Varieties of Disturbance
Lydia Davis · 2007
Davis invented a new form: the micro-story, the story as philosophical proposition, the story that is really a question. She won the Man Booker International Prize for her complete work. MFA programs now consider her essential for discussions of form.
The case against
Many of these run a single sentence, and a one-sentence story is a coin flip between aphorism and shrug. The long pieces parody sociological case studies at full clinical length; you get the joke by page two and the piece continues for twenty more. Davis is rigorous and rationed. Warmth is not on the menu.
Short Stories · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
