"Last year, I read scores of stories that felt ... not quite dead on the page, I won’t go that far, but airless, somehow, and self-referring. These stories felt show-offy rather than entertaining, self-important rather than interesting, guarded and self-conscious rather than gloriously open, and worst of all, written for editors and teachers rather than for readers."
As a short story writer, I've seen this too. I read short stories, buy short story collections, check them out of my library. I've also served as a judge for short fiction competitions in Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. I supervise writing competitions for the Wyoming Arts Council. If not an expert, I at least have some expertise on the subject.
King blames the plight of anemic short stories on a shrinking market that's imploding on itself. Fewer paid markets for story writers, a smaller audience due to a plethora of entertainment options, from best-seller novels (such as the kind he writes) to computers and TV and zines. He also blames the rising tride of college M.F.A. writing programs. Diatribes against M.F.A. programs are easy to find. I'm the product of one such program. I could devote many electrons to the subject, but don't have time, as I need to get ready for work or maybe read a novel or catch the news on TV or spend time with my family or rake the leaves or watch the sunrise. Can't remember which, as I'm so freakin' distracted by modern life.
The best thing about King's piece are the comments it's received at Times Online. Writers and readers alike, some names I recognize and some I don't. The posts are full of names of people's favorite short-story writers, both living and dead: Flannery O'Connor, Hemingway, Ron Carlson, Alice Munro, T.C. Boyle, Lee K. Abbott, etc. New names, too, which has caused me to break out the journal and write them down. King's piece about the ills of short stories may actually prompt a flutter of renewed interest in this vanishing(?) art form.
2 comments:
I read a little more than half of Wastelands before I set it down and Vomited. I love short story anthologies, but more and more I find newer short stories ruining my appreciation for reading. It sucked me in with big names like Stephen King and RR Martin and Olivia E Butler, but peppered among those writers, who know their craft, were what I call the millennial writer's. Stephen King has said the short story is dead and I believe him. Despite the well known writers in this anthology (with well crafted stories) there were several stories best classified as literary fiction with a veneer of science fiction. I felt like several of the stories went no where and did nothing. Dull, unintersting, repetitive. Oh hell, I'll just say it: They were dog crap! I lament for the short story. I'm tired of buying anthologies from the last fifteen years or so and being bored to tears by writers who don't want to tell stories but talk about their feelings. From now on I'm going to stick to the 40's 50's 60's 70's 80's and early 90's. Because the short story died sometime before the year 2000. Wasteland sucked! I hate the future. The literary crap is like a virus that has killed off originality and talent. S.R. Browning
I tend to agree with you. I recently checked out from the library a series of "Best American Stories" books from the '30s, '40s and '50s. Found some of my favorites in there, and stories by some writers I didn't know. I read an old favorite, "Tip on a Dead Jockey" by Irwin Shaw. It's a long one! Shaw was a great storyteller -- got his start in radio. And it was set in a faraway place with intriguing characters.
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