• Café Life is the Colony's main hangout, watering hole and meeting point.

    This is a place where you'll meet and make writing friends, and indulge in stratospherically-elevated wit or barometrically low humour.

    Some Colonists pop in religiously every day before or after work. Others we see here less regularly, but all are equally welcome. Two important grounds rules…

    • Don't give offence
    • Don't take offence

    We now allow political discussion, but strongly suggest it takes place in the Steam Room, which is a private sub-forum within Café Life. It’s only accessible to Full Members.

    You can dismiss this notice by clicking the "x" box

O Henry Stories 2018

Invest in You. Get Full Membership now.

Pamela Jo

Full Member
Blogger
Joined
Oct 26, 2021
Location
Wexford, Ireland
LitBits
0
Unless you are American you may not know the signifigance of O Henry. He was a bank embezzler who began writing seriously while doing his prison sentence. He was 100 percent commercial. HS teachers assigned his stories to get students reading. His most famous was "The Gift of the Magi" which is a xmas story that has probably been ripped o0ff as much as "The Christmas Carol." His stories are synonymous with clever twist endings. Very hard to write.

The RANT: Recently I picked up a collection of O Henry Stories from 2018 in a charity shop. All the stories were boring. Almost all the writers were professor at some creative writing course. All the stories sounded a bit alike. First person, some minute happening in daily life with bland or outrageously made up characters.
Now if they had led a life like O Henry a slice of life would likely be pretty exciting/interesting. The problem being professors at American universities have rarely done anything interesting/ exciting in their lives. Getting that teaching position was probably full of passive aggressions, humiliations, and heartbreak-but not much experience in the real world therefore not really interesting enough for the rest of us to pay hard-earned cash to read. ( I paid 50 p and the charity shop won't take it back as a donation so now it's firestarter.) Here is my takeaway thought. The ultimate divide between old literary fiction and modern is that it didnt used to be a university career thing where you exist from grants etc. People outside the insular community had to pay money to read you. And you did stuff that led you to universal insights ie wisdom. I've decided that the "O Henry 2018 Stories" aren't worth reading, because there is no human truth there. It's not there because these writers have led very sheltered, dull lives.
 

Further Articles from the Author Platform

Latest Articles By Litopians

  • There’s More to Love Than Boy Meets Girl
    Prompted by a comment from a fellow Litopian, I delved into the far reaches of my record stacks to r ...
  • Stakes
    What are Stakes? Stakes refer to what characters stand to lose or gain as they pursue their goals. T ...
  • Until I find You
    As one wise Litopian recently said to me, ‘Titles SUCK!!’ When I wrote songs, I never had a prob ...
  • She Loved Me Not
    . Last night I dreamed of Samantha Who tore at my throat like a panther Then she started to chew My ...
  • Both Sides of the Postcard
    The sand is white and soft. The palms sway gently. The turquoise water glitters. The happy traveler ...
  • What’s in a game?
    6When my son was a toddler, he threw the mother of all tantrums at my childless friends’ house. I ...
  • The Shadow Durian
    As a lifelong foreigner, I’ve learnt that being open to new things smooths the path considerably. ...
Back
Top