Suggest english-language short stories

[Kyriakos]

Something decent, though Psychological/philosophical, with some bleakness attached.

Not anything by Poe/Machen/Lovecraft/Dunsany cause i have read those.

Maybe Dickens? Or lesser known works by RL Stevenson?

They don't have to be pre-WW2, but it would be preferable.

Well? Get on with it

 

[onejayhawk]

Some that are off the beaten literary track (because the writers are known for science fiction) are:

The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin
The Ones that Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula LeGuin
The Meeting by Pohl and Kornbluth

and more commonly known

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Older

Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville
Eve's Diary by Mark Twain
Regret by Kate Chopin
A Horseman in the Sky by Ambrose Bierce

Here is a page with several that can be read free.
https://mic.com/articles/94552/13-s...-novelists-you-can-read-over-lunch#.l9D6twzRS

J

 

[Zkribbler]

Mark Twain's Letters from Earth.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Some that are off the beaten literary track (because the writers are known for science fiction) are:

The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

I've read these, and they are definitely among the most chilling stories ever (The Cold Equations has also been made into a Twilight Zone episode and a movie - not sure how they managed enough material to make a movie of it, though). Yes, they're science fiction, but they do meet your criteria for being bleak and depressing, and so they should be right up your alley.

I'd also suggest Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains." There are some other stories in the Martian Chronicles book (which is actually a collection of short stories that can loosely be considered a novel when you get them all together) that would be bleak, depressing, and out of date now, since we know there are no Martians such as Bradbury imagined.

There's a story by Judith Merril called "That Only a Mother." It's dated in time, but not in theme.

 

[EnglishEdward]

I suggest Father Brown stories by G K Chesterton

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Brown

 

[Kyriakos]

Thank you all, i will have a look at those

I think that - from those- i only read the Omelas story.

 

[Kyriakos]

Some that are off the beaten literary track (because the writers are known for science fiction) are:

The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin
The Ones that Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula LeGuin
The Meeting by Pohl and Kornbluth

and more commonly known

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Older

Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville
Eve's Diary by Mark Twain
Regret by Kate Chopin
A Horseman in the Sky by Ambrose Bierce

Here is a page with several that can be read free.
https://mic.com/articles/94552/13-s...-novelists-you-can-read-over-lunch#.l9D6twzRS

J

I now read two of them. The cold equations, and the horseman in the sky. Generally nice, though i had some issues with both ^^ Thanks

PS: Union traitors to Virginia

 

[yung.carl.jung]

My favorite English language short story is most definitely Bartleby, the Scrivener by Melville.

 

[onejayhawk]

I now read two of them. The cold equations, and the horseman in the sky. Generally nice, though i had some issues with both ^^ Thanks

PS: Union traitors to Virginia

That's Ambrose Bierce. Virginia was a state divided, both literally and figuratively.

For something different, try RA Heinlein's All you Zombies.

J

 

[Kyriakos]

My favorite English language short story is most definitely Bartleby, the Scrivener by Melville.

Flowers for Algernon is very good (and brutal), but not that short a story.

 

[onejayhawk]

Flowers for Algernon is very good (and brutal), but not that short a story.

Try the 1960s movie Charly based on the story. It's very well done, as in major awards.

J

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Flowers for Algernon is very good (and brutal), but not that short a story.

I remember reading that once in elementary school and then again in high school. The second time I was shocked by all of the sexual content that I had completely overlooked before puberty.

 

[Yeekim]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33413.Apocryphal_Tales

Satirical rather than philosophic, but definitely worth a read.
I mean, a story of five loaves told from the POV of an angry baker is one of my all-time favorite reads.
Also has a number of stories based on Greek history/myths.
EDIT: Actually, it is available to read here:
https://adamantcritique.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/capek-karel-apocryphal-tales-catbird-1997.pdf

 

[Lexicus]

Asimov's Nightfall is pretty kewl.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Actually, Kyriakos, just check out Grimm's Fairy Tales. They're... grim.

 

[Ferocitus]

You specified English, but there are some very good translations of many
famous stories.

Gogol's "The Overcoat" is often cited in collections as one of the greatest ever
short stories.

Each chapter of "The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age" by Stanislaw Lem
is self-contained. The translation into English from Polish is considered a
masterly work.

Three Lem stories have appeared (with three Borges stories "Borges and I", "The
Circular Ruins" and "A Sense of Self") in a famous work called:
"The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul", by Douglas Hofstader
and Daniel Dennett.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mind's_I

(Hofstader wrote "Godel, Escher and Bach". Dennett is a philosopher who has
written extensively on consciousness and the philosophy of mind.)

Harlan Ellison might appeal to you, for example, "I have no mouth, and I must
scream", and "A Boy and his Dog".
I'd also have a look at his anthologies, "Dangerous Visions" and "The Last
Dangerous Visions" for more suggestions (some already made by other posters).
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangerous_Visions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Dangerous_Visions#Book_one

 

[Kyriakos]

You specified English, but there are some very good translations of many
famous stories.

Gogol's "The Overcoat" is often cited in collections as one of the greatest ever
short stories.

Each chapter of "The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age" by Stanislaw Lem
is self-contained. The translation into English from Polish is considered a
masterly work.

Three Lem stories have appeared (with three Borges stories "Borges and I", "The
Circular Ruins" and "A Sense of Self") in a famous work called:
"The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul", by Douglas Hofstader
and Daniel Dennett.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mind's_I

(Hofstader wrote "Godel, Escher and Bach". Dennett is a philosopher who has
written extensively on consciousness and the philosophy of mind.)

Harlan Ellison might appeal to you, for example, "I have no mouth, and I must
scream", and "A Boy and his Dog".
I'd also have a look at his anthologies, "Dangerous Visions" and "The Last
Dangerous Visions" for more suggestions (some already made by other posters).
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangerous_Visions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Dangerous_Visions#Book_one

Hm

I have - of course - read Gogol's The Overcoat, and some other works by him. He is a very important writer.

I have no mouth and i must scream is a cool idea, but imo VERY badly and bluntly written. The computer game was better

The circular ruins(Borges) is ok (though nowhere near his best), but 'Myself and Borges' is from his old period, and he pretty much died as a writer in his mid 50s. Later on he apparently was a parody of his older self. I suspect that 'self etc' is from that same period, unless it is an essay.

 

[bernie14]

The Monkey's Paw by WW Jacobs available here

Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnam Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Father and son were at chess, the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.

“Hark at the wind,” said Mr. White, who, having seen a fatal mistake after it was too late, was amiably desirous of preventing his son from seeing it.....

 

[Kyriakos]

The Monkey's Paw by WW Jacobs available here

A nice story (particularly the first two parts), but i have read it

 

[Birdjaguar]

O. Henry wrote a bunch that are great fun.