Everyone knows the pleasures of settling in with a good book, but most often when people think of reading, they think about chunky novels that might take weeks or even months to work through. And while there’s certainly something to be said for sinking into the world of a novel and taking the time to really explore, if you’re like me, sometimes you’re in the mood for something on the short and punchy side of the spectrum. That’s when I know it’s time to look for a great short story. It takes a whole lot of skill to pack characters, world building, themes, motivations, and an intriguing plot into just a few pages, but there are a few outstanding authors who have mastered the art.
To that end, there are a smattering of short stories that stand out from the crowd. Admittedly, it’s difficult to call them the best short stories because quality is subjective. But rest assured that those you’ll find recommended here are almost universally considered some of the most important little works of literature ever, thanks to some combination of their revolutionary style, timeless storytelling, or influence on nearly all writers to follow. Some of these are classic tales that have been beloved for decades while others are from current authors who are still breaking literary ground today, but they are truly great short stories one and all.
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
Few genres have made as much use of the short story format as horror, and it’s difficult to say that any such writer stands above Poe. Known for penning many gothic masterpieces, The Tell-Tale Heart is Poe’s most renowned short story. Narrated by a murderer whose sanity gradually slips as he meditates on his crime and is haunted by the beating heart of his victim, this story helped to set the standard for early gothic romanticism.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
First released in The New Yorker in 1948, The Lottery is a masterwork of grim atmosphere and troubling themes. The story of a small village lottery — the winner of which will be stoned to death — it almost singlehandedly created the modern concept of gothic horror thanks to its gloomy atmosphere and use of thought-provoking, disturbing irony.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Published in 1892, The Yellow Wallpaper is another classic of early-modern gothic horror, though it emphasizes psychological distress over some of the more fantastic elements embraced by Gilman’s peers. The tale of a woman who is confined to her bedroom as part of a rest cure for her so-called hysteria, as the narrator slips into madness she becomes increasingly enamored by the yellow color of her room. Considered a cornerstone of early American feminist writing, its commentary on the oppressive impact of patriarchy remains relevant to this day.
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Toeing the line between short story and novella, this semi-autobiographical narrative centers around a young American living in Paris whose affections are torn between his girlfriend and an Italian bartender named Giovanni. Not only is this a wonderfully written work by one of the 20th century’s greatest Black thinkers, writers, and activists, but it is held in high regard for its open and complex portrayal of bisexuality and same-sex relationships.
The Dead by James Joyce
The most renowned installment in Joyce’s Dubliners, The Dead is about a young Irishman whose family holds him in the highest regard thanks to his practicality and level-headedness. When he attends a party, however, his principles are challenged as he is pushed to confront his own mortality. Arguably the famed writer’s most accessible work, it nonetheless shows his ability to bury deep themes in seemingly straightforward stories.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Not only is The Metamorphosis one of the greatest short stories ever written, but it was an important forebearer of the Surrealist movement that would emerge shortly after its publication in 1915. The story of a salesman who wakes up one morning to find, much to his alarm, that he has turned into a beetle, there has been much debate over its meaning, but all agree that it is a masterful look at alienation in the modern age.
Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway
Papa Hemingway wrote several short stories that could be ranked among the best of all time, but Hills Like White Elephants is perhaps his most brilliant effort thanks to how he talks directly about a subject without ever bringing it up at all.
The story of a young couple waiting for a train as they discuss some never-clarified operation, it is nevertheless obvious that the man is attempting to pressure the woman into having an abortion. It is a masterpiece of subtlety and simplicity from a writer who is perhaps the greatest at packing an abundance of meaning into a minimal word count.
Cathedral by Raymond Carver
By the late 1970s, short stories were waning in their public appeal. Then Raymond Carver rose to prominence and wrote some life back into the format with his unrivaled application of minimalism. The most renowned example of this was Cathedral, which is about a man’s jealousy toward his wife’s blind friend.
By the time the two men bond over the image of a cathedral — which only one of them can actually see — the reader is left floored by the elegant simplicity of the story’s deceptively powerful ending.
Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang
When a fleet of spaceships arrives on Earth, a team of scientists is tasked with figuring out how to communicate with the extraterrestrial pilots. As linguist Louise Banks learns more and more about the alien language, she discovers that the solution to mounting problems seemingly brought with the visitors involves her own personal relationship to time. A pint-sized masterpiece by one of the greatest living science fiction writers, Chiang’s elegant yet complex story was made into an acclaimed feature film, Arrival.
On the Honeymoon by Javier Marias
One of the greatest writers of the past several decades, Javier Marias’ name is essentially on every shortlist for the Nobel Prize in literature. While novels account for the vast majority of his work, he did release a collection of short fiction called When I Was Mortal.
Perhaps the best story in the book is On the Honeymoon, which tells the story of a newly married man who watches the street outside a hotel window as his wife is sick in bed. Drama ensues when he catches the eye of a distraught looking woman. Within 20 pages, Marias uses all the literary tools that he is known for wielding in books 20 times longer.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
If Hemingway and Carver make up two points of the Holy Trinity of great American short story writing, Flannery O’Connor is the third. She’s also wildly regarded as the greatest of Southern Gothic writers. Without a doubt her most famous work is A Good Man Is Hard to Find, which tells the story of an arguing family that ends up stranded after a car crash, with horrible consequences.
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
A great short story doesn’t need a lot of words to leave a lasting impression. And that’s never more true than for sci-fi great Ursula K. Le Guin’s creation, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. Published in 1973, it describes a society which is apparently perfect and full of happiness, but at a cost: There is a single child who is forced to live in misery and deprivation.
How the people of the society react to the knowledge that their happiness depends on the suffering of an innocent provides a disquieting and uncomfortable parallel for many of our lives today. It’s the kind of story that stays with you and is returned to as a moral conundrum again and again.
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick
No list of short story greats would be complete without a nod to Philip K. Dick, the prolific sci-fi author who single-handedly created many of the staples of the genre. Even if you’ve never read a Dick novel, you know his work from countless adaptations and movies. The short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale is best know as the inspiration for the classic sci-fi movie Total Recall, and it delves into the same questions of reality, memory, and consciousness.
When an average guy with an office job decides to have memories of an exciting trip to Mars implanted into his mind, it kicks off a cascade of confusion and questioning as he struggles to decide which of his memories are real and which have been manipulated.
Frequently Asked Questions
There’s no consensus, and what matters most is the short story you gravitate toward. There certainly are some widely known ones. Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, for example, is legendary. The Metamorphosis, first published in 1915, is another. Even religious texts like the Bible and Qur’an contain short stories full of lessons and symbolism.
If you’re new to short stories, consider trying out different genres and time periods to see which you lose yourself in the most. You may find your tastes change over time or based on your mood. There are also many published collections of short stories around different themes or topics, which can be a great way to read a variety of new and familiar writers who you might not be exposed to otherwise. Some genres, like sci-fi, have a long tradition of anthology short story publications so you can look out for short story offerings from publishers like Tor to see how much interest can be packed into a few short pages of story.
Either way, taking time to read can be a way to engage your mind and relax without screens (unless you’re using a tablet, in which case consider turning notifications off to “unplug.”)
Writing on the UK’s National Centre for Writing’s website, novelist and creative writing tutor Jenn Ashworth said, “Short stories are both more and less than tiny novels.” Since she considers short stories a distinct category of fiction, it has its own characteristics.
Because they are much shorter than a novel, Ashworth said short stories don’t have the luxury of slowly advancing the plot, “Everything on the page has to be precise and deliberate because everything relates to everything else.”
Short stories also don’t need to spend time with exposition and back stories like novels, the author can simply tell the story they want to tell and use just the necessary parts of character’s background to advance the plot.
