Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pollyplummer]

George MacDonald. One of my favourites is:
"The Day Boy and the Night Girl"
You may find the entire text here:
http://www.ccel.org/m/macdonald/daynight/daynight.txt
He's a master of fairy tales.

[gypsyfish]

Dashiel Hammett especially The Continental Op stories.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I've heard good things about Alice Munro. One question: does she tell a story or is she just doing characters? I'm an old-fashioned kind of Ya-ta Boy and want an actual story and plot, not just character analysis. Know what I mean? Shrinks are for analysis.

Mr. Blix, sir,

As much as I admire your UN/nuke work, I don't agree much at all with your literary criticism. No personal criticism is intended. Anyone who doesn't think O. Henry is top of the drawer is, in my opinion, operating with a number of empty drawers in the chest. I'm a creature of the 19th Century, thank you. At least those boys knew the meaning of the word 'plot'. Another bored housewifebusinessman whining about his/her unfulfilled life is not literature. It's self-indulgent angst unless it has a stimulating self-abuse passage that gets me off, otherwise it ain't interesting. Thank you anyway. And even that isn't literature, but at least it has redeeming social value.

[jayjayjay]

[Babayaga]

Hans Blix wrote:

[quote="Ya-ta Boy"]I have two collections of Chekhov and read two stories. It's going to be a struggle to try him again.

what chekhov stories were they? he'd be in my all time top 5 writers - as a critic has said, he's one of the least sentimental writers you can read. probably not the sort of writer that would appeal to an o henry fan, however.[ quote ]



Chekhov is my favourite for short forms,too (both short stories and tales ). I think he is a master in creating a psychological situation or character in just a few pages. My favourite ones are " A Man in a Fiddle Case", "An Equestrian Name" and " To My Grandpa in the Village ". ( I read these stories in Russian, so am translating the titles from Russian. You may not recognize the titles! )


Very bittersweet sense of humour,too. As to being the least sentimental of writers, I don't agree: he can be quite melodramatic, particularly in his plays. But perhaps I'm confusing melancholy with sentimentality.


In general, most Russian writers are quite sentimental, with the exception of Goncharov.

[AbbeFaria]

Harlan Ellison

He's widely accepted to be one of the best short story writers ever, and I don't disagree. An english prof. in college turned me on to him and now I pawn him off to anyone willing to listen. Some of his stories are just plain weird, but several of them will blow your mind. They did me, anyway.

Deathbird Stories is probably my favorite collection at the moment.

I also liked Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes. Dolan's Cadillac from that book is great.

Dean Koontz, while I don't read his books anymore, wrote a collection called Strange Highways, which had some really good stories in it.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

-S-

[deessell]

[OiGirl]

[schwa]

[death from above]

Frank O'Conner

Flannery O'Conner

Anton Chekhov

[loki82]

Any anthology from the publisher McSweeny's, Dave Eggers' company. It's hit and miss, of course, but generally their selections are excellent.

[JacktheCat]

The short stories Stephen King wrote under the pen name Richard Bachman.

The Long Walk is on the greatest pieces of American literature. ... and also incidently the inspiration behind the Japanese book/movie Battle Royale.

[kermo]

[kimchikowboy]

The collected John Cheever stories is one fantastic book.

[The Man known as The Man]

Herman Melville

Falnnery O'connor