Our Story Begins
I remember the first time I read the Tobias Wolff short story, “The Liar.” The story is told in first person, but there is one scene where the main character describes his mother going to church. I always use this story in creative writing classes to show how a first person narrator can effectively describe a scene he does not take part in. And the beauty is that the reader doesn’t even realize it.
Here is an article from the LA Times Book Review by Marianne Wiggins about the book. In it, she writes:
“…the short story. When it’s done well, the economy, the rigor, the precision that the form demands are hardly noticed by its consumer. But it is more difficult to write, in its line-to-line execution, than any other narrative conceit. And Tobias Wolff is a genius at it.”
Popularity: 87% [?]
I don’t get it. Does the short story need to be saved or not? I have seen other sites that say its dead, but this site just lists how good it is. What’s the idea? Also no debate seems to be going on here and no news about the death of fiction. Is it dead or isn’t it?
Comment by alice j. — March 26, 2008 @ 7:49 am
Well, as more and more magazines have decided not to publish short fiction, we feel that it’s an artform that is dying - our site’s purpose is not to debate on the death of the short story, but to celebrate and encourage people to save the short story by writing short stories and supporting short story lit. mags like One Story!
Comment by Pei-Ling — March 30, 2008 @ 3:02 pm