Short: An International Anthology of Five Centuries of Short-Short Stories, Prose Poems, Brief Essays, and Other Short Prose Forms

Short stories have been with us as long as we’ve been telling stories, but the study of short prose in even the best literature classes leaves out so much. Thankfully, Short does an incredible amount of research and heavy lifting, presenting a cross-section of short-form prose, collecting the works of different countries and eras in the most comprehensive anthology I’ve yet encountered.

From favorites of mine like Aimee Bender and Etgar Keret to luminaries like Poe, Baudelaire, Bierce, and Solzhenitsyn, as well as numerous obscure and fascinating authors from across the world, Short masterfully displays the incredible diversity and creativity engendered by even the shortest works.

The best stories hint at a greater whole while offering a sense of completeness, and while some of these miss that mark, others are magnificent examples of short-form prose. The stories span the centuries, offering classics alongside impenetrable examples of early short-form writing, and then illuminating the progression toward more contemporary short forms.

From humor to heartbreak and back again, the stories and short works in Short offer a whirlwind tour exploring what the written word is capable of, the tip of an impossibly valuable iceberg.