The art of brevity: collections from two masters raise the question: what ever happened to short stories?The publication of two stellar collections of stories out this season--God's Gym: Stories and I Got Somebody in Staunton--by such excellent storytellers as John Edgar Wideman John Edgar Wideman (born June 14, 1941, in Washington, DC) is an American writer. Early life Wideman grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and much of his writing is set there, especially in the Homewood neighborhood of the East End. and William Henry Noun 1. William Henry - English chemist who studied the quantities of gas absorbed by water at different temperatures and under different pressures (1775-1836) Henry Lewis is a rare occurrence. The popularity of the literary short story--not to be confused with speculative fiction Belton, a visiting professor of literature and fiction writing at Temple University, says hip-hop culture doesn't value good literature in general, and short stories in particular. Gone is the literary tradition that nurtured the likes of lames Baldwin, Countee Cullen Countee Cullen (May 30, 1903–January 9, 1946) was an African-American Romantic poet and an active participant in the Harlem Renaissance. Biography Countee Cullen was born with the name Countee LeRoy Porter and was abandoned by his mother at birth. and Richard Wright, who often earned a living writing short stories and essays for periodicals of their day. Strong Black Voices Many of those publications are now defunct or have stopped printing short stories, poems and essays within their pages. The Atlantic Monthly is the most recent major magazine to stop publishing short fiction on a regular basis. The shrinking market makes it extremely difficult for today's short story writers to earn a living at their craft. Today, short fiction is confined to the literary heights represented by such publications as The New Yorker and Harper's Magazine, which feature established authors. Lesser-known writers, including emerging African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. writers, are relegated to a dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. number of literary magazines that pay very little--if at all--for submissions. Those periodicals, however, provide a fertile fishing ground for harvest for Katrina Kenison, editor of Houghton Mifflin's annual The Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of the Best American Series published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has strived to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in contemporary American anthology. Kenison says she reviews roughly 300 magazines; many of them obscure college publications, in search of material for the best-selling collection. She considers about 3,000 stories, which are winnowed out of 120 semifinalists that are then read by a guest editor, who selects the final 20 to be published. Rumors of the death of short fiction are greatly exaggerated, Kenison says. "It seems to ebb and flow the alternate ebb and flood of the tide; often used figuratively. See also: Ebb ," she says. "One year you will have critics saying the short story is having a renaissance and coming back and the next, they're saying its dead. But actually it is a pretty steady contender for readers' attention." African American voices in short fiction are stronger than ever, says Kenison, editor of the Houghton Mifflin series for the past 15 years. Over the years, Kenison says she's seen a rising diversity among short fiction writers. "It's really just a reflection of our culture. We are still a melting pot," she adds. Kenison notes that guest editors for the "Best of" collections have included John Edgar Wideman in 1996 and Walter Mosley in 2003. Some other African American voices whose work has appeared are Edwidge Danticat, Edward P. Jones Edward P. Jones is an African American author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Born in 1951, he was raised in Washington, D.C. and educated at both the College of the Holy Cross and the University of Virginia. , Marilene Phipps and Emily Raboteau. "It's always been tough, but talent always wins out in the end," Kenison says. Belton, however, wonders if these contemporary black voices are as true to the culture as those of mid-20th century writers. "The black literary tradition since Reconstruction was central to all of our cultural aspirations for uplift," Belton says. "Now I think we're in a crisis in terms of not just literature but even our literacy. The condition of the African American short story is a symptom of that." The paradox is that black writers have strong commercial appeal in today's market, says Belton, who edited the essay collection Speak My Name: Black Men on Masculinity and the American Dream (Beacon Press, June 1997). "When I published Almost Midnight in 1986, people were saying blacks don't really buy books," Belton recalls. "Now they say 'look at all the books black people buy.' They compare E. Lynn Harris E. Lynn Harris is an Black American author, (b. June 20, 1955). Harris writes primarily about African American men on the down low or in the closet; Harris confirmed that he is a homosexual. He lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Atlanta, Georgia. being on the best seller list with A Love of My Own in 2002 to James Baldwin being on the top of the best-seller list in 1968 with The Fire Next Time, but it is not the same." The Perfect 10 God's Gym: Stories (Houghton Mifflin, February 2005) is John Edgar Wideman's first new story collection in over a decade. It is worth the wait. Wideman, one of the most highly acclaimed writers of our time, delivers 10 stories, alive with passion, intelligence and the electric rhythm that has twice won him the PEN/Faulkner Award. The collection explores the relationships that cross-generational, racial and gender lines, as well as the role of fate and belief in our lives. Each is intensely personal. In "Weight," a guilt-ridden son remembers his mother as a "weight lifter weight·lift·er or weight lift·er n. One who lifts heavy weights for exercise or in an athletic competition. weight lifter n → levantador(a) m/f de pesas " who lifts not dumbbells, but the burdens of her children, her neighbors, even total strangers who cross her path. He imagines her straining under the weight of her son's shortcomings A shortcoming is a character flaw. Shortcomings may also be:
intr.v. siz·zled, siz·zling, siz·zles 1. To make the hissing sound characteristic of frying fat. 2. To seethe with anger or indignation. 3. with static electricity ... as she lifts more than she can bear." The story "What We Cannot Speak About We Must Pass Over in Silence," chosen by Lorrie Moore for The Best American Short Stories 2004, tackles notions of friendship, family bonds and responsibility as the narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. must inform a friend's jailed son of his father's death. It is one of several previously published stories now in God's Gym. Good things come in packages. In this case, the release of Wideman's collection coincides with another package of 10 stories, I Got Somebody in Staunton by William Henry Lewis (HarperCollins, April 2005). Here again, the stories give the impression of being autobiographical. The narrator's voice remains constant through each of these tales of the black experience in America. In "Shades"--printed in The Best American Short Stories 1996--a youth meets his father for the first and possibly the last time. The moment is made even more poignant by the implication that the father doesn't know the boy. In the title tale, a black man--against his better judgment--picks up a white woman in a bar in Virginia and offers to drive her to Staunton, the next town heading south. As they drive south, his ambivalent lust wars with his common sense and the remembered tales of black men being lynched on lonely roads for being too familiar with white women. TELLING TALES God's Gym: Stories by John Edgar Wideman Houghton Mifflin, February 2005 $23, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-618-51525-9 I Got Somebody in Staunton by William Henry Lewis HarperCollins, April 2005 $22.95, ISBN 0-060-53665-9 CHOICE SHORT STORY VOLUMES The Beacon Best of 2001: Great Writing by Women and Men of All Colors and Cultures Edited by Junot Diaz Beacon Press, October 2001 $28.50, ISBN 0-807-06240-5 Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler Seven Stories Press (2nd edition) October 2005, $13.95, ISBN 1-583-22698-2 Brooklyn Noir Edited by Tim McLoughlin Akashic Books, July 2004 $15.95, ISBN 1-888-45158-0 The Cocaine Chronicles Edited by Gary Phillips and Jervey Tervalon Akashic Books, April 2005 $14.95, ISBN 1-888-45175-0 Damned If I Do by Percival Everett Graywolf Press, November 2004 $15, ISBN 1-555-97411-2 (See BIBR BIBR Bay Islands Beach Resort (Roatan, Honduras) BIBR Backward Indicator Bit Received , May-June 2005, FICTION REVIEWS) Dr. King's Refrigerator and Other Bedtime Stories by Charles Johnson Scribner, February 2005 $20, ISBN 0-743-26453-3 (See BIBR, January-February 2005, FICTION REVIEWS) Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer Riverhead riv·er·head n. The source of a river. Books, March 2003 $24.95, ISBN 1-573-222334-8 Ebony Rising: Short Fiction of the Greater Harlem Renaissance Era Edited by Craig Gable Indiana University Press Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is a publishing house at Indiana University that engages in academic publishing, specializing in the humanities and social sciences. It was founded in 1950. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. , May 2004 $24.95, ISBN 0-253-21675-3 Echo Tree: The Collected Short Fiction of Henry Dumas Edited by Eugene B. Redmond Coffee House Press, September 2003 $15.95, ISBN 1-566-89149-3 Gigantic by Marc Nesbitt Grove Press, February 2003 $12, ISBN 0-802-13963-9 Lost in the City by Edward R Jones Amistad/HarperCollins, December 2004 $13.95, ISBN 0-802-79528-X The Prophet of Zongo Street: Stories by Mohammed Naseehi Ali Amistad/HarperCollins, August 2005 $22.95, ISBN 0-060-52354-9 (see "Fresh Breezes," page 24) The Matter Is Life: Stories by J. California Cooper Joan California Cooper is an African-American playwright and author. Anchor Books/Doubleday (reprint), September 1992 $12, ISBN 0-385-41174-X Monkology by Gary Phillips Dennis McMillan Pub., September 2004 $50, ISBN 9-990-01910-X A Piece of Mine: Stories by J. California Cooper Anchor Books/Doubleday, December 1991 $10.50, ISBN 0-385-42087-7 Short Stories by 16 Nigerian Women Edited by Toyin Adewale-Gabriel Ishmael Reed Publishing Company, June 2005 $30.99, ISBN 1-413-46796-2 Tropical Fish: Stories Out of Entebbe by Doreen Baingana University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts. External link
Trouble No More by Anthony Grooms La Questa Press, September 1995 $11, ISBN 0-964-43480-6 |
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