Short: An International Anthology of Five Centuries of Short-Short Stories, Prose Poems, Brief Essays, and Other Short Prose Forms

by Alan Ziegler (Editor)

Short offers the tradition and glorious present of these popular forms that stretch and defy genre. From 1500 to present, hundreds of pieces. Inventive, entertaining, and addictive.

Short prose forms are elusive to define--one writer's prose poem is another's flash fiction or brief essay. Rather than quibble, Short opts for inclusiveness. Here is a dazzling 100s of pieces (under 1250 words) from 24 Western countries, written over five centuries by more than 200 contributors, including major authors of every era. Fables, histories, aphorisms, anecdotes, faux dictionary entries, a faux job application, hint fiction, lists, tableaus, meditations, chants, rants, and much more. Intensely pleasurable.Contributors Montaigne, von Kleist, Leopardi, Poe, Baudelaire, Bierce, Chopin, Stein, Jacob, Woolf, Kafka, J. Roth, Toomer, Borges, Queneau, Kunitz, Beckett, Milosz, Cortazar, Paz, Barthes, Calvino, O'Hara, Merwin, Lispector, Transtromer, Sanchez, Edson, Simic, Atwood, Valenzuela, Wideman, L. Davis, Komunyakaa, A. Carson, Forche, Harjo, Hempel, Wenderoth, Keret, B. Marcus, A. Bender, Eggers, B. Lerner, T. Brimhall.

Genres: Short Stories, Poetry, Fiction, Anthologies, Writing, Essays

353 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 19, 2014

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a wonderful little gem of an anthology. This vast collection of stories, ranging from the 16th century on up until the modern day, is comprised of short pieces (short stories, poetry, prose, essays and sketches) all under 1250 words. It is the perfect little companion to take to the toilet (does anyone else think of Costanza from that Seinfeld episode in the bookstore anytime they have a book near their toilet?) or just to break up the day for a brief moments. Plus there is a wonderful collection of authors actually worth reading: Macedonio Fernández, Fernando Pessoa, Robert Walser, Virginia Woolf, Donald Barthelme, Charles Simic, Russell Edson, Italo Calvino, Lydia Davis, Amelia Gray, Thomas Bernhard, just to name a few. It is a rather impressive list and collection, though a good chunk of material may be repeats for those who have explored the short fiction or poetry world before. However, it is full of brilliant pieces, some that defy tidy classification, that manage to contain a universe of thought and ideas in the tiniest of spaces. Definitely worth picking up just to have around for when you need a extremely short break from the day.
4/5

One of my favorite James Tate poems is included in here:

Good Time Jesus
Jesus got up one day a little later than usual. He had been dreaming so deep there was nothing left in his head. What was it? A nightmare, dead bodies walking all around him, eyes rolled back, skin falling off. But he wasn't afraid of that. It was a beautiful day. How 'bout some coffee? Don't mind if I do. Take a little ride on my donkey, I love that donkey. Hell, I love everybody.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Data point - this takes a long time to get through, because each piece is worth trying, and then is so packed with stuff that it requires a reread and a period of processing time. It's not entertaining; it's *L*iterary. And it's very often very 'meta' and self-referential, which, frankly, got old.

Which means it was just too too much for me to read in the four days that I had available. Otoh, I don't think that I would have liked it much better had it been spread out. I like flash fiction, and I like works that make me think, but I don't like works that are deliberately difficult or pretentious.

On yet another hand (don't we rabid readers need more than two hands? in fact, doesn't everybody?), even though these weren't the bite-size treats I'd hoped to read, I did mark several passages with bookdarts:

First I appreciated the introduction. Especially because the editor pointed out that the pieces are arranged by the date the author was *born.* Which means that their formative years are in order on a timeline of the pieces, if you know what I mean. Original publication dates may fall out of order, for example if Hank was born in 1895 but the selection by him is from when he was 75, in 1970, but Zach was born in 1910 but the selection by him is from when he was 25, in 1935... Hank's piece will appear well before Zach's in the book. So, yes, historical *context* of the pieces gets very interesting throughout the book. Also, the book is copyright 2014 but the last authors were born in 1982, so none of the contemporary writers are young. (Otoh, at least one older piece was written by someone who died young, so, hmm....)

Anyway, that stuff isn't important. I found it interesting, but that says more about me than about the book.

So, second book dart, from the introduction: "In a conventional story, something happens and something changes; in a short-short story, one or the other can be sufficient."

I also marked "A Scholar's Idea of Happy Endings" by Gianni Celati because I liked it so much, but I'm not sure if I want to read more by him. Like many other pieces I enjoyed, I liked them because they were small pokes. To read a full-length work by most of these authors would be difficult for me, because they'd pack a wallop (of neuroses, or violence, or artsy-farstiness, or whatever) and I don't like to get beat up.

I might read more of Ron Padgett because "The Salt and Pepper Shakers" sample 'memoir' is charming.

Etgar Keret's "What Do We Have in Our Pockets" is both moving and accessible. It's beautifully written, to boot. I hope he's written something else that I can add to my to-read lists.

To be honest, it's going to be a four or five star book for a lot of smart people. Don't let my rating dissuade you from checking it out from your library. However, don't let others' rave reviews convince you to budget for a purchase of it untried.

[Micah Cozzens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea, but definitely a thought provoking collection of "short" essays and pieces

[Erica Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alan Ziegler has curated an impressive but manageable collection. His introduction provides useful context and is witty to boot. I’ve been dipping in and out of this anthology for the past month, each time discovering some new gem. Paul Colinet’s “The Lobster” became an instant favorite, but I was glad to see contemporary writers, as well, like Kimiko Hahn and Traci Brimhall.

[anya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several of these pieces jumped out at me and left their mark. The entire anthology is lush with unique and evocative short works of writing from the 1600s up until now. While almost every piece left an impact on me, the most notable were:


ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

╰┈➤“N/A.” Joseph Joubert. France, 1754-1824.

╰┈➤“After the Flood.” Arthur Rimbaud. France, 1854-1891.


╰┈➤“The Cage Without Birds.” Jules Renard. France, 1864-1910.


╰┈➤“N/A.” Karl Kraus. Austria, 1874-1936.

╰┈➤“A Little Ramble.” Robert Walser. Switzerland, 1878-1956.


╰┈➤“N/A.” Ramón Gómez de la Serna. Spain/Argentina, 1888-1963.


╰┈➤“The Pleasures of the Door.” Francis Ponge. France, 1899-1988.


╰┈➤“N/A.” Malcom de Chazal. Mauritius, 1902-1981.

╰┈➤“Catalogue.” Max Frisch. Switzerland, 1911-1991.

╰┈➤“Marvels of Will.” Octavio Paz. Mexico, 1914-1998.

╰┈➤“A Scholar’s Idea of Happy Endings.” Gianni Celati. Italy/England, 1937—.


╰┈➤ “Aurora Means Dawn.” Scott Russell Sanders. United States, 1945—.


╰┈➤“The Wolves.” Craig Morgan Teicher. United States, 1979—.


ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

My absolute favorites were:

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

╰┈➤“Earlids.” Baltasar Gracián. Spain, 1601-1658.

╰┈➤“Clearhearing.” Robert Musil. Austria, 1880-1942.


╰┈➤“Variations on the Theme.” James Thurber. United States, 1894-1961.


╰┈➤“Picasso’s Balcony.” Bob Kaufman. United States, 1925-1986.


╰┈➤“Instructions for the Third Eye.” Margaret Atwood. Canada, 1939—.

╰┈➤“What Do We Have in Our Pockets?” Etgar Keret. Israel, 1967—.


╰┈➤“Rookery.” Traci Brimhall. United States, 1982—.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

[Christopher Murtagh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book the same time as I read "The Penguin book of the prose poem." and they both are pretty much the same in my estimation. If I were to compare it would not be like judging coke against pepsi, but coke against a slightly different recipe of coke.

There are about 5-10 really great ones in each.

There are a lot of big names Baudelaire, Borges, Stein, Wilde. I don't know if I would recommend you buying both books like I did because maybe 10 stories are in both compilations, these are usually the ones from the famous writers.

There's ups and downs, good stuff in both of them. Also a fair bit of well written but boring to me stuff, as you would expect in this kind of compilation.

[John]

Characteristic of broad anthologies, where lots of digging scores a few gems. My favorites:
- Karl Kraus
- Walter Benjamin’s “Caution: Steps”
- Donald Barthelme’s “The King of Jazz”
- David Young’s “Four About Heavy Machinery”
- Gregory Orr’s “Chateaubriand on the Niagara Frontier, 1791”
- Meena Alexander’s “Crossing the Indian Ocean”

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid collection in scope and quality.

[Isak · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a remarkable collection.

[Art In Your World · Rating 3 out of 5]

For reviews and recommendations, check your shelf at https://artinyourworld.com
https://www.instagram.com/art_in_your...
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[Conor Flynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything in here is short, which is good, but most of what’s in here isn’t good, which is bad.

[SL Reads and Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t read every short in this anthology, but I spent a lot of time on the ones I did read. And I know less than when I started.

[sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading about the sensuality of cement trucks, nostalgia for pests and passerbys, and enjoying the fullness of the ordinary

[Stephen Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

An erudite historical examination of the evolution of short form literature with persuasive explanations and effective examples.

[Santino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology contains a collection of short forms spanning five centuries. It is a must for fans of short forms such as prose poems, flash fiction, and aphorisms. There's a good variety, though the more modern the more American the writing becomes, which is to be expected as the short story, and in turn other shorter forms, are very popular in America. I would've liked to have seen more European content as I'm sure there's some. None of these writings are more than 1250 words in length, which I think is pretty generous as most flash fiction, for example, is no more than 500 words. There's a wide variety of writers included here; Virginia Woolf, Etgar Keret, Diane Williams, Franz Kafka, Charles Baudelaire, Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, Russell Edson, Charles Simic, Lydia Davis, and Margaret Atwood, to name a small sample. The anthology includes very short biographical details about each of the writers and their translators if required, as well as an index categorising each piece as a particular short form, which is useful, and a list of permissions so you can locate the source of each piece; this anthology will be useful for those who enjoy reading short forms and those researching and studying them.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The collection in "Short" is expansive and more complete in terms of the sub-genres within this sub-genre than I've seen in any other similar book - and surprisingly, the works included stretch back in time . . . the first piece was published in 1501.

In snippets and handfuls, here's writing whose form has some pretty stringent four walls to work within. The varieties of ways those four walls have been filled are eye-opening. The historical inclusions defy the generally-accepted idea that "short-shorts" are a new invention written for and read by people who have no time to read longer pieces and who prefer to read on electronic devises.

What happens because of this? The genres's got new clothes, and they're not all cheap and shiny. They're well-constructed . . . they'll last in a strong wind and through many washings.

For the reader who likes "short" writing, you'll gobble this up. There were only two or three pieces in the book whose voices didn't attract me from the start . . . a good ratio in any anthology.

For the writer who *writes* "short", this book is a mini-course in "how it can be done".

[Joel Pelanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt one of the best anthologies I've ever read. Wonderfully inclusive, beautiful, funny, and sad all at once (sometime from story to story, sometime within the same story - even over the course of a few sentences). Please read this book!

[Eric Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a quarter of the way through, and every bit of it so far has been a slog. I don't have any interest in finishing it other than the fact that I paid good money for this collection based on other reviews. It's just terrible.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breathtaking compilation of some of the most interesting short prose pieces written anywhere in the world since the 1500s. (Disclosure: Alan Ziegler, editor, kindly includes one of mine.)

[Jcken · Rating 5 out of 5]

With my whole literary heart I recommend this collection. Out of scads of possibilities, excellent choices were made.

[Yogodot · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best anthology of short-short prose I've ever read, showcasing a nearly comprehensive list of the world's finest wordsmiths.