Saturday, August 19, 2006

Short shorts

I love flash fiction. I'm currently reading an anthology of works edited by Irving and Ilana Howe. It includes works by some of the masters of literature and it covers a range of what flash (or short-short) stories can be.

James Thurber's "if Grant Had Been Drinking at Appomattox" is hilarious.

I prefer the poetry of William Carlos Williams but his story "The Use of Force" is interesting.

Jerome Weidman's "My Father Sits In the Dark" is an emotional beauty.

I love what I've read from Grace Paley but her story "Wants" left me confused and unsatisfied as a reader.

A feeling echoed, and I must say greatly, when I read Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-lighted Place." What was the appeal of that guy?

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