tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post6392163228354630605..comments2023-11-05T05:01:58.563-05:00Comments on Ward Six: O. Henry Prize Stories, Then and NowUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-24680970247540138542010-09-08T07:39:33.987-05:002010-09-08T07:39:33.987-05:00Ahh yes...needless to say, I couldn't agree mo...Ahh yes...needless to say, I couldn't agree more!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-39225565989113266742010-09-03T11:44:34.831-05:002010-09-03T11:44:34.831-05:00You left out the golden age of the O. Henry Awards...You left out the golden age of the O. Henry Awards: 1997-2002!The Story Prizehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07169350136244188566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-68556160199368761602010-08-31T20:18:37.318-05:002010-08-31T20:18:37.318-05:00I think it's difficult to do justice to death ...I think it's difficult to do justice to death and I'd be reluctant to use it unless I absolutely needed the death in the story. That said, I have noticed that a good chunk of my fiction has to do with death and how it fits into life. I blame my mother! She's utterly frank about death and has been preparing me for the formalities of death my entire life. I also just came back from a country where they have a "month of the spirits" where people very publicly honor and (maybe more importantly) appease their ancestors by making offerings and burning ghost money. Death was on display and it was unavoidable. <br /><br />As far as the O Henry stories go- someone chose those stories. I think it's important to remember that. It might just be that the editors had a real taste for death. <br /><br />If death is a trend, well then at least I'm doing something right!5 Red Pandashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15625556395114591952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-35345533502923925072010-08-31T19:17:56.036-05:002010-08-31T19:17:56.036-05:00Embrace your oldarity!Embrace your oldarity!rmellishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133206908895131438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-82195797545602195612010-08-31T18:31:27.503-05:002010-08-31T18:31:27.503-05:00This is making me feel old.This is making me feel old.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-55944063040490699522010-08-31T18:09:29.310-05:002010-08-31T18:09:29.310-05:00Yes! I recently went through my old stuff and disc...Yes! I recently went through my old stuff and discovered that everything was about disillusionment, or the loss of illusions, I guess. What was up with that? I don't know, but I do know that I'm clean out of illusions now, and can't ride that pony any more.<br /><br />I'd hope to find a trend, too -- maybe someone else can! But everything I came up with seemed to have more exceptions than rule. That's a good thing, I guess. Or... maybe it means short fiction has been kind of static for 20 years... I don't know.rmellishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133206908895131438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-17957364011697042092010-08-31T15:36:37.878-05:002010-08-31T15:36:37.878-05:00i imagine you are "weird," but i don'...i imagine you are "weird," but i don't trust any writers who characterize themselves as "normal."<br /><br />i was hoping that you would identify a current trend in short fiction -- kill your protagonists -- but yes, the theme in general seems to go all way back to the greeks (and let's not forget "the dead," which doesn't feature a death but is all about said topic, literally and otherwise).<br /><br />when i was in grad school, it seemed as if every other story i read in class was about budding sexuality in some form or another. before that, it seemed as if everything i read was about the immigrant experience. and before that, disease (and dying). <br /><br />all of these "trends" (which i really imagined rather than truly identified) were all about loss, just that they were different vehicles to get there.bookfraudhttp://bookfraud.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-47383730250136868762010-08-31T13:59:37.235-05:002010-08-31T13:59:37.235-05:00Actually, I was originally going to talk about &qu...Actually, I was originally going to talk about "loss," because the stories that don't have death almost always have a different kind of loss. But then I thought... couldn't pretty much anything be defined as a loss? argh.<br /><br />There are so many ways to statistically examine the two anthologies: sex and ages of the writers? Which mags? Etc. Fun times!rmellishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133206908895131438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-35896439215909185102010-08-31T05:11:58.019-05:002010-08-31T05:11:58.019-05:00Group funk! May I suggest "clusterfunk"...Group funk! May I suggest "clusterfunk"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-77860644670774024752010-08-30T20:21:04.947-05:002010-08-30T20:21:04.947-05:00there is definitely a sense of loss in a lot of li...there is definitely a sense of loss in a lot of literature. Is America's future the sub-text to that, I wonder ? Is literature reflecting a crumbling empire ?<br /><br />It's like one big group funk.<br /><br />(Now I'm in trouble ! )<br /><br />-NancyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-10805572171606083762010-08-30T19:57:03.857-05:002010-08-30T19:57:03.857-05:00But Anne has a point -- what if all a story does i...But Anne has a point -- what if all a story does is give a little sadistic thrill? Some stories (and movies for sure) rely too heavily, imho, on torture, killing, and sadism. Not that these things don't exist and shouldn't be written about. But I feel genuinely nauseated when I get the sense that there would BE no story without the scenes of violence. Annie Proulx's story is making a historical point, so she gets away with it. But just.<br /><br />Oh, and I'm aware that, as the author of a murder book, I'm a big fat hypocrite.rmellishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133206908895131438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-63982931118602898162010-08-30T19:01:53.643-05:002010-08-30T19:01:53.643-05:00See, I really kind of dig the Annie Proulx story, ...See, I really kind of dig the Annie Proulx story, because there is no message, no moral. It's just about the bizarre turns of life lived in the margin. What I can't stand is the endless flogging of death as some kind of magical signifier or lurid metaphor.<br /><br />I hate "redemption".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-6749867966631101092010-08-30T12:40:21.630-05:002010-08-30T12:40:21.630-05:00Thanks for this thoughtful post. I haven't rea...Thanks for this thoughtful post. I haven't read the collection, but I subscribe to the New Yorker, so I've read a number of the stories.<br /><br />I had to stop reading the Annie Proulx story because it was so unrelentingly gruesome and grim. I think it's possible to write about death without conveying a message of utter hopelessness. That may be the difference between 1989 and now. (And I do miss yuppies with Cuisinarts.)<br /><br />I think we now reward writers who revel in sadistic details--as if cruelty were the only reality that mattered. Writers are creators, I'd like to see us create more hope.Anne R. Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02420000168356370825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-91106910758092580602010-08-30T10:38:22.961-05:002010-08-30T10:38:22.961-05:00That is definitely what it is all about, for me.
...That is definitely what it is all about, for me.<br /><br />And I agree about the death thing. I had that same impression when I read the collection. I found it a little baffling. Though it seemed in tone with this sort of year. The economy is in the tank, none of my friends can get a good job, hopeless is easy, thick black oil was spilling unchecked into the ocean. Hopelessness is a theme for 2010, in some ways. So maybe it was appropriate?margositahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06432497140892679276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-1223032300926933392010-08-30T08:24:07.718-05:002010-08-30T08:24:07.718-05:00I liked the James Lasdun all right ("Oh, Deat...I liked the James Lasdun all right ("Oh, Death") but I might have been biased because it seemed to take place in my neighborhood. I also like the structure: a mysterious narrator. But I can definitely see not liking it. Some stories seem to push three or four random buttons, and if they're not your buttons, the story has nothing to go on.rmellishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133206908895131438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2046663689477874544.post-22699557337329339492010-08-30T06:21:57.919-05:002010-08-30T06:21:57.919-05:00I read a few of these. I don't read much fict...I read a few of these. I don't read much fiction, and my reaction was, "These are the best??" (though I did like Brad Watson's). But I do not get James Lasdun at all.Jay Livingstonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03797268351984440375noreply@blogger.com