The Art of the Short

Gogol makes the form strange. Poe makes it terrifying. Maupassant sharpens it into a blade. Chekhov softens the edges until the blade is invisible. Joyce ends a collection with the greatest story ever written. Kafka breaks every rule. Hemingway removes everything that can be removed. Borges makes the story a machine for thinking. Jackson makes the ordinary lethal. Singer finds the sacred in a fool. O'Connor finds grace in a killer. Baldwin makes it sing. Oates makes it a trap with no exit. Carver says less and means more.