Classic Literature Short Stories

In his highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed Art Matters: Hemingway, Craft, and the Creation of the Modern Short Story, Robert Paul Lamb delivers a dazzling analysis of the craft of this influential writer. Lamb scrutinizes a selection of Hemingway's exemplary stories to illuminate the author's methods of construction and to show how craft criticism complements and enhances cultural literary studies

Guy de Maupassant is widely regarded as the father of the modern short story. As his 13 volumes of short stories attest, he was a prolific writer of this form. He had a simple, efficient style of writing and, like Anton Chekhov, found inspiration for his stories in the day-to-day lives of characters, in which their hidden natures are often revealed. Many of his works also centerd on the Franco-Prussian War, in which he served.

This collection of Willa Cather stories - her first book of fiction and the capstone of her early career - is as relevant today as at the time of its initial publication. As different and individually distinguished as the seven stories may be, they share as their subject the role and status of the artist in American society.

In The Locket, a confederate soldier declines his fellow soldiers’ request to reveal the contents of the locket around his neck. The locket, which holds pictures of his fiancée’s parents and the date of their wedding is found on the battlefield after a battle. Later, the soldier’s fiancée visits the battlefield with the soldier’s father, both shaken with grief. The soldier’s father asks his son’s fiancée to remove her veil, as it contrasts too sharply with the beautiful day and adds that on such a day miracles seem ready to happen.

In The Dunwich Horror, Lovecraft lays further ground in the Cthulu mythos. Alongside The Dunwich Horror are the stories "Dagon", "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Lurking Fear", "Imprisoned with the Pharoahs", "The Music of Erich Zann", "Randolph Carter", "In the Walls of Eryx", and "The Transition of Juan Romero".

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. The Russian Literary Tradition has justly earned a magnificent reputation. The Russian Empire of the Czars was a huge and disparate patchwork of peoples ruled by an overbearing elite that employed a middle-class bureaucracy to keep the working class firmly underfoot. Within its vaulted ranks are a role call of many of the greatest literary talents of the ages.

Sisters Chastity and Alison must have privacy. As Bori - creatures of the wild - it has been difficult to "mainstream," but leaving their mountainous nests for a life in a regular human neighborhood has become essential for survival. However, the sisters cannot completely abandon a life outdoors because their siblings (the "littles") are still feral creatures. Chastity and Alison's perfect solution? Build a fence for the children to satisfy their alfresco needs, while protecting the neighbors from their ferocious behaviors.

Originally published in 1922 and translated by Takashi Kojima, this classic short story was the inspiration for Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon, about the murder of a samurai. Told from the perspective of multiple witnesses.

Maximillian Bacchus is the ringmaster, ruler, guide, and owner of what he considers the greatest show in the world. Traveling with a crocodile named Malachi, a trapeze girl named Ophelia, a strongman they call Hero (which is short for Hieronymus), and a clown named Domingo de Ybarrondo, who paints in a wagon pulled by a giant ibis bird, the troupe wanders from adventure to adventure with mythic aplomb.

With the help of the most iconic children’s stories of all time—including Aesop’s fables, The Three Little Pigs, Hansel and Gretel, and so many others—bedtime stories are proven to help foster a bond between parents and children, lower kids' stress levels, and reinforce their literacy skills and mastery of language.

In The Kiss, a beautiful young woman, Nathalie, has decided to marry the unattractive and uninteresting but very wealthy Mr. Brantain. When an old friend kisses her passionately in front of Mr. Brantain, Nathalie must control the damage done by this kiss in order to reassure Mr. Brantain. This done, the relieved Mr. Brantain proposes to her. At their wedding, her old friend appears and suggests another kiss. Has Nathalie arranged matters perfectly? Or not?

Kate Chopin’s A Reflection is a reflection on the fortunes of life. It is a meditation on how some people succeed by harnessing their energy effectively while others get left behind.

Charles Dickens was a major contributor to the romantic revival of Christmas traditions that occurred in the Victorian era. With their heart, humor and good morals, Dickens' Christmas stories have made the author's name synonymous with the season. Here we present four charming novellas to complete his series that began with "A Christmas Carol", with echoes of sleigh bells throughout. The stories include "The Chimes", "The Cricket on the Hearth", "The Battle of Life", and "The Haunted Man" - the perfect companion for the yearly celebrations.

The Diary of a Madman and Other Stories is a bizarre and colorful collection containing the finest short stories by the iconic Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. From the witty and Kafkaesque "The Nose", where a civil servant wakes up one day to find his nose missing, to the moving and evocative "The Overcoat", about a reclusive man whose only ambition is to replace his old, threadbare coat, Gogol gives us a unique take on the absurd.

This collection of fiction includes six of Gabriel García Márquez’s short stories and a novella, Innocent Eréndira, in which a young girl dreams of freedom after her vicious and avaricious grandmother sells her into prostitution.

Arthur Conan Doyle never wasted time in getting his stories moving. His plots are always direct and refreshingly lucid, and the narrative has a velocity that sweeps you along right to the end. This was no doubt a large part of his immense worldwide success. Not surprisingly, each time he tried to end the series, his fans would howl in protest. But, as he says in the preface to his last collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, all good things must come to an end.

In A Pair of Silk Stockings, Mrs. Sommers, a once wealthy woman who has fallen on hard times comes into possession of a small fortune of $15. Planning to spend the money on clothing for her children, she becomes sidetracked at a shop counter, entranced by the smoothness of a pair of silk stockings. She goes on to spend the money on the stockings as well as new boots and gloves for herself.

In Beyond the Bayou, La Folle, an ex-slave, lives on an island cut off from the her old home and is afraid to venture back onto the bayou. When a small drought dries up the shallow waters between her home and the bayou, she spends some time with the son of her former master. When the son, whom she calls “Cheri” accidentally shoots himself in the leg, La Folle must overcome her fear of the unknown and go back to the bayou to alert his parents.

In A Respectable Woman, Mrs. Baroda, the wife of a wealthy sugar plantation owner plays hostess to Mr. Gouvernail, a friend of her husband's. The reserved Mr. Gouvernail is a puzzle to Mrs. Baroda who is nonetheless intrigued by the man's retiring nature. When the two speak to each other outside one evening, Mrs. Baroda wants to get closer to her guest but realizes this would be at odds with her position as a respectable woman.

In Désirée’s Baby, the adopted daughter of a wealthy prewar French Creole couple is courted by the son of another wealthy, respected French Creole family. After they marry, their child is born with dark skin and believed to have African ancestry, a problem for a prewar white family. Accused of dishonesty by her husband, the mother, Désirée, and her child walk off into the bayou, never to be seen again. But when the father finds a letter from his mother to his father which reveals an explosive fact about his own ancestry, he learns a sobering truth.