An Introduction to 21st Century Short Stories
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In Twenty-First Century Literature, Siân Adiseshiah claims, “The first decade of the 2000s has been remarkable for its literary creativity and diversity. The peculiarly rich features of twenty-first century writing include not only the implications of beginning a new century, but also the particularly potent symbolic evocations that arise from the turn of the millennium. In addition to millennial and post-millennial discourses, the catastrophic events of 9/11, the War on Terror, and the 2008 financial crash and its aftermath have created a new political context that is already generating an abundance of creative and critical writing. And around these human conflicts looms the gathering response of the non-human world we share to the accumulated and accelerating impact of our species.” As Adiseshiah notes, the creative work of the 21st Century proves that fiction is thriving as authors continue to experiment with form, redefine literary conventions, and address pressing cultural concerns in their work.
Authors today pay homage to their literary ancestors while proving that fiction is an evolving form with few rules. Like their Modernist counterparts, contemporary authors embrace themes from the past, but make them new and relevant for a 21st Century audience. The dream-like stream of consciousness of surrealism and the collision of everyday realities and supernatural forces of magical realism return in these stories. In “The Husband Stitch,” Carmen Machado draws from urban legends and folktales to create a tapestry of vignettes that prove women are still arguing to be heard and believed. Matt Bell’s “An Index of How Our Family Was Killed” and Roxane Gay’s “Law and Order: The Complete Series” challenge conventions about plot and character development, collapse the tensions between high and low culture, and investigate what themes are worthy to explore in fiction.
In addition to the creative explosion of styles, literature of the 21st Century is marked by anxieties about the increased reliance on technology, instabilities between countries, continued social inequalities, the growing threat of climate change, and a generally tense political culture. The authors represented in this section of the anthology also continue to use their work to address pressing social and political issues. The anonymous North Korean author, Bandi, bravely shared his fiction with the world to raise awareness about his political state. One of his stories, “City of Specters,” is shared in this anthology. Many other authors echo emerging author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's claim that all of his stories are written to save the world. “I want my stories to be something people enjoy,” he writes, “but I do hope they might also do something. I care about the state of the world and I hope my work can improve it.” Though the grim realities portrayed in much of this fiction are daunting, this ray of hope and belief in the possibility of improvement is also implicit in many of these short stories.
This section ends with a brief mention of Flash Fiction. Flash Fiction refers to a growing genre of literature that tells an entire story in less than 1,000 words. Hemingway is often credited with starting this genre of literature. Literary legend states that he was once drinking at a bar when a friend challenged him to write an entire story in six words. He quickly jotted down, “For Sale: Baby Shoes. Never Worn.” Although this story is unconfirmed, the message is embraced by new authors invested in writing extremely short fiction that can be quickly read by a new audience use to hastily perusing information online and on social media. Flash fiction writers appreciate the power of each word and distil meaning in extremely short passages. This genre is an excellent starting point for future authors interested in writing fiction. Enjoy these stories and consider writing your own!