This spring I got to teach a literature course called Short Fiction (ENGL 165), and I loved it. As I said the other day, I’ve also had the chance to work with my friends’ 8th grade daughter: we read one story a week and talk about it on Friday afternoons, as a supplemental to her schooling-from-home. She’s followed along with my college students (freshmen through seniors), and kept up just fine. This was all wonderful: I got to talk about stories I love. (For this class, I made an effort to choose stories from authors of all identities; and I was also careful to only teach stories I like.)
That said, I had some favorites, some stories I can’t get enough of, that are deep and layered and complex enough to bear 10 and 15 readings and hours of discussion, that I can’t stop talking about, that I love to read aloud… and I thought I’d share that shorter list here. (Linked where available.) I have a top three:
- “Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin
- “Pea Madness” by Amy Leach (from Things That Are)
- “The Pull” by Lidia Yuknavitch (from Verge)
And some honorable mentions:
- “The Swimmer” by John Cheever
- “Appalachian Swan Song” and “Pauly’s Girl” by Jonathan Corcoran (from The Rope Swing)
- “The Colonel” by Carolyn Forché
- “Any Other” by Jac Jemc
- “The Little Mermaid” by Daniel Ortberg
- “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin
- “The Blood Bay” by Annie Proulx (viewable if you have New Yorker access)
- “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
What a privilege, to assign extraordinary literature and to talk about it. And I’ve had some lovely feedback from the students. In fact, maybe it’s time to share this news: I’ve landed the Irene McKinney Fellowship for a second year, and will be teaching again this fall. I’m honored and thrilled. Maybe I’ll get to teach Short Fiction again, or maybe it will be a different lit class… and I’ll have more stories to explore. Lucky, lucky me.
Filed under: musings | Tagged: best of, lists, personal, reading as education, short stories, teaching |
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