The Art of the Short Story

DANA GIOIA R. S. GWYNN Lamar University

SUB Gottingen 7 217 782 094

2005 A 3176

PEARSON Longman

New York Boston San Francisco London Toronto Sydney Tokyo Singapore Madrid Mexico City Munich Paris Cape Town Hong Kong Montreal CONTENTS

Preface xi About the Authors xiii Parti Introduction

THE ART OF THE SHORT STORY 3

Part 11 Stories 7

CHINUA ACHEBE, Nigerian 9 Dead Men's Path 10 Author's Perspective Achebe: Modern Africa as the Crossroads of Culture 12

SHERWOOD ANDERSON, American 14 Hands 15 Author's Perspective Anderson: Words Not Plot Give Form to a Short Story 19

MARGARET ATWOOD, Canadian 21 Happy Endings 22 Author's Perspective Atwood: On the Canadian Identity 24 iv CONTENTS

JAMES BALDWIN, American 26 Sonny's Blues 27 Author's Perspective Baldwin: Race and the African-American Writer 49

JORGE LUIS BORGES, Argentine 53 The Garden of Forking Paths 55 Author's Perspective Borges: Literature as Experience 62

ALBERT CAMUS, French, born in Algeria 64 The Guest 65 Author's Perspective Camus: Revolution and Repression in Algeria 74

RAYMOND CARVER, American 76 Cathedral 77 A Small, Good Thing 88 Author's Perspective Carver: Commonplace but Precise Language 104

WILLACATHER, American 106 Paul's Case 107 Author's Perspective Cather: Art as the Process of Simplification 121

JOHN CHEEVER, American 122 The Swimmer 123 Author's Perspective Cheever: Why I Write Short Stories 131

ANTON CHEKHOV, Russian 133 \ The Lady with the Pet Dog 135 Misery 147 Author's Perspective Chekhov: Natural Description and "The Center of Gravity" 151

KATE CHOPIN, American 152 The Storm 153 The Story of an Hour 157 Author's Perspective Chopin: My Writing Method 159

SANDRA ClSNEROS, American 160 Barbie-Q 160 Author's Perspective Cisneros: Bilingual Style 162 CONTENTS

JOSEPH CONRAD, Polish, Naturalized British 164 The Secret Sharer 165 Author's Perspective Conrad: The Condition of Art 193

STEPHEN CRANE, American 195 The Open Boat 196 Author's Perspective Crane: The Sinking of the Commodore 213

RALPH ELLISON, American 217 A Party Down at the Square 218 Author's Perspective Ellison: Race and Fiction 222

WILLIAM FAULKNER, American 224 Barn Burning 225 A Rose for Emily 238 Author's Perspective Faulkner: The Human Heart in Conflict with Itself 245

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, American 246 Babylon Revisited 247 Author's Perspective Fitzgerald: On His Own Literary Aims 262

GUSTAVE FLAUBERT, French 264 A Simple Heart 265 Author's Perspective Flaubert: The Labor of Style 286

GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ, Colombian 287 A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings 289 Author's Perspective Garcia Marquez: My Beginnings as a Writer 293

CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, American 296 The Yellow Wallpaper 297 Author's Perspective Gilman: Why I Wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" 309

NIKOLAI GOGOL, Russian 310 The Overcoat 311 Author's Perspective Gogol: On Realism 331 vi CONTENTS

NADINE GORDIMER, South African 333 A Company of Laughing Faces 334 Author's Perspective Gordimer: How the Short Story Differs from the Novel 345

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, American 347 Young Goodman Brown 348 The Birthmark 357 Author's Perspective Hawthorne: On the Public Failure of His Early Stories 369

ERNEST HEMINGWAY, American 370 A Clean Well-Lighted Place 372 Author's Perspective Hemingway: One True Sentence 375 ZORA NEALE HURSTON, American 377 Sweat 378 Author's Perspective Hurston: Eatonville When You Look at It 387

SHIRLEY JACKSON, American 389 The Lottery 390 Author's Perspective Jackson: The Public Reception of "The Lottery" 396

HENRY JAMES, American, Naturalized British 399 The Real Thing 400 Author's Perspective James: The Mirror of a Consciousness 418 HA JlN, born in China, Resident American 419 'i Saboteur 420 Author's Perspective Jin: Deciding to Write in English 427

JAMES JOYCE, Irish 429 Araby 430 The Dead 434 Author's Perspective Joyce: Epiphanies 464

FRANZ KAFKA, Austm-Hungarian 465 Before the Law 466 The Metamorphosis 467 Author's Perspective Kafka: Discussing The Metamorphosis 500 CONTENTS

D. H. LAWRENCE, English 502 Odour of Chrysanthemums 503 The Rocking-Horse Winner 517 Author's Perspective Lawrence: The Novel Is the Bright Book of Life 528 URSULA K. LE GUIN, American 530 The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 531 Author's Perspective Le Guin: On "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" 535

DORIS LESSING, Rhodesian, Naturalized British 537 A Woman on a Roof 538 Author's Perspective Lessing: My Beginnings as a Writer 545

JACK LONDON, American 547 To Build a Fire 548 Author's Perspective London: Defending the Factuality of "To Build a Fire" 559

KATHERINE MANSFIELD, New Zealander 561 Miss Brill 562 The Garden-Party 565 Author's Perspective Mansfield: On "The Garden-Party" 575

BOBBIE ANN MASON, American 511 Shiloh 578 Author's Perspective Mason: Minimalist Fiction 588

GUY DE MAUPASSANT, French 590 The Necklace 591 Author's Perspective Maupassant: The Realist Method 597

HERMAN MELVILLE, American 599 Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street 600 Author's Perspective Melville: American Literature 626 YUKIO MlSHIMA, Japanese 628 Patriotism 629 Author's Perspective Mishima: Physical Courage and Death 646 viii CONTENTS

ALICE MUNRO, Canadian 648 How I Met My Husband 649 Author's Perspective Munro: How I Write Short Stories 661

JOYCE CAROL OATES, American 663 Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? 664 Author's Perspective Oates: Productivity and the Critics 676

FLANNERY O'CONNOR, American 611 A Good Man Is Hard to Find 678 Revelation 689 Author's Perspective O'Connor: The Element of Suspense in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" 704

EDGAR ALLAN POE, American 101 The Fall of the House of Usher 708 The Tell-Tale Heart 721 Author's Perspective Poe: The Tale and Its Effect 725

KATHERINE ANNE PORTER, American 126 Flowering Judas 727 Author's Perspective Porter: Writing "Flowering Judas" 736

LESLIE MARMON SILKO, American 738 The Man to Send Rain Clouds 739 Author's Perspective Silko: The Basis of "The Man to Send Rain Clouds" 742

ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER, Yiddish (born in Poland), Naturalized American 744 Gimpel the Fool 745 Author's Perspective Singer: The Character of Gimpel 755

LEO TOLSTOY, Russian 757 The Death of Ivan Ilych 758 Author's Perspective Tolstoy: The Moral Responsibilities of Art 797

JOHN UPDIKE, American 799 Separating 800 Author's Perspective Updike: Why Write? 808 CONTENTS ix

ALICE WALKER, American 809 Everyday Use 810 Author's Perspective Walker: The Black Woman Writer in America 816 EUDORAWELTY, American 819 Why I Live at the P.O. 820 Author's Perspective Welty: The Plot of the Short Story 829

EDITH WHARTON, American 831 Roman Fever 832 Author's Perspective Wharton: The Subject of Short Stories 841

VIRGINIA WOOLF, English 843 A Haunted House 844 Author's Perspective Woolf: Women and Fiction 845

Part HI Writing 847

THE ELEMENTS OF SHORT FICTION 849

PLOT 849

CHARACTERIZATION 854

POINT OF VIEW 857

SETTING 859

THEME 860

STYLE 861

WRITING ABOUT FICTION 863

CRITICAL APPROACHES TO LITERATURE 878

FORMALIST CRITICISM 879 • Michael Clark, Light and Darkness in "Sonny's Blues" 880

BIOGRAPHICAL CRITICISM 8 81 Virginia Llewellyn Smith, Chekhov's Attitude to Romantic Love 882

HISTORICAL CRITICISM 884 John King The Argentine Context of Borges's Fantastic Fiction 885 x CONTENTS

PSYCHOLOGICAL CRITICISM 887 Daniel Hoffman, The Father-Figure in "The Tell-Tale Heart"

MYTHOLOGICAL CRITICISM 890 Edmond Volpe, Myth in Faulkner's "Barn Burning" 891

SOCIOLOGICAL CRITICISM 892 Daniel P. Watkins, Money and Labor in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" 893

GENDER CRITICISM 895 Juliann Fleenor, Gender and Pathology in "The Yellow Wallpaper" 896

READER-RESPONSE CRITICISM 897 Stanley Fish, An Eskimo "A Rose for Emily" 898

DECONSTRUCTIONIST CRITICISM 899 Roland Barthes, The Death of the Author 900

CULTURAL STUDIES 901 Mark Bauerlein, What Is Cultural Studies? 902 Part iv Glossary of Literary Terms 905

Acknowledgments 921

Chronological Listing of Authors (inside covers)