Long Live the Short Story

Short Story Collections

On occasion, I decide against picking up a new novel and opt instead for a selection from a book of short stories. I pondered recently, why do I make that decision? Before committing to the longer format of a novel, with its necessary complexities, there’s something refreshing about entering the concise dynamic of a shorter read. You become rapidly immersed in the fabric of a good short story, drawn in by its condensed intensity. The short story typically encapsulates a moment, a microcosm, a tiny world unto itself. V.S Pritchett described short stories thus: ‘Something glimpsed from the corner of the eye, in passing.’

Different writers have their own idea of what constitutes a short story. Edgar Allan Poe declared that ‘a short story is a brief tale which can be told or read at one sitting.’ I did some investigation into the average length of short stories and they vary dramatically from writer to writer. Alice Munro’s stories have an average word count of 10, 215 words. Whereas Raymond Carver works to a more modest average of 4,263 words, perhaps explained by his theory on writing short stories: ‘Get in, get out. Don’t linger’. Many an aspiring short story writer might have dreamt of being published in the New Yorker – where the criteria for submissions is that the story should range from 2000 words to about 10,000.

I came across a very short story; a mere 500 words or so. But, wow, what a complex world was packed into this concise piece. The story is called ‘It’s Beginning to Hurt’, written by British author, James Lasdun. (Click on the link below for the story). James Lasdun theorises that perhaps the short story is appealing for readers ‘because it’s short, it’s quick and people have limited time and short attention spans. One would think it would fit right into the habits of mind that people have in this era.’ He reasons that writing short stories is more like poetry ‘because it’s so much about economy and trying to do many different things all at the same time.’

But I suspect the appeal of the short story is not merely the fact it can be consumed quickly, it’s the power that can resonate from such a brief encounter. Spanish writer Juan Benet nails the best definition of the short story I’ve read:

Something that can be read in an hour and remembered for a lifetime.

– Benet

It’s Beginning to Hurt. James Lasdun

http://www.theshortstory.org.uk/stories/downloads/lasdun.pdf