How to study "The best short stories"

Chapter 40: LIFE

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About This Book

A practical handbook analyzes a series of annual best-short-story anthologies and extracts the editorial values and technical habits behind successful short fiction. It surveys selected pieces to illustrate structure, point of view, unity, and regional color, and supplements close readings with author testimony and classroom experience. The work supplies study questions, exercises, and concrete advice on revision, pacing, and economy of form while stressing the need to balance artistic aims with the business realities of publication. Its aim is to train critical reading and disciplined practice for aspiring writers and students.

LIFE

Comment. A student of the present critic made this comment on “Life.” Do you agree with it?—“The opposing forces are the man’s desire to know the meaning of life, and the darkness of his vision. It is hard to say which force wins. For though he does not discover the meaning of life, he discovers a simile sufficiently revolting to suit his mood.... It is really a single incident, made worthy of expansion by its significance and symbolism.”...

Get the final implication which completes the story. In short, what is the final sentence when rounded out?

Read “The Workman,” by Lord Dunsany (in “Fifty-one Tales”) and compare it with this narrative for atmosphere and philosophy.