Short story suggestions needed
May 5, 2009 4:41 PM   Subscribe

I need some short story suggestions for a final analytical essay for my African-American writers composition class.

I need to be able to find the short story online, and since I need 3 sources for the essay, a well-known story that has some articles written about it would be best. Also, available biographical information about the author is necessary.

It can't be a story we've already covered (though another story by an author we've already read is fine), and these are the stories we've already read:

"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
"The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara
"The Man Who Was Almost a Man" by Richard Wright
"The Wife of My Youth" by Charles Chestnutt
"Sweat" & "Spunk" by Zora Neale Hurston

Stories that are interesting to read would obviously be preferred, as would stories with a well-developed/obvious central idea/theme.
posted by a red so deep to Writing & Language (7 answers total)
 
James Baldwin's Sonny's Blues? I don't know if you can find it online but it is pretty widely anthologized I think.
posted by synecdoche at 5:19 PM on May 5, 2009


You probably can't find it online (but definitely should be able to find it at the school library), but I'd definitely recommend "Bloodchild" by Octavia Butler. Creepy, compelling, and challenging--in a good way.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:51 PM on May 5, 2009


Response by poster: Is this the entirety of "Bloodchild"?
posted by a red so deep at 8:20 PM on May 5, 2009


Charles Waddell Chesnutt:

These are the short stories included in Tales of Conjure and the Color Line:

The Goophered Grapevine
Po' Sandy
Dave's Neckliss
The Sheriff's Children
The Wife of His Youth
Sis' Becky's Pickaninny
A Matter of Principle
The Passing of Grandison
Baxter's Procrustes
The Doll

Some of these are online at the link I provided.
posted by elle.jeezy at 8:39 PM on May 5, 2009


I didn't even see Chesnutt. Sorry. Here's one from Langston Hughes. Thank You, Ma'm
posted by elle.jeezy at 7:48 AM on May 6, 2009


Dude, you need at least one Baldwin Story. What the bloodclot? I second Sonny's Blue's. It's awesome, and i've seen it in several short story collections.
posted by chunking express at 8:08 AM on May 6, 2009


"The Kind of Light that Shines On Texas" by Reginald McKnight.

Or "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" and "Brownies" by ZZ Packer.
posted by tangerine at 12:37 PM on May 7, 2009


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