Short Fiction Collections

* In a conversation with Lois Oppenheim, Milan Kundera calls Kafka, Broch, Musil, and Gombrowicz the “pleiad” of Central Europe’s great novelists. When Oppenheim asks if the four have influenced him, he replies: “Influenced me? No. It’s something else: I exist under the same aesthetic roof that they do. Not under the roof of a Proust or a Joyce. Not under the roof of a Hemingway (despite all my admiration for him). The writers I’m speaking about weren’t influenced by each other either. They didn’t even like each other. Broch was very critical of Musil, Musil nasty about Broch, Gombrowicz didn’t like Kafka and he never spoke of either Broch or Musil and was himself probably unknown by the three others. Perhaps if they knew that I grouped them together they would be furious with me. And perhaps rightly so. Perhaps I’ve invented this pleiad to be able to see a roof over my head.”

I bring all this up because it’s thinking I’m fond of that’s helped me distinguish between the writers I admire and the ones I might live side-by-side with, under the same roof, and because I want to make a small, oblique point about the above list of resources. It is a list of my making. I certainly don't share a roof with all these writers; some, yes, maybe. All of these books are simply ones I admire, ones I think of as special, significant. I’m sure this list speaks to my limits, failings, and biases. All that said, I hope it also gives other writers, younger and newer writers especially, some good slate to put up over their heads or blow down with the house as they see fit. 

I’ll continue to add to this list—I’m thinking of it an ongoing project—to read widely and seek out left out and lesser-known gems. Please, as you’re able to, send suggestions and recommendations my way. They're welcome, always.