In lieu of the typical Monday Morning Movie Review today, I’m dedicating most posts this week to reviews of short stories (and possibly one short novella).
Spring Break has sprung, which means it’s time for my annual Spring Break Short Story Recommendations. Spring Break is one of the few times each year where I find myself with the leisure time necessary to read literary (and non-literary) short stories, and to celebrate this wonderful format.
It seems that in our age of hyper-connectivity and bite- (and byte-) sized content, we’re either reading massive amounts of digital fast food (like this blog), or settling in over the course of many evenings with long-form novels. My perception could be completely slanted towards my own experience—quite likely—but I get the sense that the noble short story has suffered somewhat.
(A quick aside: for the best bite-sized writing I’ve yet to find on the Internet, check out Stacey C. Johnson‘s blog Breadcrumbs; her writing is so inviting and mysterious, and probes at the interesting corners of life. Check out her piece “Survey of Poetry“; it’s excellent, and it’s about a mischievous [and real!] octopus.)
Even if I’m wrong about that assessment, I am right about this one: the short story is a form worth preserving. I have long harbored, though not acted upon, ambitions to write a collection of short stories; perhaps I’ll one day put cursor to digital paper and get the thing done. My own incalcitrance, however, is no reason for you not to read (or write!) short stories.
All philosophical ramblings aside, let’s get to today’s short story: William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning“:
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