At least according to Alice Munro. The Guardian declared the short story form victor in 2009.
For us short story writers, this is quite encouraging news. Yet, I’ve got some mix feelings about that declaration. Alice Munro isn’t necessarily a benchmark of the resurrection of short story. To some she IS the short story form, in all its glory. Any writer, or rather, any MFA student or graduate knows that, or is taught to believe so. And that isn’t to say there isn’t merit to that declaration, I do actually like some of her stories (Labor Day Dinner), but I’ve widened my view on this over the years. I also feel that there is a lack of diversity of voices and experiences in what has become the canon for instructive fiction writing. I realize I’m being obtuse; I’ll say more on that for another time.
Another long awaited short story collection made its debut last year, Wells Tower’s Everything Ravaged, Everything Ruined. And after reading so many of his stories over the past 5 years in literary magazines, I think it may have stole my thunderous excitement for the actual book when it was released in March. Still, if you haven’t read Tower, the title story gives you everything you need and more.
Personally, I’m still waiting to see Danielle Evans’ collection, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self (knock on wood, Riverhead will publish later this year) while I wonder when ZZ Packer’s next project emerges from the ether.
confession: i never got Alice Munro. i always felt so dense in our MFA program. i didn’t get a *lot* of my assigned reading. the only short story writers i left our program admiring were Antonya Nelson, Sherman Alexie, Raymond Carver, Vlad Nabokov, and Aimee Bender (who I adore).
Jhumpa Lahiri is my short story hero. I also swoon over Eudora Welty.
that said, i’m reading Chimamanda Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck right now. it’s good, but i think she’s a better novelist.