This is our list of 1000 Great Short Stories of All Time. To the best of my knowledge no list, book, film or otherwise exists like this one. This will be the first list of it’s kind, ever, again as far as I know. In doing a first list you really hope to do it best, but with a 1000 stories on the list, it will make doing it well very difficult, so, as with our list of poems, we need your help. Please make suggestions in the comments section. We want to get 1000, right now we are in the 80s, so this isn’t going to be easy. I’ve seen a lot of top 50 list for short stories, but top 1000 is again, unheard of.
Why do a list like this? It’s pretty simple really, guidelines. It helps people find great short stories they want to read. It also, we hope, will help with a consensus. Right now if I say name the top 10 short stories of all time, you’ll get 10 different answers from 10 different writers. When you say, what about story X, those 10 writers would likely say well it’s one of the greatest, but not in my top 10. So I’m not trying to make a list of 1000 greatest short stories that put Poe at 1 now and forever. I’m creating a list that people can point to and say, I agree, it might not be number 10 on the list, but it is among the 1000 best of all time. To that end we don’t have to worry about the exact order. We just have to come up with 1000 great stories.
They should, I think, be measured simply right now, what stories have you read that have either stood the test of time or WILL stand the test of time. Developing criteria I think should come later too. Right now we are look for 1000 stories, when we hit 2000 suggestions I’ll worry about definitive list of criteria.
In expanding this list of great short stories, I thought I would talk about some of the reasons for doing this list. We know have 1000 Great Stories that are the stepping stones to 1000 Greatest Short Stories of all time. This list may be impossible to create, but we are looking for stories that speak to people, that teach something that have a message that has larger insight into who we all are. As a readers we know the stories that speak to us. We know stories that have changed us. We know stories that have we want to share with everyone we know. These are the stories we are looking for. After all, these great stories are determined by us. In expanding this list of great short stories, I thought I would talk about some of the reasons for doing this list. We know have 1000 Great Stories that are the stepping stones to 1000 Greatest Short Stories of all time. This list may be impossible to create, but we are looking for stories that speak to people, that teach something that have a message that has larger insight into who we all are. As a readers we know the stories that speak to us. We know stories that have changed us. We know stories that have we want to share with everyone we know. These are the stories we are looking for. After all, these great stories are determined by us.
So help us out. I want to see if this can be done. Any suggestions are welcome. Here is the list of the first 80 or so, I’ll come up with 100 more soon, and I will add any suggestions to the list that I agree with. Also, please have some fun with this. Any misspellings or mistakes, feel free to point them out.
We also publish some great short stories right here on our site. If you are looking for stories written by classic writers or writers living today, please visit EWR: Short Stories.
1000 Greatest Stories of All Time
1-100
1. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
2. A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka
3. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Beirce
4. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr
5. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
6. The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
7. The Rockinghorse Winner by D.H. Lawrence
8. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber
9. The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
10. The Swimmer by John Cheever
11. The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams
12. The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
13. A & P by John Updike
14. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, by Ernest Hemingway
15. A Day’s Wait by Ernest Hemingway
16. A FIGHT WITH A CANNON by Victor Hugo
17. A LONELY RIDE by Bret Harte
18. A Pair of Silk Stockings by Kate Chopin
19. A Pair of Silk Stockings by Kate Chopin
20. A Passion in the Desert, by Honoré de Balza
21. A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
22. A Sound of Thunder, by Ray Bradbury
23. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce
24. ARABY by James Joyce
25. Borges and I by Jorge Luis Borges
26. Boys and Girls by Alice Monro
27. Bullet in the Brain by Tobias Wolf
28. Cathedral by Raymond Carver
29. Dead Man’s Path by Chinua Achebe
30. Died and Gone to Vegas by Tim Gautreaux
31. Dracula’s Guest by Bram Stoker
32. Dubliners by James Joyce
33. HOW MUCH LAND DOES A MAN NEED? by Leo Tolstoy
34. How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie) by Junot Díaz
35. I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen.
36. I Want to Live! by Thom Jones
37. I, Robot by Issac Asimov
38. Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro
39. MY RED CAP by Louisa M. Alcott
40. Nine Stories by JD Salinger
41. Paul’s Case by Willa Cather
42. PRESENT AT A HANGING by Ambrose Bierce
43. Rape Fantasies by Margaret Atwood
44. That Evening Sun, by William Faulkner
45. THE BET by Anton Chekhov
46. The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson
47. THE CELEBRATED JUMPING FROG OF CALAVERAS COUNTY by Mark Twain
48. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON by F. Scott Fitzgerald
49. THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER by Washington Irving
50. The Door, by E. B Whit
51. THE FALSE GEMS by Guy De Maupassant
52. THE FORTIETH FRENCH ASCENT OF MONT BLANC by Jules Verne
53. The Garden Party by Kathleen Mansfield
54. The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
55. The Hitch-Hikers by Eudora Welty
56. THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW by Washington Irving
57. THE MAGIC SHOP by H. G. Wells
58. The Man Who Would be King by Rudyard Kipling
59. THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
60. THE Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs
61. THE NIGHT FACE-UP by JULIO CORTAZAR
62. The Open Boat, by Stephen Crane
63. The Other Side of the Hedge by E.M. Forster
64. The Other Woman by Sherwood Anderson
65. The Outcasts of Poker Flat, by Bret Harte
66. THE REAL THING by Henry James
67. The Red-Headed League by Arthur Conan Doyle
68. The Resemblance Between a Vilin Case and a Coffin by Tennessee Williams
69. The Russian Prioner by Ha Jin
70. The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad
71. The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway
72. THE SISTERS by James Joyce
73. THE TELL-TALE HEART by Edgar Allen Poe
74. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
75. THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
76. Thom Jones, The Pugilist at Rest
77. To Build a Fire by Jack London
78. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? By Joyce Carol Oates:
79. Why Don’t You Dance by Raymond Carver (Film)
80. Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? by Raymond Carver
81. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
82. Girl with Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace
83. The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy
84. The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
85. Menseteung by Alice Munro
86. The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekov
87. The Fall of the House of Usher’s by Edgar Allan Poe
88. Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
89. The Call of Cthullhu by H.P. Lovecraft
90. Soldier’s home by Ernest Hemingway
91. A Day’s Wait by Ernest Hemingway
92. Paul’s Case by Willa Carther
93. The Last Leaf by O. Henry
94. Haircut by Ring Lardner
95. Désirée’s’s Baby by Kate Chopin
96. Barn Burning by William Faulkner
97. Why I Live at the PO by Eudora Welty
98. Chickamauga by Thomas Wolfe
99. There Will Come Soft Rain by Ray Bradbury
100. The Lady and the Tiger by Ray Bradbury
Martin G. says
Seeing no John Wyndham here:- Chronoclasm, Meteor, Opposite Number
Henrique says
You need to travel the world through short stories. I suggest you read more German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and Chinese writers (among the more or less well-known literatures), but if you really want to dig deeper, look for Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Polishs, Czechs, Ukrainians, Swedishs, Danes, Dutchs, Koreans, Brazilians, Mexicans, Angolans, Mozambicans and Indians writers. At least these. I assure you that in each of these literatures you will find not only short stories that will go to a list of a thousand, but even to a list of top 100. Greetings from Brazil!
Pam Hall says
August 1, 2019
Hello Every Writer (& Reader),
I’m looking for an old short story I read over 20 years ago in an old (lost) textbook that contained compilations of short stories, essays and other writings. I don’t when the story was actually written or published. And, of course, I don’t remember the title or the author. I’ve been on a futile search. No luck with a university librarian or a public librarian. I’ve searched this and other sites, as well.
With all the readers & writers on this website, I’m hoping someone can help me identify and find this story. A brief description:
It was about a man who lived all his life in the same village and when he died was buried in the local cemetery. The story is about how he was remembered and then ultimately, over the passage of time, his existence was erased.
I don’t remember for sure but I think it was set somewhere in Europe maybe in 1800’s. He was a carpenter and furniture maker. There were examples of how the memory of him and his existence on earth, eventually disappeared in the years following his death:
1. A desk he had built for a customer was being moved and the old hand-written paid receipt he had given his customer flew out of a drawer and blew away. The rain washed away his writing. That was the last of anything he had ever written.
2. An old woman lay dying and she remembered a young man she had once known – that was the last time he was ever thought of by another person.
3. One cold and cruel winter, the wooden cross on his grave was stolen and used for firewood. That was the last remaining sign he had ever existed.
Appreciate anyone’s help!! Thank you.
Pam
mike whitney says
Wonderful story, Pam. Now I, too, wish I knew the title. Doesn’t sound American or British. Perhaps Russian; maybe French ? If you find out, please post.
Jannetta Vairin says
Hunters in the snow by Tobias Wolf, Desirees Baby by Kate chopin The River by Flannery O’Connor
Heidi B says
Revelation by Flannery O Connor, The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane
mike whitney says
1. “The Dead,” James Joyce; Last two paragraphs constitute, to many, some of the most beautiful writing in our language.
2. “Odour of Chrysanthemums,” D H Lawrence. Death of a husband; Defines loneliness and the feeling of profound isolation and separateness of each of us possibly better than anything ever written.
3. “Dry September,” Wm. Faulkner – the evil that is latent in us all.
4. “Winter Dreams,” Scott Fitzgerald; The loss of our most cherished youthful hopes.
5. “A Christmas Memory,” Truman Capote; the strength of love and deepest friendship even in the permanency of profound loss and change. A beautiful story.
6. “The Sojourner,” Carson McCullers; the consequences of a wasted life due to fear of commitment.
7. “In Football Season,” John Updike; A fond and bright reflection of happy high school memories and friendships. Anyone who enjoyed their high school years will find happy reminiscence here.
8. “The Land and the Water,”; Shirley Anne Grau; a child’s first understanding of death, and the effect it has on her. Superb.
9. “The Monkey’s Paw;” WW Jacobs; the classic and finest ghost story ever written.
10. “Shaving,” Leslie Norris (Welsh); A devoted teenage son ministers lovingly to his beloved, but dying, father. A good death, if ever such can be.
11. “The Last Lesson,”; by Daudet (French writer) A teacher in a provincial town delivers his final lesson just before victorious Prussian soldiers come in to take charge of the schools and mandate teaching of German language and culture.
12. “Seven Floors,” Dino Buzatti. A man admitted to a hospital for minor illness sees his condition continually diagnosed as unaccountably worsening amidst a cold and sterile environment. Indictment of modern isolation and technology.
13. “The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket,” by Kawabata (Japan) – the most moving story of childhood innocence and joy I have ever read.
14, “Discovery of a Father,” Sherwood Anderson; A young boy thinks his father nothing but a clown until a late night swim together opens his eyes to the dignity and fineness of his dad.
15. “Flight” John Steinbeck – a young Mexican boy must become a man quickly after knifing a man out of hot, angry pride. The description of his flight on horseback from a pursuing posse through the West Mexican wilds and mountains is a thrilling story.
16. “My Oedipus Complex,” Frank O’Connor; A happy young boy quickly becomes very unhappy when his father (whom he’s too young to have met before) returns from four years of war replacing the boy in his mother’s attentions. Very humorous.
17. “The First Death of Her Life,” Elizabeth Taylor (NOT the actress, but a superb English short story writer.) A teenage girl’s confrontation with the death of her mother, and the grief shared with her father.
This is a worthy endeavor which may even lead to some excellent anthologies resulting in a wider variety of stories than is typically seen. We wish you the best.
Ron Ginzler says
“Configuration of the North Shore,” “Narrow Valley,” “Continued on Next Rock,” “The Hole on the Corner,” “Cliffs That Laughed,” all by R. A. Lafferty.
“The Man Who lost the Sea,” Theodore Sturgeon.
“Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight,” Ursula K.. LeGuin.
“All You Zombies,” Robert Heinlein.
“Ten Thousand Assyrians,” William Saroyan.
“Are You Too Late, or Was I Too Early?” John Collier.
“The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore,” Harlan Ellison.
Ted Mosser says
I’m glad to see Paul’s Case included. I also believe Sonny’s Blues, Flight, The Overcoat, Silent Snow, Secret Snow and some others by Hemingway, Conrad and London belong in a top 50s list.
The Lottery at least for me is too casually violent.
Evan Waller says
“The Secret Integration” and “Under the Rose”, both by Thomas Pynchon (does this list still get updated btw?)
Robert Peate says
My list of suggestions. Some are already up there.
“The Masque of the Red Death” (1842) by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Purloined Letter” (1844) by Edgar Allan Poe
“The New Utopia” (1891) by Jerome K. Jerome
“The Story of an Hour” (1894) by Kate Chopin
“Afterward” (1902) by Edith Wharton
“The Monkey’s Paw” (1902) by W. W. Jacobs
“To Build a Fire” (1908) by Jack London
“Goliah” (1909) by Jack London
“The Machine Stops” (1909) by E. M. Forster
“The Jameson Satellite” (1931) by Neil R. Jones
“Who Goes There?” (1938) by John W. Campbell, Jr.
“The Wall” (1939) by Jean-Paul Sartre
“Katina” (1941) by Roald Dahl
“Arena” (1944), by Fredric Brown
“The Lottery” (1948) by Shirley Jackson
“There Will Come Soft Rains” (1950) by Ray Bradbury
“The Marching Morons” by C. M. Kornbluth
“Lamb to the Slaughter” (1953) by Roald Dahl
“The Adjustment Team” (1954), by Philip K. Dick
“Fondly Fahrenheit” (1954) by Alfred Bester
“Brightside Crossing” (1956), by Alan E. Nourse
“Thank you, Ma’am” (1958) by Langston Hughes
“Examination Day” (1958), by Henry Slesar
“Billennium” (1962) by J. G. Ballard
“Marigolds” (1969) by Eugenia Collier
“The Village” (1969) by Kate Wilhelm
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (1973) by Ursula K. LeGuin
“The Forbidden Words of Margaret A.” (1990) by L. Timmel Duchamp
“Peter Skilling” (a.k.a., “Retroactive Anti-Terror”) (2004) by Alex Irvine
“Red Card” (2007) by S. L. Gilbow
“The Osage Orange Tree” (2014) by William Stafford
Lana says
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx hasn’t been mentioned yet. A beautiful piece of writing.
Aiden says
The Egg, by Andy Weir has always been brough up whenever I hear a conversation about short stories.
I think any list without it is incomplete.
Also there are better Allen Poe stories but I guess you could populate the list with them.
Uday Kumar Das says
Short stories
••••••••••••••
Alphabetically arranged list of Story writers
■■■■■AAAAA■■■■■
Chinua Achebe – Dead man’s path, Marriage is a private affair,
Samuel Hopkins Adams Such as walk in darkness B
George Ade To make a hoosier holiday B
C.N. Adichie – The thing around your neck.
Joan Aiken Lob’s girl
Alcott – Scarlet stockings
T.B. Aldrich Marjorie Daw B
Joseph A. Altsheler After the battle B
Ambrose An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Frederick Irving Anderson – Infallible Gadahi (The),
Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941)
Death in the woods, I want to know why, Little match girl (The), Ohio, Other woman (The),
Leonid Andreiev Valia B
T.S. Arthur – Angel in disguise (An),
Issac Asimov The fun they had, I-robot,
Margaret Atwood – Rape fantasies,
■■■■■BBBBB■■■■■
J.G Ballard Billennium
H.D. Balzac , (France) – A passion in the desert, The unknown masterpiece B
Toxi Cade Bambara Raymond’s run
Julian Barnes – Pulse,
Alexander Baron – The man who knew too much**,
J.M. Barrie The Courting of T’nowhead’s bell B
John Barth (1930-Lost in the funhouse
Donald Barthelme (1933- The school T
H.E. Bates The ox
Rudolf Baumbach The fountain of youth B***
Stephen Vincent Benet – Devil’s Daniel Webster (The),
Ambrose Bierce (Am-1842-1914) – Beyond the wall, Boarded window, Chickamagua, The damned thing B, Horseman in the sky (A),Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Present at a hanging, What occurred at Franklin,
Bjornstjerme Bjornson Railroad and churchyard B**
Ami Bloom – The story, Silver water,
Ruskin Bond – The thief, The tiger in the tunnel,
Jorge Luis Borges – Borges and I B*, The Circular ruins , The South,
Paul Bowles In the red room
Ray Bradbury All summer in a day, A Lady or Tiger?* Sound of thunder, There will come soft rains,The Veldt*m
Pearl S. Buck – The refugee
■■■■■CCCCC■■■■■
Morley Callaghan – No man’s meat,
Roch Carrier – What language do bears speak?,
Raymond Carver Cathedral, Why don’t you dance, Will you please be quiet,
Willa Cather – On the Gull’s road, Paul’s case,
Robert Cavanaugh Miss Awful
Raymond Chandler – Red wind,
John Cheever Goodbye my brother, Swimmer (The),
Anton Chekhov (Russia-1860-1904) Aborigines, Agafya, The Album, At home, Bad weather, The beauties, Bet (The), The black monk, A Chameleon, Champagne, ●The Darling●, An enigmatic nature, Day in the country (A), A dead body, The death of a Government clerk, Dreams, Excellent people, The fish, A gentleman friend, A happy man, Happiness, The head gardener’s story, Home, The Huntsman, Hush !, In an hotel, In exile, Ladies, Lady with the dog (The), Looking Glass (The), Lottery ticket (The) Love, , Minds in Ferment, Misery, A Mystery, Neighbours, Peasant wives, The post, School mistress (The), A slander The Slanderer B, Strong impressions, The student, The Trousseau, ●Ward no. 6●, The witch, A work of art, A work of art B** ,Vanka,
G.K. Chesterton – The queer feetB*3
Kate Chopin – Desire’s baby, La belle Zoralde, Night came slowly (The), Regret, Story of an hour (The),
Agatha Christie – A pot of tea,
Sandra Cisneross – Eleven, Geraldo no name,
Stuart Cloete – Soldier’s peaches (The),
Judith Ortiz Cofer American history
John Collier – Chaser (The) T
E.E.J. Coppee The lost child B
Richard Connell – Most dangerous game (The),
Joseph Conrad – Lagoon (The) , Secret sharer (The),
Robert Coover (1932- The magic poker
A.E. Coppard (
Robert Cormier The moustache
Julio Cortázar – Continuity of the parks T, Night face up (The),
● Stephen Crane (Am-1871-1900)
Blue hotel (The), Dark brown dog (A), An Experiment in misery Tb, Maggie Tm, The Open boat Tm , Pair of silk stockings (A),
Michael Cunningham – White angel,
James Oliver Curwood His first penitent B
■■■■■DDDDD■■■■■
Roald Dahl – Beware of the dog, Lamb to the slaughter, The Landlady, Man from the south, The umbrella man,
Gabriel D’Annunzio The end of Candia B
Richard Harding Davis Balacchi Brothers B, The consul, Life in the iron mills,
Fielding Dawson – The vertical field,
Margaret Deland Many waters B
Anita Desai Games at twilight
Junot Diaz – How to date a brown girl,
Charles Dickens – The Baron of Grogzwig, The poor relation’s story, Signal man (The)
Dostoievski The thief B
Arthur Conan Doyle – B24, My friend the murderer B, Red headed league (The), A scandal in Bohemia B
Theodore Dreisser The lost Phoebe B
Alexander Dumas A bal Masque B, Hanging at La Piroche B
F.P. Dunne Mr. Dooley on the pursuit of riches B
H.V. Dyke – The first Christmas tree,
■■■■■EEEEE■■■■■
Jennifer Egan – Emerald city,
Nataly Von Eschstruth The Gray nun B
■■■■■FFFFF■■■■■
William Faulkner (1897-1962) – Barn burning, The Bear, Rose for Emily, That eve-sun,
Edna Ferber They brought their women B
Varis Fisher – The Scarecrow,
F.S. Fitzgerald – Babylon revisited, The Curious case of Benjamin Button , A Diamond as big as a ritz,
Ambrose Flac – The stranger that came to town,
Antonio Fogazzaro The silver crucifix B
JW.De Forest The Brigade commandar B
E.M. Forster The eternal moment B, The Other side of the Hedge,
Anatole France Putois B
M.E.W. Freeman – The cat,
■■■■■GGGGG■■■■■
Emile Gaboriau The accursed house B
Neil Gaiman – How to talk to girls at parties,
Marsis Gallant – My heart is broken,
Hamlin Garland (1860-1940) – Under the lion’s paw,
Theophile Gautier The Mummy’s foot B
Tim Gautreaux – Died and gone to Vegas,
William Gay – The paper hanger,
C.P. Gilman – The yellow wallpaper,
Susan Glaspell – A jury of her peers,
Nokolai Vsilievitch Gogol – The Clock, The Nose, The cloak (The overcoat) B
Maxim Gorky Boless/Her lover B*5
Patricia Grace Journey
Graham Green – The end of party, The case for the defence,
■■■■■HHHHH■■■■■
Edward Everett Hale The man without a country B
Dashiell Hammett – The girl with the silver eyes,
Henry Harland Rosemary for remembrance B
Joel Chandler Harris Brother Rabbit’s cradle B
Bret Harte (Am-1836-1902) – A Lonely ride, The Luck of the roaring camp B, The Outcasts of Poker flat B, Tennessee’s partner,
L.P. Hartley A Summons and The Apples
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1805-1864) The ambitious guest, Birthmark**, David Swan, Dr. Heidegger’s experiment B, Ethan Brand, The great stone face B ,The green carbuncle,How Santa Claus came, Major Molineun, Minister’s black veil, My kinsman, Ropaccini’s daughter, The wedding knell, Young Goodman Brown**,
A.A. Hayes The Denver Express B
Ernest Hemingway (1898-1961) – A clean well lighted place, A day’s wait, The Killers, Light of the world, The shortest happy life of Francis Macomber, The snows of Kilimanjaro, Soldier’s home,
Liliana Heker The stolen party
Anne Herbert – The Torrent,
Paul Johan Ludvig Heyse Young girl of Teipei B**
Patricia Highsmith Ming’s Biggest Prey
Langston Huges Thank you m’am
Victor Hugo – A Flight with a canon
Evan Hunter – The last spin
James Hurst The scarlet ibis
■■■■■IIIII■■■■■
Washington Irving (1783-1859) – The Legend of sleepy hollow, Rip Van Winkle*
Boaz Izraeli The monkey,
■■■■■JJJJJ■■■■■
Shirley Jackson Charles, The Lottery
W.W. Jacobs The monkey’s paw
Henry James (1843-1916) – The real thing
Jules Gabriel Janin The Vandean marriage B
Jerome K Jerome – A fishy story*,
Ha Jin The Russian Prisoner
Denis Johnson Emergency
Thom Jones I want to live, The Pugilist at rest
James Joyce (1882-1941)
Araby, The Dead clay, Dubliners, A little cloud, The Sisters,
■■■■■KKKKK■■■■■
Franz Kafka – Hunger artist (A), In the penal colony,
Myra Kelly A Christmas present for a lady B,
Daniel Keyes – Flowers for Algernon
Stephen King – The body, Harvey’s dream.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) Rikki Tikki Tavi, The elephant’s child, How the leopard got its spots, The man who would be king B
Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Stront
Lerzv Koainski Steps,
■■■■■■LLLL■■■■■■■■
Selma Lagerlof The Outlaws B, The Rattrap B
Jhumpa Lahiri – Interpretation of maladies,
Ring Lardner The golden honeymoon, Haircut B
D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) Odour of Chrysanthemums, The Rocking Horse winner*, Second best**,The shades of spring*, St. Mawr, The white stocking*,
Stephen Leacock – The conjurer’s revenge,
Jonathan Lethem The happy man,
Doris Lessing Through the tunnel
Sinclair Lewis Man who knew Coolidge (The),
Jack London Apostle, The Legend of old man, Lost face, The Mexican, The Odyssey of the North, A piece of streak, The red one, To build a fire,
John Luther Long Purple eyes B
Malcolm Lorrie Under the volcano,
H.P. Lovecraft Call of Cthullhu (The),
■■■■■MMMM■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
Bernard Malamaud The prison
Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) The fly, The garden party, The stranger,
Panteg Marshall To da-dah, in memorium
Gabriel Garcia Marques –
Eyes of a blue dog, The handsomest drowned man in the world Tm , One of these days, The very old man with enormous wings,
W. Somerset Maugham The Colonel’s lady*, The Fall of Edward Barnard*, Gigolo and Gigolette*, Jane**, The lotus eater**, Luncheon, Rain*, Red, The vessel of wrath,
Guy de Maupassant (France-1850-93) – Affair of state (An), Ball of fat, Bellflower, The bit of string B**, ●Boule de Suif●, Christening (The), Coco, Confessing, Coward (A), Dead woman’s secret (A), Denis, Devil (The), Donkey (The), Dowry (The), Drunkard (The), False gems (The), Family (A), Farewell, Father (The), Friend Patience, Hairpin (The), Hand (The), Humble drama (A), Humiliation, In the wood, In discretion, Inn (The), Jewels (The), Julie Romain, Kiss (The), Madame Parisse, Madmoiselle Fifi, Madmoiselle Pearl, Marquis de Fumerol (The), Miss Harriet, Misti-Recollections of bachelor, Moonlight, The necklace B* Old Mongilet, Piece of string (The), Pig of Morin (The), Theodule Sabot’s confession, Timbuctoo, Toine, Two little soldiers, Unknown (The), Useless beauty, Vagabond (The), Vendetta (The), Waiter, a Bock!, Wasted beauty, Wreck (The), Yvelle,
Carson McCullers Ballad of sad cafe (The), Jon McGregor This isn’t the sort of things that happens to someone like you,
Herman Melville – Bartleby, Benito Cereno, The fiddler, The lighting-rod man, The paradise of bachelors, The Scrivener,
Prosper Merimee (France) – Mateo Falcone, How the redoubt was taken B
David Miller The glimpses of Truth,
Rohiton Mistry Of white hairs and cricket
William De Mille Ruthless
Lorrie Moore Dance in America,
Hector Hugo Munro (Saki) –
Boys and girls, The Dusk*, Gabriel EarnestTo, Interlopers, Love of a good woman Meneseteung, The mouse, Mrs. Packletide’s Tiger, The open window, Runaway, Sredni Vashtar, The story teller*5,
Harukai Murakami The second bakery attack
W.H.H. Murray A ride with a mad horse in a freight car B
Alfred Louis Charles De Musset The Beauty spot B
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R.K. Narayan A horse and two goats, An astrologer’s day B
Thomas Nelson The burial of the guns
W. Doglas Newton The charge B
Max Nordau Deliverance B
Frank Norris Deal in wheat (A), Third circle (The),
Vladimir Novokov – Signs and symbols
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Carol Oates (1938- Where are you going, Where have you been,
Fitz-James O’Brien The diamond lens B, Things they carried (The),
Flannery O’Connor – Displaced person (The), A good man is hard to find, The lame shall enter first, The man of the house,
O’Flaherty The sniper*5,
O’Henry(Am-1862-1910) Black jacket burgainer (A), Cactus (the), Coming out of the Maggie (The), Gift of the Magi*3, Hearts and hands, Jimmy Valentine*, The last leaf, The Princess and the puma*, The phonograph and the graft B, Ransom of red chief (the), The skylight room *5, The Whirligig of life
O’Keefe Death makes a comeback,
Tillie Olsen I stand here ironing,
Orwell – Politics and the English language, Shooting an elephant,
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Z.Z. Packer Brownies,
Dorothy Parker Big blonde B, A Telephone call,
Alan Paton – Ha’penny,
Lyudmila Petrushevskya Like Penelope,
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) The black lack cat, The Cask of Amontillago**, The Descent into maelstrom, The Facts in the case of M.Valdemar, The Fall of the house of Usher** The gold bug B, Hop frog, The Imp of Perverse, Ligeia** The Masque of the red death, Mesmeric revelation, The Murders in the Rue Morgue B,The pittman and the pendulum, Premature burial (The), Purloined letter (The), Tell tale Heart (The), Thousand-and-second Tale of Scheherazade (The), Von Kempelen and his discovery,
Catherine Anne Porter Flowering Juda, Jilting of Granny Weatherall (The),
Alexander Pushkin (Russia)The queen of spades B
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A.T. Quilter-Couch The roll call of the reef B
Horacio Quiroga – The decapitated chicken. Tm
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Ringuet Heritage (The),
Sinclair Ross – Painted door (The),
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Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch Thou shall not kill B
J.D. Salinger – The catcher in the rye, For Esme, Nine stories, Pretty mouth and green my eyes,
William Saroyan Darling (The), Young man on the flying trapeze,
George Saunders Fall (The), Pastoralia, Puppy, Sea Oak, Tenth of December,
Arthur Schnitzler – Dead are silent (The), The Dead are Silent B*
Eugene Scribe The price of life**
Maurice Shadbolt The people before
Arwin Shaw The girls in their summer dresses,
Mona Simpson Lawns,
Ahdaf Soueif Sandpiper
Frank L. Spearman The run of the yellow mail
John Steinbeck Leader of the people (The), Snake (The),
R.L. Stevenson (1850-94) – The body snatcher, Bottle imp (The), Markheim, The sire de Maletroit’s door, The suicide club
Carl Stephenson Leiningen VS. ants,
Frank Stockton Griffin (The), The lady or the tiger, My terminal moraine
T.S. Stribling Passage to Benares (A),
Jean August Strindberg Love and Bread
Stroker, Bam Stroker Dracula guest,
Jesse Stuart The split cherry Tree,
Hermann Sundermann A new year’s evening confession
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Antonio Tabucchi The trains that go to Madras,
Booth Tarkington Mrs. Protheroe
Avery Taylor – Remember the roses,
Bayard Taylor Who was she?
Nokolai Teleshov The duel
Theodore Thomas Test
Dylan Thomas A child’s Christmas in Wales,
Adam Thorpe Tyre
James Thuber The secret life of Walter Mitty,
Leo Tolstoy (Russia-1828-1910) – ●The death of Ivan Ilytch●,● Family happiness●, The long exile, How much land does a man require? , Three questions, What men live by
J.T. Trowbridge The Man who stole a meeting house
Evan Turgenev (1813-83) The Rendezvous
Mark Twain – Burlesque biography (A), The celebrated jumping frog, Italian with a grammar, Italian with a master, Luck, Private (The) history of a campaign that failed,Telephonic (A) conversation , Was it heaven or hell,
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John Updike (1932- ) A&P,
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Giovani Verga Cavalleria Rusticana
Jules Verne – Fortieth French ascent of Mont Blanc,
Barbara Vine House of stairs (The)
Kurt Vonnegut Harrison Bergaron, Welcome to the honeymoon,
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Patrick Waddington The street that got misled,
Foster Wallace Girl with curious hair,
S.T Warner The phoenix
Irving Washington Legend of sleeping hollow (The),
H.G. Wells Door in the wall (The), The magic shop, The red room*5, Time machine,
Leila Burton Wells Bondage
Eudora Welty Hitch Hikers (The), Why I live at the post office,
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) – Afterwards, Souls belated,
E.B. White Door in the wall (The),
Oscar Wilde – The Happy Prince, The nightingale and the rose, The devoted friend**
Tennessee William – Resemblance between a Vilin Case and coffin
William Carlos Williams – Use of force (The),
Thomas Wolfe – Chickamauga,
P.G. Wodehouse -Clicking of Cuthbert (The), The prize poem,
Virginia Woolf – Haunted house (A)
Richard Wright – Man who lived underground (The),
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Emile Zola Fete at Coqueville
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General stories
•••••••••••••••••
K.A. Abbas Sparrows
Peter Bichsel The man who no longer wanted to know**
Ruskin Bond BDn The night train at Deoli**
A.R. Burton Going places*
Karel Capek The fortune teller**
Joyce Cary Growing up**
Arthur Conun Clarke Report on planet three
K.N.Daruwala Love across the salt desert
Anita Desai A devoted son
Nathaniel Hawthorne Dr. Heidegger’s experiment**
Amy Hempel At the gate of Animal Kingdom OL
Sheila Heti Mermaid in the jar OL
George Klein A dwarf’s Tale OL
Selma Lagerlof The Rattrap*
Maxim Loskutoff End Times OL
E.V. Lucas Third thought**
Hilary Mantel The assassination of Margaret Thatcher OL
A.G. Macdonell A village cricket match
Laura Jean McKay The real Cambodia OL
A. Mishani Reflections in the lake OL
Irne Nemirovsky Domingo OL
Uri Orlev The Chinese OL
George Orwell The rebellion
Willard Price Trailing the Jaguar
Evgeny Schwartz The boss OL
Khuswant Singh The Portrait of a Lady
R.N. Tagore The castaway
Leo Tolstoy What men live by*
Z
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Amy says
The Terrapin by Patricia Highsmith
Phil says
Quality by John Galsworthy
David Y says
I was told to read:
The All-Girl Football Team
My People’s Waltz
Michael Calvert says
Has anyone mentioned Bartleby the Scivener? I always considered it one of the very best.
Every Writer says
It’s on the list, but thank you
Larry m says
Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin (the shortest novel I ever read)
Tom Finn says
Alibi Ike by Ring Lardner. The funniest thing you’ll ever read, a sports story and a love story all in one.
You could look it up by James Thurber
Phil says
Parsons pleasure by Roald Dahl
I can’t remember the name of one of my favorites, about a guy who goes to the shoemaker, two brothers that run an old time shop that slowly goes out of business. I’d be much abliged if someone can tell what it’s called.
Adam says
As a long-time high-school English teacher, I’d be disappointed if you didn’t include these titles in a top-1000 list. Some of these titles were Hugo award-winners or nominated for best short story:
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” 1974 Hugo award-winner by Ursela le Guin
“The Necklace” Guy de Maupassant
“The Lady or the Tiger?” Frank Stockton
“The Lottery” Shirley Jackson
“Flowers for Algernon” 1960 Hugo award-winner by Daniel Keyes
“There Will Come Soft Rains” Ray Bradbury
pmaha says
I Do Not Take Messages from Dead People by Pauline Melville
My Girl and the City by Samuel Selvon
The Cricket Match by Samuel Selvon
Tarran says
Josephine the Singer (also known as The Mouse Folk) by Franz Kafka
The Judgement by Franz Kafka
Light is Like Water by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway
The Nightwatchman’s Occurrence Book by VS Naipaul
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann (variously referred to as a short story or novella)
Esiotrot by Roald Dahl
The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
Question 1: how to decide which short stories are masquerading as novellas?
Question 2: many anthologies make use of excerpts from much longer works. Some of these can compete with the best short stories. (I’m thinking, for instance, of Bob Geldorf’s piece taken from Is That It? that appears in the Picador collection Worst Journeys. Should these be considered?
JB says
@Dre I believe it’s called “Wish you were here.” Great story!
Dre says
Please please! Somebody help me! I cant remember the name of the short story where the old womans gnome travels and sends postcards, get sick, and then the lady is murdered at the end when the gnome comes home? Please someone must know it!!
Gerry Christmas says
The Killers by Ernest Hemingway
The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
Rain by W. Somerset Maugham
Vessel of Wrath by W. Somerset Maugham
Red by W. Somerset Maugham
The Pool by W. Somerset Maugham
The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling
The Money’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs
Markhiem by Robert Lewis Stevenson
The Open Window by Saki
Death in the Woods by Sherwood Anderson
The Clicking of Cuthbert by P. G. Wodehouse
The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet
Wasted Beauty by Guy de Maupassant
The Jewels by Guy de Maupassant
Ball of Fat by Guy de Maupassant
The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
Passion in the Dessert by Honare Balzac
The Bet by Anton Chekov
Gerry Christmas says
The Infallible Gadahl by Frederick Irving Anderson
Paul’s Case by Willa Cather
No Man’s Meat by Morley Callaghan
Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Dvis
The Lost Phoebe by Theodore Dreiser
The Last Leaf by O. Henry
Haircut by Ring Lardner
Big Blonde by Dorothy Parker
Chickamauga by Ambrose Bierce
The Open Boat by Stephen Crane
Désirée’s’s Baby by Kate Chopin
La Belle Zoraide by Kate Chopin
Barn Burning by William Faulkner
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers
The Displaced Person by Flannery O’Conner
The Gold Bug by Edgar Allan Poe
Why I Live at the PO by Eudora Welty
Chickamauga by Thomas Wolfe
The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright
The Blue Hotel by Stephen Crane
Under the Lion’s Paw by Hamlin Garland
The Man Who Knew Coolidge by Sinclair Lewis
A Deal in Wheat by Frank Norris
The Painted Door by Sinclair Ross
The Scarecrow by Varis Fisher
The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The League of Old Men by Jack London
The Red One by Jack London
An Odyssey of the North by Jack London
Lost Face by Jack London
Red Wind by Raymond Chandler
The Mexican by Jack London
Flowering Juda by Catherine Anne Porter
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Catherine Anne Porter
The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Dashiell Hammett
A Man Called Spade by Dashiell Hammett
The Apostate by Jack London
The Third Circle by Frank Norris
The Leader of the People by John Steinbeck
The Snake by John Steinbeck
A Passage to Benares by T. S. Stribling
What Language Do Bears Speak? by Roch Carrier
The Legacy by Marvis Gallant
My Heart Is Broken by Marvis Gallant
The Torrent by Anne Hébert
The Heritage by Ringuet
Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Rappacini’s Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway
Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
The Cask of Amantillado by Edgar Allan Poe
Hop-Frog by Edgar Allan Poe
The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe
The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe
For Esmé–with Love and Squalor by J. D. Salinger
Pretty Mouth and Green my Eyes by J. D. Salinger
The Light of the World by Ernest Hemingway
A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway
Every Writer says
Thx for this Jerry
Mélanie says
Dubliners by James Joyce is a short story collection, not a short story. 🙂
And surely some stories by Edna O’Brien, Yiyun Li, Colin Barrett and other winners of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award shoud be added to the list!
Ed says
Barn Burning by Faulkner
Soldier’s Home by Hemingway
The Lady with the Little Dog by Chekhov
Babylon Revisited by Scott Fitzgerald
Curtis says
Some more:
Nightfall and The Last Question, both by Asimov
The Game of Rat and Dragon by Cordwainer Smith
Inconstant Moon by Larry Niven
The Gernsback Continuum by William Gibson
Age of Lead by Margaret Atwood
The Overcoat/The Cloak by Nikolai Gogol
Curtis says
The Call of Cthulhu, by H.P. Lovecraft
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, by Harlan Ellison
The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe
The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benét
Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad by M.R. James
Emergency by Denis Johnson
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
warui says
An act of Kindness….a story about taking cae of feelings of ur kids or else the unimaginable happens
Yasmin says
The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze by William Saroyan
The Wall by Jean-Paul Sartre
Paul Teodori says
How about Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death?’ Also, his ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ should definitely make the list.
Jim says
Greatest idea. Short Stories have become less popular since I was a kid. How about Saki’s The Open Window. BTW, I love Raymond Chandler but “What we talk about when we talk about love” should list author as Raymond Carver.Another good one – Guy de Maupassant’s Ball of Fat.
Leiningen Versus the Ants by Carl Stephenson
Haircut by Ring Lardner
Let’s keep this active. Tell all your reader friends to contribute.
John timm says
Bartleby, the Scrivener
Herman Melville
Vinita Agrawal says
The Japanese Wife by Kunal Basu
Vinita Agrawal says
Let’s Go Home…unfortunately I can’t remember the author’s name. I read it a long time in ago and loved it. I’ll be grateful to anyone who could tell me the author’s name. The story is about a little boy who’s lost his mother and taken in by an uncle. On one wonderful cloudy day, he feels so elated that he rushes to his old home only to remember that his mother is no more.
Charmaine says
What we talk about when we talk about love – Raymond Chandler
Kasper Løvborg says
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekov
Tardy Awakening by Steen Steensen Blicher
Dead as They Come by Ian McEwan
Gordon Petry says
Why I live over the P.O. Eudora Welty
The Chaser John Collier
The Hypnoglyph John Anthony (pen name for John Ciardi)
Leo says
The Depressed Person by David Foster Wallace
The Babysitter by Robert Coover
The Nonce Prize by Will Self
joanna walsh says
Oh damn, forgot Mary Gaitskill’s Romantic Weekend.
joanna walsh says
La Grosse Fifi – Jean Rhys
The Debutante – Leonora Carrington
The Poet And The Novelist As Roommates – Sheila Heti
In the Cemetery where Al Jolson is Buried – Amy Hempel
The Letter – Lydia Davis
Donna B. Comeaux says
“The Blacker the Berry” by Wallace Thurman
“Black Boy” by Richard Wright
Donna B. Comeaux says
“Sula” by Toni Morrison
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
Bill Barrett says
Greenleaf by Flannery O’Connor
John Giles says
The Nine Billion Names of God
Arthur C. Clarke
Richard says
Melaney, do you have any other suggestions?! Help please.
melaney says
Just surprised myself, I’ve read all of these.
Richard says
Thank you for your suggestions. I will add them to the list very soon!
Tammy says
“Meneseteung,” by Alice Munro
“In the Gloaming,” by Alice Elliott Dark
“My Parents’ Bedroom,” by Uwem Akpan
“Intervention,” by Jill McCorkle
Yasmin says
Also, St. Mawr by D.H. Lawrence and The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
Yasmin says
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze by William Saroyan
Cillin McMahon says
How to Talk to Girls at Parties, by Neil Gaiman.
Leah says
The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy
Mike says
Girl with Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace