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Issue III Short Story
Issue III Short Story
INTRODUCED BY GUEST EDITOR JUDITH DAYTON
The first and second issues of Book XI were themed respectively “Science Fiction” and “Humor,” the issue following this calls for “meditations on an object.” What you are currently reading is an issue concerned solely with the short story. Does that sound as ominous to you as it did to me? I almost panicked, considering the enormous variations in form, purpose, and voice found in contemporary short fiction, how would I ever choose? It wasn’t even a case of apples or oranges. It was more like ghost pepper, narwhal, rain, spaceship. I poured a glass of wine and reminded myself about the all-encompassing power of the collective noun. Ah, yes! The short story: an expression of authorial literary intent, complete in and of itself, preferably under 10,000 words.
Although, I guess it’s okay to fudge with the word count.
And maybe “intent” is too prescriptive, and “literary” is too restrictive.
And maybe only William James would succeed in building a definitive box to hold “short story.”
And maybe, like Pandora, we writers would just sneak a peek under the lid and let all that careful work escape, devolving form back into chaos.
That actually would make a good story: William James, Pandora, and a literal box of figuratives.
I digress.
My tactics in choosing the final pieces focused on openness and trust. I set aside my expectations trusting the author to guide my experience. I purposefully opened my mind to constructions that grow beyond the written word. My choices are (hopefully) reflective of that approach.
Without quite intending to, I’ve chosen a similar theme among the submissions: the reading of people as explanation. The search for meaning doesn’t start with a Jamesian treatise on psychology, it starts with a question. It starts with, “why?”
In Games We Play, Elinor Clark poses, “Why am I thus?”
In Unproven, Chris Gavaler demands, “Why don’t you explain yourself?”
In What It Means When a Southern Girl Says I Love You, Tyler Paterson wonders, “Why am I here?”
And finally, in Street Fair, Joel Dittmer analyzes, “Why are any of us here?”
Each story, in its own way, succeeds in leading the reader to an answer.