkj3ch/view?usp=drive_link) By Flannery O’Connor > Mary Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) was an American writer and essayist who often wrote in the Southern Gothic style. Her stories are known for their witty descriptions, emphasis on the grotesque, and exploration of ethics and morality. In this text, O’Connor tells the story of a family who decides to take a vacation and encounters some dangerous people. - In a previous class, we [used this story as an example](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P9HcZ5PtZil9uwFjaHOVhQGETyk5ecN5/view?usp=drive_link) for practicing [[marking the text]]. [“Gooseberries” by Anton Chekhov](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lOk48hdtKx-XXl3UBtqWv0sVbss9JVHamaJV3PrSQPo/edit#heading=h.8xj1gzoodhys) > A thoughtful story about a bitter old man. No wonder I can relate! 😸 What made me think about using this story as a mentor text was [this blog post](https://kevinmunger.substack.com/p/facebook-is-other-people). Keep in mind when you read [a translation of a text](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/on-translating-chekhov-pevear-volokhonsky/) that what you are reading is really a kind of collaboration between the original author and the translator. Different translations of the same text can create very different feelings and even meanings. [*Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov* by Anton Chekhov](https://drive.google.com/open?id=16O1rUVfIogHw5IFIs_C8hafv9TTBkL7L&authuser=mschulte%40waukesha.k12.wi.us&usp=drive_fs) > What better way to get into a mindset for writing [[short fiction]] than by reading a master of the form: Anton Chekhov. This selection of stories was translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Pick one a day when you have a few free minutes, and enjoy! [“Principles of a Story” by Raymond Carver](https://drive.google.com/open?id=189KQGID3SHZiMNQRzy0xZ5Kp7NOWtdTW&authuser=mschulte%40waukesha.k12.wi.us&usp=drive_fs) > “From Chekhov to James Joyce, the short story defined modern fiction. Subsequently, it became a form defined by America. Here, one of the great US writers explains why he came to prefer the story to the novel.” > PS: I just love Raymond Carver (RIP). I had a dream one time in which he kissed me on the cheek and gave me writing and life advice (lol)! [Fiction Writing Tips: Create Characters Your Readers Will Care About](https://www.creative-writing-now.com/fiction-writing-tips.html) > This is but one example of many such writing advice resources you can find on the Internet. They can be very helpful. You should also take them all with a grain of salt. Remember, it is commendable to study established masters in any field you’re interested in; but also, you get to redefine “it” for yourself, whatever “it” may be. Ultimately, the decision of what word is next, and why, and how, is always up to you. [“How to Write a Short Story” video by FIU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZNSVMaPIUQ) > Good stuff. See caveat in previous item. [Library of America’s “Story of the Week”](https://loa.org/search-results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=story+of+the+week) > This doesn’t seem to be updated anymore, but there’s some great selections here.