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The 444 Greatest Stories

All literature tells stories. Here, however, we are looking at short stories, usually having fewer than 17,500 words. Longer works of fiction are reserved for our Greatest Novels and Greatest Novellas lists.

Titles are chosen for this list based on the same extensive research carried out for The Greatest Literature of All Time list. They represent the best stories of all genres, cultures and periods.

This list is for single stories only. Anthologies, collections, story cycles and other works comprising multiple stories may be found on their own lists.

This Greatest Stories list is continually updated as new works are discovered and appreciation of older stories evolves.

Latest update: May 2, 2024

BCE
c.1990
missing graphic
"The Shipwrecked Sailor"
by Anonymous, Egypt
Story, also known as "The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor", "The Sailor and the Serpent", or "The Island of Enchantment"

Here's a story so old it was "written" before our alphabet was invented. It was first "published" on papyrus. It's also so short you can read a modern translation of it in only a slightly longer time than it takes.... CritiqueQuotesTextBuy

c.1875
missing graphic
"The Tale of Sinuhe"
by Anonymous, Egypt
Story, also known as "The Story of Sinuhe"

We know only a handful of ancient Egyptian stories—as opposed to ancient laments, instructions, prayers and the like—and even fewer of those have come down to us in complete form. "The Tale of Sinuhe" though.... CritiqueQuotesTextBuy

 
missing graphic
"The Eloquent Peasant"
by Anonymous, Egypt
Story, also known as "The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant", "The Plea of the Eloquent Peasant" or "The Tale of the Peasant and the Workman"

The three fictional works from ancient Egypt remaining in nearly full condition are all very different. "The Shipwrecked Sailor" is an adventure. "The Tale of Sinuhe" is a patriotic epic. And "The Eloquent Peasant" is something else.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

c.1500
 
"Poor Man of Nippur"
Anonymous, Babylonia
Story
c.1200
 
"Tale of Two Brothers"
Anonymous, Egypt
Story
c.1100
 
"Story of Wenamun"
Anonymous, Egypt
Story, also known as "Wenamun"
c.400
missing graphic
"The Book of Jonah"
Anonymous, Israel
Story also known as Jonah and the Whale; Jonah and the Whale

The story of Jonah surviving in the belly of a whale—or a big fish, to be exact—is one of those tales that everyone in the Judeo-Christian or Islamic world has heard, whether or not they are religious. It's one of.... CritiqueQuotesTextBuy

CE
c.800–1200
 
"The First Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor"
Anonymous, Persian
Story
c.800–1400
 
"The Fisherman and the Jinni"
Anonymous, Persia
Story
c.900
 
"The Butterfly Lovers"
Anonymous, China
Story
1348
 
"The Heart of Guillaume de Cabestaing"
by Giovanni Boccaccio, Italy
Story
 
 
"The Story of Patient Griselda"
by Giovanni Boccaccio, Italy, story
Story
c. 1387–1400
 
"The Knight's Tale"
by Geoffrey Chaucer, England
Poem
 
 
"The Wife of Bath's Tale"
by Geoffrey Chaucer, England
Poem
1558
 
"The Misadventures of Bornet"
by Marguerite de Navarre, France
Story
1697
 
"Bluebeard"
by Charles Perrault, France
Story
 
 
"Cinderella"
by Charles Perrault, France
Story
 
 
"Little Red Riding Hood"
by Charles Perrault, France
Story
 
 
"Puss in Boots"
by Charles Perrault, France
Story
 
 
"Sleeping Beauty"
by Charles Perrault, France
Story
1710
 
"Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp"
by Antoine Galland, France
Story
 
 
"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"
by Antoine Galland, France
Story

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1805
 
"The Marquise of O..."
by Heinrich von Kleist, Germany
Story
1807
 
"The Earthquake in Chile"
by Heinrich von Kleist, Germany
Story
1816
 
"The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"
by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Germany
Story
1816
 
"The Sandman"
by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Germany
Story
1819
missing graphic
"Rip Van Winkle"
by Washington Irving, United States
Story

Unlike Washington Irving's other famous story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", this one might perplex as to why it's considered a classic. The plot of "Rip Van Winkle" is hardly original. Apparently Irving stole it from.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

1820
missing graphic
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
by Washington Irving, United States
Story

First thing to remember about "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is that it's a short work. By word count it qualifies as a story, as opposed to a novella or a novel, which it is sometimes called. It's to the credit.... CritiqueQuotesAt the moviesBuy

1827
 
"The Two Drovers"
by Walter Scott, Scotland
Story
1828
 
"The Tapestried Chamber ...or The Lady in the Sacque"
by Walter Scott, Scotland
Story
1830
 
"The Elixir of Life"
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Story
 
 
"An Incident in the Reign of Terror"
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Story
 
 
"A Passion in the Desert"
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Story
1834
 
"The Queen of Spades"
by Alexander Pushkin, Russia
Story
1835
 
"Diary of a Madman"
by Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine
Story
 
 
"Nevsky Prospekt"
by Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine
Story
 
 
"Wakefield"
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, United States
Story
 
 
"Young Goodman Brown"
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, United States
Story
1836
missing graphic
"Clarimonde"
by Théophile Gautier, France
Story, also known as "The Dreamlad Bride", "The Dead Leman", or "The Vampire"

Even a reader who is not into horror can get something out of the supernaturally charged writings of Théophile Gautier, especially his story "Clarimonde"—also known in English translation as "The Dreamland Bride".... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
""The Nose"
by Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine
Story
 
 
"The Minister's Black Veil"
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, United States
Story
1837
 
"The Little Mermaid"
by Han Christian Anderson, Denmark
Story
 
 
"The Spectre of Tappington"
by Richard Harris Barham, England
Story
 
 
"The Great Carbuncle"
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, United States
Story
 
 
"Prophetic Pictures"
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, United States
Story
1838
 
"The Story of Mary Ancel"
by William Makepeace Thackeray, England
Story
1839
 
"The Fall of the House of Usher"
by Edgar Allan Poe, United States
Story
1841
missing graphic
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
by Edgar Allan Poe, United States
Story

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is often called the first detective story or the first modern murder mystery. It and the two sequels also featuring amateur sleuth C. Auguste Dupin, "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" and.... CritiqueQuotesAt the moviesBuy

 
 
"A Descent into the Maelström"
by Edgar Allan Poe, United States
Story
1842
 
"The Overcoat"
by Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine
Story
 
 
"The Masque of the Red Death"
by Edgar Allan Poe, United States
Story
 
 
"The Pit and the Pendulum"
by Edgar Allan Poe, United States
Story
1843
 
"The Ugly Duckling"
by Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark
Story
 
 
"The Birth-Mark"
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, United States
Story
 
 
"The Gold Bug"
by Edgar Allan Poe, United States
Story
 
 
"The Tell-Tale Heart"
by Edgar Allan Poe, United States
Story
1844
missing graphic
The Purloined Letter
by Edgar Allan Poe, United States
Story

CritiqueQuotesBuy

1846
 
"The Cask of Amontillado"
by Edgar Allan Poe, United States
Story
1848
 
"A Christmas Tree and a Wedding"
by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russia
Story
 
 
"White Nights"
by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russia
Story
1852
 
"A Terribly Strange Bed"
by Wilkie Collins, England
Story
 
 
"District Doctor"
by Ivan Turgenev, Russia
Story
 
 
"Mumu
by Ivan Turgenev", Russia
Story
1853
 
"Bartleby the Scrivener"
by Herman Melville, United States
Story
1854
 
"The Seven Poor Travellers"
by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and others, England
Story
 
 
"The Lightning-Rod Man"
by Herman Melville, United States
Story
1855
 
"The Squire's Ghost"
by Mary Gaskell, England
Story
1865
 
"The Trial for Murder"
by Charles Dickens, England
Story
 
missing graphic
"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
by Mark Twain, United States
Story

This is Mark Twain at this earliest and most innocuous—a genial small-town storyteller in the vein of America's Bret Harte or Canada's later Stephen Leacock. With only a trace of the crankiness and harder-edged Twain.... CritiqueQuotesTextBuy

1866
 
"The Signal-Man
by Charles Dickens", England
Story
1868
 
"The Luck of Roaring Camp"
by Bret Harte, United States
Story
1869
 
"The Outcasts of Poker Flat"
by Bret Harte, United States
Story
 
 
"The Eclipse"
by James Fenimore Cooper, United States
Story
1872
 
"Green Tea"
by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Ireland
Story
 
 
"The Naughty Saint Vitalis"
by Gottfried Keller, Switzerland
Story
1873
 
"Marjorie Daw"
by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, United States
Story
1874
 
"A Fight With a Cannon"
by Victor-Marie Hugo, France
Story
1876
 
"The Meek One"
by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russia
Story
 
 
"Scarlet Stockings"
by Luisa May Alcott, United States
Story
1877
 
"The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler"
by Gustav Flaubert, France
Story
 
 
"The Sire de Malétroits Door"
Story
 
 
"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man"
by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russia
Story
1880
 
"Boule de Suif"
by Guy de Maupassant, France
Story
 
 
"The Pavilion on the Links"
by Robert Louis Stevenson, France
Story
1881
 
"Thrawn Janet"
Story
1882
 
"The Knightsbridge Mystery"
by Charles Reade, England
Story
 
 
"Plautus in the Convent"
by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Switzerland
Story
 
 
"The Lady, or the Tiger?"
by Frank R. Stockton, United States
Story
1883
 
"The Three Strangers"
by Thomas Hardy, England
Story
1884
 
"The Necklace"
by Guy de Maupassant, France
Story
1885
 
"The Huntsman"
by Anton Chekhov, Russia
Story
 
 
"The Looking Glass"
by Anton Chekhov, Russia
Story
 
 
"The Three Questions"
by Leo Tolstoy, Russia
Story
 
 
"Markheim"
Story
 
 
"The Griffin and the Minor Canon"
by Frank R. Stockton, United States
Story
1886
 
"Lispeth"
by Rudyard Kipling, England
Story
 
 
"The Happy Prince"
by Oscar Wilde, Ireland
Story
 
 
"Vanka"
by Anton Chekhov, Russia
Story
 
 
"How Much Land Does a Man Need?"
by Leo Tolstoy, Russia
Story
1887
 
"The Horla"
by Guy de Maupassant, France
Story
 
 
"The Canterville Ghost"
by Oscar Wilde, Ireland
Story
1888
missing graphic
"The Man Who Would Be King"
by Rudyard Kipling, England
Story

An unfair charge against Rudyard Kipling's story, "The Man Who Would Be King", is that it's not very credible. Full of British Empire arrogance that can imagine a couple of white, soldierly ne'er-do-wells could manage.... CritiqueQuotesTextAt the moviesBuy

 
 
"The Nightingale and the Rose"
by Oscar Wilde, England
Story
 
 
"The Selfish Giant"
by Oscar Wilde, England
Story
 
 
"A Legend of Old Egypt"
by Bolesław Prus, Poland
Story
1889
 
"The Bet"
by Anton Chekhov, Russia
Story
 
 
"Chickamauga"
by Ambrose Bierce, United States
Story
 
 
"A Horseman in the Sky"
by Ambrose Bierce, United States
Story
1890
 
"The Courting of Dinah Shadd"
by Rudyard Kipling, England
Story
 
 
"Without Benefit of Clergy"
by Rudyard Kipling, England
Story
1891
missing graphic
"The Red-Headed League"
by Arthur Conan Doyle, England
Story

Starting with its misleading title, "The Red-Headed League" is the first instance I can recall of a certain mystery-writing trick. A bizarre tale is spun about seemingly unrelated events that seem to have no sensible.... CritiqueQuotesAt the moviesBuy

 
missing graphic
"A Scandal in Bohemia"
by Arthur Conan Doyle, England
Story
 
 
"The Bottle Imp"
by Robert Louis Stevenson, Scotland
Story
 
 
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
by Ambrose Bierce, United States
Story
 
 
"Brooksmith"
by Henry James, United States
Story
1892
 
"Kabuliwala"
by Rabindranath Tagore, Bengal
Story
 
missing graphic
"The Adventure of the Speckled Band"
by Arthur Conan Doyle, England
Story
 
 
"Our Lady's Juggler"
by Anatole France, France
Story
 
 
"The Yellow Wallpaper"
by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, United States
Story
 
 
"Christmas Every Day"
by William Dean Howells, United States
Story
 
 
"The Real Thing"
by Henry James, United States
Story
1893
 
"The Damned Thing"
by Ambrose Bierce, United States
Story
 
 
"Désirée’s Baby"
by Kate Chopin, United States
Story
1894
 
"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"
by Rudyard Kipling, England
Story
 
 
"The Outlaws"
by Selma Logerlöf, Sweden
Story
 
 
"Regret"
by Kate Chopin, United States
Story
 
 
"The Story of an Hour"
by Kate Chopin, United States
Story
1895
 
"A Farewell"
by Arthur Schnitzler, Germany
Story
 
 
"One Autumn Night"
by Maxim Gorky, Russia
Story
 
 
"The Yellow Sign"
by Robert W. Chambers, United States
Story
 
 
"The Altar of the Dead"
by Henry James, United States
Story
1896
 
"Little Herr Friedemann"
by Thomas Mann, Germany
Story
 
 
"The Reporter Who Made Himself King"
by Richard Harding Davis, United States
Story
1897
 
"The Fortune-Teller"
by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Brazil
Story
 
missing graphic
"The Open Boat"
by Stephen Crane, United States
Story

You could set Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" and Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea as, respectively, the start and culmination of a certain kind of American storytelling. Call it psychological realism.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

1898
 
"The Man Who Could Work Miracles"
by H.G. Wells, England
Story
 
missing graphic
"Youth"
by Joseph Conrad, Poland
Story

"Youth" is probably Joseph Conrad's most anthologized short story and has been for most of its existence. It's easy to see why. It's a great story of adventure on the high seas that also manages to capture a more universal.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"Gooseberries"
by Anton Chekhov, Russia
Story
1899
 
"The Darling"
by Anton Chekhov, Russia
Story
 
 
"The Lady with the Dog"
by Anton Chekhov, Russia
Story
 
 
"Twenty-six Men and a Girl"
by Maxim Gorky, Russia
Story
1900
 
"How Old Timofei Died With a Song"
by Rainer Maria Rilke, Poland
Story

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1901
 
"A Dark Brown Dog"
by Stephen Crane, United States
Story
1902
missing graphic
"The Monkey's Paw"
by W.W. Jacobs, England
Story

"The Monkey's Paw" is a story so well known for its plot that its writing and style are sometimes forgotten. In fact, it seems not to have been written by anyone at all, but must have filtered down to us as folk tale or.... CritiqueQuotesTextBuy

 
 
"How the Leopard Got His Spots"
by Rudyard Kipling, England
Story
1903
 
"A Dog's Tale"
by Mark Twain, United States
Story
1904
 
"The Mezzotint"
by M.R. James, England
Story
 
 
"'They'"
by Rudyard Kipling, England
Story
 
 
"Eveline"
by James Joyce, Ireland
Story
 
 
"The Red Laugh"
by Leonid Andreyev, Russia
Story
 
 
"The Cop and the Anthem"
by O. Henry, United States
Story
 
 
"The Other Two"
by Edith Wharton, United States
Story
 
 
"The White People"
by Arthur Machen, Wales
Story
1905
 
"The Burning of Egliswyle"
by Frank Wedekind, Germany
Story
 
 
by Willa Cather, United States
Story
 
 
"The Last Leaf"
by O. Henry, United States
Story
1906
 
"Lazarus"
by Leonid Andreyev, Russia
Story
 
 
"The Gift of the Magi"
by O. Henry, United States
Story
1907
 
"Putois"
by Anatole France, France
Story
1908
 
"The Death of Bachelor"
by Arthur Schnitzler, Austria
Story
 
 
"To Build a Fire"
by Jack London, United States
Story
1910
missing graphic
"My Financial Career"
by Stephen Leacock, Canada
Story

Not much to say about this classic bit of humour. It's scarcely three pages long. You can read it on this site in a few minutes, although I'd encourage you to dip into one of the collections of Stephen Leacock's stories.... CritiqueQuotesTextBuy

 
missing graphic
"The Blue Cross"
by G.K. Chesterton, England
Story

G.K. Chesterton pulls off an amazing trick of literary misdirection in "The Blue Cross". This, of course, is the story that in its opening lines introduces readers to that great detective—the most famous investigator.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"The Secret Sharer"
by Joseph Conrad, Poland
Story
 
 
"The Ransom of Red Chief"
by O. Henry, United States
Story
1911
 
"Casting the Runes"
by M.R. James, England
Story
 
 
"The Odour of Chrysanthemums"
by D.H. Lawrence, England
Story
 
 
"The Open Window"
by H.H. Munro, England
Story
 
 
"Sredni Vashtar"
by H.H. Munro, England
Story
1913
 
"The Judgment"
by Franz Kafka, Czech.
Story
1914
 
"The Prussian Officer"
by D.H. Lawrence, England
Story
 
 
"The Schartz-Metterklume Method"
by H.H. Munro, England
Story
 
missing graphic
"The Dead"
by James Joyce, Ireland
Story

CritiqueQuotesAt the moviesBuy

 
 
by James Joyce, Ireland
Story
 
 
by James Joyce, Ireland
Story
 
 
"Dracula's Guest"
by Bram Stoker, Ireland
Story
1915
 
"Before the Trial"
by Franz Kafka, Czechia
Story
 
 
""Rashōmon
by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Japan
Story
1916
 
"Enoch Soames"
by Max Beerbohm, England
Story
1917
 
"A Country Doctor"
by Franz Kafka, Czechia
Story
 
 
"The Tale"
by Joseph Conrad, England
Story
 
 
"The Mark on the Wall"
by Virginia Woolf, England
Story
 
 
"A Jury of Her Peers"
by Susan Glaspell, United States
Story
1918
 
"A Madman's Diary"
by Lu Xun, China
Story
 
 
"Bliss"
by Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand
Story
1919
 
"In the Penal Colony"
by Franz Kafka, Czechia
Story
 
 
"The Interlopers"
by H.H. Munro, England
Story
 
 
"Kew Gardens"
by Virginia Woolf, England
Story
 
 
"Loneliness"
by Sherwood Anderson, United States
Story
 
 
"The Fourth Man"
by John Russell, United States
Story
1920
 
"Bernice Bobs Her Hair"
by F. Scott Fitzgerald, United States
Story
 
 
by F. Scott Fitzgerald, United States
Story
1921
 
"Rain"
by W. Somerset Maugham, England
Story
 
missing graphic
"The Daughters of the Late Colonel"
by Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand
Story

CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"I Want to Know Why"
by Sherwood Anderson, United States
Story
 
 
by Sherwood Anderson, United States
Story
1922
 
"A Hunger Artist"
by Franz Kafka, Czechia
Story
 
 
"In a Grove"
by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Japan
Story
 
 
"The Horse Dealer’s Daughter"
by D.H. Lawrence, England
Story
 
 
by Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand
Story

CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"The Fly"
by Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand
Story
 
 
"The Doll's House"
by Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand
Story
 
 
"I'm a Fool"
by Sherwood Anderson, United States
Story
1923
 
"Theater"
by Jean Toomer, United States
Story
1924
 
"The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket"
by Yasunari Kawabata, Japan
Story
 
 
"Di Grasso"
by Isaac Babel, Russia
Story
 
 
"The Most Dangerous Game"
by Richard Connell, United States
Story
 
 
by Ernest Hemingway, United States
Story
 
 
"The Golden Honeymoon"
by Ring Lardner, United States
Story
1925
 
"The Witness for the Prosecution"
by Agatha Christie, England
Story
 
 
"The Story of My Dovecote"
by Isaac Babel, Russia
Story
 
 
by Dashiell Hammett, United States
Story
 
 
by Ernest Hemingway, United States
Story
 
 
"Haircut"
by Ring Lardner, United States
Story
1926
 
by D.H. Lawrence, England
Story
 
 
"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"
by Ernest Hemingway, United States
Story
1927
 
"My First Goose"
by Isaac Babel, Russia
Story
 
 
"ills Like White Elephants"
by Ernest Hemingway, United States
Story
 
missing graphic
"The Killers"
by Ernest Hemingway, United States
Story

When they made a movie of "The Killers" in 1946 they spent only about fifteen minutes telling Ernest Hemingway's entire story from two decades earlier. The rest of the screen time they devoted to fleshing out.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"The Colour Out of Space"
by H.P. Lovecraft, United States
Story
 
 
"The Trumpet Sounds"
by Mary Roberts Rinehart, United States
Story
1929
 
"The End of the Party"
by Graham Greene, England
Story
 
 
"Big Blonde"
by Dorothy Parker, United States
Story
 
 
"Theft"
by Katherine Anne Porter, United States
Story
 
 
"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"
by Katherine Anne Porter, United States
Story
1930
missing graphic
"A Rose for Emily"
by William Faulkner, United States
Story

Critics find in William Faulkner's story, "A Rose for Emily", an allegory about the American South living in the past, decades after the Civil War, still holding on to the dreams of a supposed former glory, morbidly embracing.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"A Telephone Call"
by Dorothy Parker, United States
Story
 
 
"Flowering Judas"
by Katherine Ann Porter, United States
Story
1931
 
"The Story of Babar"
by Jeean de Brunhof, France
Story
 
 
"Guests of the Nation"
by Frank O'Connor, Ireland
Story
 
 
"Terra Incognita"
by Vladimir Nabokov, Russia
Story
 
 
"Dry September"
by William Faulkner, United States
Story
 
 
""That Evening Sun
by William Faulkner, United States
Story
 
 
by F. Scott Fitzgerald, United States
Story
1932
missing graphic
"A Sick Call"
by Morley Callaghan, Canada
Story

A funny thing happened when I read Morley Callaghan's Stories recently. It was my second or third reading for most of these stories, and I saw this time how very old-fashioned they were. But that's not what was strange.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"The Baby in the Icebox"
by James M. Cain, United States
Story
 
 
"A Natural History of the Dead"
by Ernest Hemingway, United States
Story
1934
missing graphic
"Two Fishermen"
by Morley Callaghan, Canada
Story

A funny thing happened when I read Morley Callaghan's Stories recently. It was my second or third reading for most of these stories, and I saw this time how very old-fashioned they were. But that's not what was strange.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"Silent Snow, Secret Snow"
by Conrad Aiken, United States
Story
 
 
"Twilight"
by John W. Campbell, United States
Story
 
missing graphic
"The Doctor's Son"
by John O'Hara, United States
Story collection

The short story "The Doctor's Son" could alone carry John O'Hara's reputation as a story writer. Conversely the collection in which it appears, his first book of short stories, is not enough to give justice to his reputation.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
by John O'Hara, United States
Story

The short story "The Doctor's Son" could alone carry John O'Hara's reputation as a story writer. Conversely the collection in which it appears, his first book of short stories, is not enough to give justice to his reputation.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"Wash"
by William Faulkner, United States
Story
 
 
"A Martian Odyssey"
by Stanley G. Weinbaum, United States
Story
1935
missing graphic
"All the Years of Her Life"
by Morley Callaghan, Canada
Story

A funny thing happened when I read Morley Callaghan's Stories recently. It was my second or third reading for most of these stories, and I saw this time how very old-fashioned they were. But that's not what was strange.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"The Basement Room"
by Graham Greene, United States
Story
 
 
"The Foreigner"
by Francis Steegmuller, United States
Story
1936
 
"Spring in Fialta"
by Vladimir Nabokov, Russia
Story
 
 
"The Devil and Daniel Webster"
by Stephen Vincent Benét, United States
Story
 
missing graphic
"The Snows of Kilimanjaro"
by Ernest Hemingway, United States
Story

It's not the story I would pick as Ernest Hemingway's best. I have a thing against writers writing about being writers, particularly writers writing about being writers being unable to write. But "The Snows of Kilimanjaro".... CritiqueQuotesAt the moviesBuy

 
missing graphic
"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"
by Ernest Hemingway, United States
Story

It might be considered Ernest Hemingway's greatest story, if not for the greater popularity of "The Snows of Kilimanjaro", with which it is often paired. Both "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" and.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"The Graveyard Rats"
by Henry Kuttner, United States
Story
 
 
"The Leader of the People"
by John Steinbeck, United States
Story
 
 
"Big Boy Leaves Home"
by Richard Wright, United States
Story
1937
 
"Call Me Joe"
by Poul Anderson, United States
Story
 
 
"In Dreams Begin Responsibilities"
by Delmore Schwartz, United States
Story
 
 
"The Chrysanthemums"
by John Steinbeck, United States
Story
1938
 
"Leiningen Versus the Ants"
by Carl Stephenson, Germany
Story
 
 
"Helen O'Loy"
by Lester Del Rey, United States
Story
 
 
"Pigeons From Hell"
by Robert E. Howard, United States
Story
 
 
"Flight"
by John Steinbeck, United States
Story
 
 
"The Use of Force"
by William Carlos Williams, United States
Story
1939
 
"The Wall"
by Jean-Paul Sartre, France
Story
 
 
"Barn Burning"
by William Faulkner, United States
Story
 
 
"The Door"
by E.B. White, United States
Story
 
 
"The Chaser"
by John Collier, United States
Story
 
 
"Girls in Their Summer Dresses"
by Irwin Shaw, United States
Story
1940
 
"Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius"
by Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina
Story
 
 
"The Roads Must Roll
by Robert A. Heinlein, United States
Story
 
 
"It"
by Theodore Sturgeon, United States
Story
 
 
"The Man Who Was Almost a Man"
by Richard Wright, United States
Story
1941
 
"The Garden of Forking Paths"
by Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina
Story
 
 
"The Lottery in Babylon"
by Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina
Story
 
missing graphic
"Nightfall"
by Isaac Asimov, United States
Story

First a word about the versions of this story. The 1941 short story "Nightfall" has been acclaimed one of the greatest science fiction tales—if not the greatest science fiction tale—ever. You can find it in many anthologies.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"A Girl from Red Lion, PA"
by H.L Mencken, United States
Story
 
 
"Microcosmic God"
by Theodore Sturgeon, United States
Story
 
 
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"
by James Thurber, United States
Story
 
 
"The Hitch-Hikers"
by Eudora Welty, United States
Story
 
 
"Why I Live at the P.O."
by Eudora Welty, United States
Story
 
 
"A Worn Path"
by Eudora Welty, United States
Story
1942
 
"Sorrow-Acre"
by Isak Dinesen, Denmark
Story
 
 
"The Quilt"
by Ismat Chughtai, India
Story
 
 
"Foundation"
by Isaac Asimov, United States
Story
 
 
"The Catbird Seat"
by James Thurber, United States
Story
 
 
"The Weapon Shop"
by A.E. van Vogt, United States
Story
 
 
"Rear Window"
by Cornell Woolrich, United States
Story
1943
 
"A String of Beads"
by Somerset Maugham, United States
Story
 
 
"Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper"
by Robert Bloch, United States
Story
 
 
"Mimsy Were the Borogroves"
by C.L. Moore, Henry Kuttner, United States
Story
1944
 
"Beware of the Dog"
by Roald Dahl, England
Story
 
 
"Arena"
by Fredric Brown, United States
Story
1945
 
"The Aleph"
by Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina
Story
 
 
"The Small Assassin"
by Ray Bradbury, United States
Story
 
 
"First Contact"
by Murray Leinster, United States
Story
1946
 
"First Love"
by Samuel Beckett, Ireland
Story
1947
 
"The Enormous Radio"
by John Cheever, United States
Story
 
 
"Smoke Ghost"
by Fritz Leiber, United States
Story
 
 
"With Folded Hands..."
by Jack Williamson, United States
Story
1948
 
"Signs and Symbols"
by Vladimir Nabokov, Russia
Story
 
 
"Mars is Heaven!"
by Ray Bradbury, United States
Story
 
 
"Miami–New York"
by Martha Gellhorn, United States
Story
 
 
"That Only a Mother"
by Judith Merril, United States
Story
 
 
"The Lottery"
by Shirley Jackson, United States
Story
 
 
by J.D. Salinger, United States
Story
 
 
"Scanners Live in Vain"
by Cordwainer Smith, United States
Story
1950
 
"The Veldt"
by Ray Bradbury, United States
Story
 
 
"Little Black Bag of Magic"
by C.M. Kornbluth, United States
Story
 
 
"Coming Attraction"
by Fritz Leiber, United States
Story
 
 
"For Esmé—With Love and Squalor"
by J.D. Salinger, United States
Story
1951
 
"Bestiary"
by Julio Cortázar, Argentina
Story
 
missing graphic
"The Yellow Sweater"
by Hugh Garner, Canada
Story

I can't think of any Hugh Garner stories I like better than the twenty-four in this collection, so I guess these are his best. They're pretty good. In fact, it is difficult to think of anyone's stories I like better than these.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
"Christmas Not Just once a Year"
by Heinrich Böll, Germany
Story
 
 
"Goodbye, My Brother"
by John Cheever, United States
Story
 
 
"Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland"
by Carson McCullers, United States
Story
 
 
"The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin"
by Tennessee Williams, United States
Story
1952
 
"The Birds"
by Daphne du Maurier, England
Story
 
 
"Surface Tension"
by James Blish, United States
Story
 
 
"A Sound of Thunder"
by Ray Bradbury, United States
Story
 
 
"A Child's Christmas in Wales"
by Dylan Thomas, Wales
Story
1953
 
"The South
by Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina
Story
 
 
"The Nine Billion Names of God"
by Arthur C. Clarke, England
Story
 
 
"Three-Ten to Yuma"
by Elmore Leonard, United States
Story
 
 
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
by Flannery O'Connor, United States
Story
 
 
"Gimpel the Fool"
by Isaac Bashevis Singer, United States
Story
 
 
"Man Fom the South"
by Roald Dahl, Wales
Story
1954
 
"Fondy Fahrenheit"
by Alfred Bester, United States
Story
 
 
"All Summer in a Day"
by Ray Bradbury, United States
Story
 
 
"The Country Husband"
by John Cheever, United States
Story
 
 
"The Five-Forty-Eight"
by John Cheever, United States
Story
 
 
"The Cold Equations"
by Tom Godwin, United States
Story
1955
 
"A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings"
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombia
Story
 
 
"Good Country People"
by Flannery O'Connor, United States
Story
 
 
"Toba Tek Singh"
by Sadaat Hasan Manto, Pakistan
Story
1956
 
"The Night Face Up"
by Julio Cortázar, Argentina
Story
1957
 
"The Adulterous Woman"
by Albert Camus, Algeria
Story
 
 
"The Guest"
by Albert Camus, Algeria
Story
 
 
"A Bond for Two Lifetimes—Gleanings"
by Fumiko Enchi, Japan
Story
 
 
"The Habit of Loving"
by Doris Lessing, United States
Story
 
 
"Sonny's Blues"
by James Baldwin, United States
Story
1958
 
"The Challenge"
by Mario Vargas Llosa, Peru
Story
1959
 
"The Landlady"
by Roald Dahl, Wales
Story
 
 
"The Sacrificial Egg"
by Chinua Achebe, Nigeria
Story
 
 
"The Soldier's Peaches"
by Stuart Cloete, South Africa
Story
 
 
"The Ledge"
by Lawrence Sargent Hall, United States
Story
 
 
"Flowers for Algernon"
by Daniel Keyes, United States
Story
 
missing graphic
"Defender of the Faith"
by Philip Roth, United States
Story

Outside discussion of Philip Roth's 1959 story, the expression "Defender of the Faith" has applied mainly to Christians. A title originally given by the Pope, it has passed down through European royalty who have been heads.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

1960
 
"Borges and I"
by Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina
Story
 
 
"A Horse and Two Goats"
by R.K. Narayan, India
Story
 
 
"Patriotism"
by Yukio Mishima, Japan
Story
1961
 
"The Tomorrow-Tamer"
by Margaret Laurence, Canada
Story
 
 
"I Stand Here Ironing"
by Tillie Olsen, United States
Story
 
 
"A&P"
by John Updike, United States
Story
 
 
"The Moon Moth"
by Jack Vance, United States
Story
 
 
"Harrison Bergeron"
by Kurt Vonnegut, United States
Story
1962
 
"Let Them Call It Jazz"
by Jean Rhys, England
Story
 
 
"Novotny's Pain"
by Philip Roth, United States
Story
 
 
"Pigeon Feathers"
by John Updike, United States
Story
1963
 
"Gogol's Wife"
by Tomasso Landolfi, Italy
Story
 
 
"The Jewbird"
by Bernard Malamud, United States
Story
 
 
"A Rose for Ecclesiastes"
by Roger Zelazny, United States
Story
1964
 
"The Swimmer"
by John Cheever, United States
Story
1965
 
"Going to Meet the Man"
by James Baldwin, United States
Story
 
 
"'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman"
by Harlan Ellison, United States
Story
 
 
"Parker's Back"
by Flannery O'Connor, United States
Story
1966
 
"The Saint"
by V.S. Pritchett, England
Story
 
 
"Glittering City"
by Cyprina Ekwensi, Nigeria
Story
 
 
"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"
by Philip K. Dick, United States
Story
 
 
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
by Joyce Carol Oates, United States
Story
1967
 
"The Night Driver"
by Italo Calvino, Italy
Story
 
 
"Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?"
by Raymond Carver, United States
Story
1968
 
"Boys and Girls"
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story
 
 
"Henne Fire"
by Isaac Bashevis Singer, United States
Story
1969
 
"How I Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and Began My Life Over Again"
by Joyce Carole Oates, United States
Story
1979
 
"Super-Toys Last All Summer Long"
by Brian W. Aldiss, England
Story
 
 
"Private Tuition by Mr Bose"
by Anita Desai, India
Story
1971
 
"Don't Look Now"
by Daphne du Maurier, England
Story
 
 
"Inconstant Moon"
by Larry Niven, United States
Story
 
 
"The Suitcase"
by Cynthia Ozick, United States
Story
1972
 
"Goat Song"
by Poul Anderson, United States
Story
 
 
"Naga"
by R.K. Narayan, India
Story
 
 
"Eurema's Dam"
by R.A. Lafferty, United States
Story
1973
 
"The Whimper of Whipped Dogs"
by Harlan Ellison, United States
Story
 
 
"The One Who Walks Away From Omelas"
by Ursula K. Le Guin, United States
Story
 
 
"Everyday Use"
by Alice Walker, United States
Story
1974
 
"Five-Twenty"
by Patrick White, Australia
Story
 
 
"How I Met My Husband"
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story
 
 
"I Bought a Little City"
by Donald Barthelme, United States
Story
1975
 
"Rape Fantasies"
by Margaret Atwood, Canada
Story
 
 
"Roses, Rhododendrons"
by Alice Adams, United States
Story
1976
 
"The Bicentennial Man"
by Isaac Asimov, United States
Story
 
 
"The School"
by Donald Barthelme, United States
Story
1977
 
"Jeffty Is Five"
by Harlan Ellison, United States
Story
1978
 
"The Beggar Maid"
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story
 
 
"Why Don't You Dance?"
by Raymond Carver, United States
Story
1979
 
"The Hockey Sweater"
by Roch Carrier, Canada
Story
 
missing graphic
"Sandkings"
by George R.R. Martin, United States
Story

Long before he published A Game of Thrones (1996), launching the epic series and worldwide phenomenon of A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin was making a name for himself in the science fiction world as.... CritiqueQuotesAt the moviesBuy

1980
 
"The Shawl"
by Cynthia Ozick, United States
Story
 
 
"The Ugly Chickens"
by Howard Waldrop, United States
Story
1981
 
"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love"
by Raymond Carver, United States
Story
 
 
"Coin of the Realm"
by Charles L. Grant, United States
Story
 
 
"The Reach"
by Stephen King, United States
Story
1982
 
"Calling Card"
by Ramsey Campbell, England
Story
1985
 
"The Chosen Husband"
by Mavis Gallant, Canada
Story
 
 
"Greasy Lake"
by T. Coraghessan Boyle, United States
Story
1986
 
"Communnist"
by Richard Ford, United States
Story
 
 
"The Way We Live Now
by Susan Sontag, United States
Story
1987
 
"Buffalo Girls, Won't You Come Out Tonight"
by Ursula K. Le Guin, United States
Story
 
 
"The Things They Carried"
by Tim O'Brien, United States
Story
1988
 
"The Management of Grief"
by Bharati Mukherjee, United States
Story
1989
 
"You're Ugly, Too"
by Lorrie Moore, United States
Story
1990
 
"A Real Doll"
by A.M. Homes, United States
Story
 
 
"Meneseteung"
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story
 
 
"Bears Discover Fire"
by Terry Bisson, United States
Story
1991
 
"Never Marry a Mexican"
by Sandra Cisneros, United States
Story
 
 
"Emergency"
by Denis Johnson, United States
Story
 
 
"The Pugilist at Rest"
by Thom Jones, United States
Story
1992
 
"I Want to Live!"
by Thom Jones, United States
Story
1993
 
"In Plain Sight"
by Mavis Gallant, Canada
Story
 
 
"The Elephant Vanishes"
by Haruki Murakami, Japan
Story
 
 
"The Second Bakery Attack"
by Haruki Murakami, Japan
Story
 
 
"Silver Water"
by Amy Bloom, United States
Story
1994
 
"In Dancing Bear"
by Doug Allyn, United States
Story
1997
 
"Tiny, Smiling Daddy"
by Mary Gaitskill, United States
Story
 
 
"The Half-Skinned Steer"
by Annie Proulx, United States
Story
 
 
"Bullet in the Brain"
by Tobias Wolff, United States
Story
1997–1999
 
"Brokeback Mountain"
by Annie Proulx, United States
Story
1998
 
"Sea Oak"
by George Saunders, United States
Story
1999
 
"Interpreter of Maladies"
by Jhumpa Lahiri, United States
Story
2000
 
"Bee Honey"
by Banana Yoshimoto, Japan
Story
2001
 
"The Bear Came Over the Mountain"
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story
2003
 
"What You Pawn, I Will Redeem"
by Sherman Alexie, United States
Story
2004
 
"Runaway"
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story
2005
 
"Two Hearts"
by Peter S. Beagle, United States
Story
2009
 
"A Tiny Feast"
by Chris Adrian, United States
Story
2010
 
"Safari"
by Jennifer Egan, United States
Story
2011
 
"The Paper Managerie"
by Ken Liu, United States
Story
2013
 
"Godspeed and Perpetua"
by A. Igoni Barrett, Nigeria
Story
2015
 
"Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers"
by Alyssa Wong, United States
Story
2016
 
"Seasons of Glass and Iron"
by Amal El-Mohtar, Canada
Story
2017
 
"Funny Little Snakes"
by Tessa Hadley, England
Story

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