Bookfilter: authors like Calvino, Keret, Murakami
April 3, 2011 11:02 AM Subscribe
Bookfilter: I'm looking for authors (and especially short story collections) in the vein of Italo Calvino, Etgar Keret, and Haruki Murakami - playful, slightly absurd, and a little bit surreal.
George Saunders has several collections of playful, absurd, surreal, and excellent short stories.
posted by domnit at 11:08 AM on April 3, 2011
posted by domnit at 11:08 AM on April 3, 2011
Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
The Universe in Miniature in Miniature by Patrick Somerville
The View from the Seventh Layer by Kevin Brockmeier
Demons in the Spring by Joe Meno
posted by overglow at 11:18 AM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
The Universe in Miniature in Miniature by Patrick Somerville
The View from the Seventh Layer by Kevin Brockmeier
Demons in the Spring by Joe Meno
posted by overglow at 11:18 AM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have been reading Lydia Davis' collected stories and that might be right up your alley. Other authors in that same vein include Ben Marcus, Peter Cherches, Phyllis Koestenbaum, and Diane Williams.
posted by Dauus at 11:21 AM on April 3, 2011
posted by Dauus at 11:21 AM on April 3, 2011
I came to recommend Aimee Bender, but overglow beat me to it, so I'll just add The Girl in the Flammable Skirt to overglow's Willful Creatures recommendation.
posted by infinitywaltz at 11:41 AM on April 3, 2011
posted by infinitywaltz at 11:41 AM on April 3, 2011
I was beaten to Kelly Link, so I'll suggest Steven Millhauser. I've read this collection of his short stories, and it's strongly influenced by the kind of writing you find in Invisible Cities. Another book in the same vein is Alan Lightman's Einstein's Dreams.
There are several labels proposed (or revived) by writers who are trying to coalesce this kind of writing into an independent mode. You might have luck looking for authors associated with labels like slipstream and the irreal.
posted by Nomyte at 12:17 PM on April 3, 2011
There are several labels proposed (or revived) by writers who are trying to coalesce this kind of writing into an independent mode. You might have luck looking for authors associated with labels like slipstream and the irreal.
posted by Nomyte at 12:17 PM on April 3, 2011
I was also going to suggest Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link, but a few people have beaten me to that. Similarly Jorge Luis Borges.
Adding to that, I'd recommend Neil Gaiman (his short story collections are Fragile Things and Smoke and Mirrors). Similar to Gaiman and Link is Jeffrey Ford, who as a few short story collections including The Empire of Ice-Cream.
posted by maybeandroid at 12:35 PM on April 3, 2011
Adding to that, I'd recommend Neil Gaiman (his short story collections are Fragile Things and Smoke and Mirrors). Similar to Gaiman and Link is Jeffrey Ford, who as a few short story collections including The Empire of Ice-Cream.
posted by maybeandroid at 12:35 PM on April 3, 2011
Kafka. Seriously.
Also, Donald Barthelme. Sixty Stories would be the place to start, or you could check out Jessamyn's website about him, which has links to a few dozen of his stories.
Seconding Kelly Link, Steven Millhauser, and Borges.
posted by twirlip at 1:05 PM on April 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
Also, Donald Barthelme. Sixty Stories would be the place to start, or you could check out Jessamyn's website about him, which has links to a few dozen of his stories.
Seconding Kelly Link, Steven Millhauser, and Borges.
posted by twirlip at 1:05 PM on April 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
Why Not A Spider Monkey Jesus? (by MeFi's Own Fuzzy Monster) is definitely playful and more than a little absurd and surreal (not to mention a very fun read).
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:06 PM on April 3, 2011
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:06 PM on April 3, 2011
Matt Ruff, especially Sewer Gas & Electric.
posted by xil at 1:47 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by xil at 1:47 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'll second Millhauser, Borges, and Alan Lightman, and suggest Angela Carter as well.
posted by alphanerd at 2:26 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by alphanerd at 2:26 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's been eons since I read it, but John Barth's Lost in the Funhouse might suit.
posted by drlith at 3:23 PM on April 3, 2011
posted by drlith at 3:23 PM on April 3, 2011
The War of Don Emmanuels Nether Parts
Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord
The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman
posted by mearls at 4:26 PM on April 3, 2011
Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord
The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman
posted by mearls at 4:26 PM on April 3, 2011
I was going to suggest Lydia Davis and Donald Barthelme. so instead I will suggest Spillway by Djuna Barnes, The Middle Stories by Sheila Heti, White Walls by Tatyana Tolstaya and (deep breath for this one) There Once Lived An Old Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbour's Baby by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya.
and, if I may go slightly astray from your question, you will probably like Anne Carson's Short Talks and Paul Poissel's The Facts of Winter. they are officially poetry collections, but they're prose poems with a little touch of narrative to them. in another world or on a particularly sunny day they could easily pass for short-short stories. and to depart going the other way, Crab Nebula by Eric Chevillard is a novel made up of prose fragments that could probably also convincingly pass itself off as a short-short story collection.
posted by spindle at 4:36 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
and, if I may go slightly astray from your question, you will probably like Anne Carson's Short Talks and Paul Poissel's The Facts of Winter. they are officially poetry collections, but they're prose poems with a little touch of narrative to them. in another world or on a particularly sunny day they could easily pass for short-short stories. and to depart going the other way, Crab Nebula by Eric Chevillard is a novel made up of prose fragments that could probably also convincingly pass itself off as a short-short story collection.
posted by spindle at 4:36 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.
For short stories, anything by Gogol.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:05 PM on April 3, 2011
For short stories, anything by Gogol.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:05 PM on April 3, 2011
Seconding Aimee Bender for short stories, and Sewer, Gas, & Electric for novel. Also, Banana Yoshimoto -- I like her short stories and novellas best: Lizard, Kitchen, and Asleep are all good collections. If you like graphic novels, you may enjoy The Return of the Dapper Men (yes, it is the first or only book, not a sequel in any way).
posted by Margalo Epps at 9:25 PM on April 3, 2011
posted by Margalo Epps at 9:25 PM on April 3, 2011
You want to read every book by Flann O'Brien. Lucky you, there's an edition for that. At Swim-Two-Birds seems the most like what you're after, but I think you have to build up to that and get used to his style. I read them in this order and would recommend it: 1) The Third Policeman, 2) The Dalkey Archive, 3) At Swim-Two-Birds, 4) The Poor Mouth, 5) The Hard Life.
Stanislaw Lem's Cyberiad is ridiculously funny and awesome.
Lord Dunsany's Jorkens short stories.
This may be a stretch but the Zamonia novels of Walter Moers are hilarious and... zany (that's a pejorative, typically, but in this case it is a compliment). Start w/Rumo, and if you like it continue w/13.5 Lives of Captain Bluebear, then City of Dreaming Books, then Alchemaster's Apprentice.
posted by cog_nate at 9:28 PM on April 3, 2011
Stanislaw Lem's Cyberiad is ridiculously funny and awesome.
Lord Dunsany's Jorkens short stories.
This may be a stretch but the Zamonia novels of Walter Moers are hilarious and... zany (that's a pejorative, typically, but in this case it is a compliment). Start w/Rumo, and if you like it continue w/13.5 Lives of Captain Bluebear, then City of Dreaming Books, then Alchemaster's Apprentice.
posted by cog_nate at 9:28 PM on April 3, 2011
Vonnegut's short stories, Welcome to the Monkey House.
posted by easy_being_green at 11:13 PM on April 3, 2011
posted by easy_being_green at 11:13 PM on April 3, 2011
In the sameish vein as Kelly Link and Aimee Bender, there is Benjamin Rosenbaum's The Ant King and Other Stories.
posted by speicus at 12:21 AM on April 4, 2011
posted by speicus at 12:21 AM on April 4, 2011
Seconding Angela Carter.
Two more suggestions, but both I'd suggest as library borrows rather than blind purchases - each have very idiosyncratic writing styles that I can imagine putting off a lot of people.
Will Self (several short story collections, of the novels I loved Great Apes and How the Dead Live)
José Saramago (I've read Blindness, Seeing and Death at Intervals. Blindness is pretty grim, the other two were much lighter)
posted by spectrevsrector at 1:13 AM on April 4, 2011
Two more suggestions, but both I'd suggest as library borrows rather than blind purchases - each have very idiosyncratic writing styles that I can imagine putting off a lot of people.
Will Self (several short story collections, of the novels I loved Great Apes and How the Dead Live)
José Saramago (I've read Blindness, Seeing and Death at Intervals. Blindness is pretty grim, the other two were much lighter)
posted by spectrevsrector at 1:13 AM on April 4, 2011
Some good suggestions here (I'm taking notes).
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Warning: memory dump incoming...
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Ben Greenman; Christoph Ransmayr; Robert Coover; Tom McCarthy; Judy Budnitz; Amanda Davis; Chris Adrian; A M Homes' short stories; Peter Carey's Fat Man in History; Mark Richard (esp. Fishboy, which is a novel); Thinking About Margritte by Kate Sterns (another novel, but it reads like a series of vignettes if memory serves); and, speaking of vignettes: Anaïs Nin. Heck, I'd even go so far as to say Hermann Hesse (maybe Strange News From Another Star?)
Seconding Borges, Barthelme, Carter, Saunders, Milhauser, Lydia Davis...etc etc etc.
(You might like a lot of McSweeney's output as well. Playful and a bit surreal is pretty much their calling card. In fact, they've published a lot of the names I and others have mentioned.)
posted by Life at Boulton Wynfevers at 4:57 AM on April 4, 2011
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Warning: memory dump incoming...
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Ben Greenman; Christoph Ransmayr; Robert Coover; Tom McCarthy; Judy Budnitz; Amanda Davis; Chris Adrian; A M Homes' short stories; Peter Carey's Fat Man in History; Mark Richard (esp. Fishboy, which is a novel); Thinking About Margritte by Kate Sterns (another novel, but it reads like a series of vignettes if memory serves); and, speaking of vignettes: Anaïs Nin. Heck, I'd even go so far as to say Hermann Hesse (maybe Strange News From Another Star?)
Seconding Borges, Barthelme, Carter, Saunders, Milhauser, Lydia Davis...etc etc etc.
(You might like a lot of McSweeney's output as well. Playful and a bit surreal is pretty much their calling card. In fact, they've published a lot of the names I and others have mentioned.)
posted by Life at Boulton Wynfevers at 4:57 AM on April 4, 2011
Encyclopedia of the Dead is a book of short stories by Danilo Kis that you may like- his novels are wonderful, too. The recommendations for Borges (who I also like) made me think of him. I'd also recommend Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. It's a light novella which reminds me more of Murakami's and Calvino's style than some of his other books (that lost my interest.) I agree with the Bulgakov recommendation.
posted by sophie at 4:38 PM on April 5, 2011
posted by sophie at 4:38 PM on April 5, 2011
nthing Jorge Luis Borges and Franz Kafka.
David Mitchell I personally consider closest to the Murakami-feel myself, though that doesn't mean by any means that reading Mitchell is just like reading Murakami. I've only read number9dream from him though, take out of that what you want.
And while not really playful or surreal, take a spin around Raymond Carver's short stories - he was a major inspiration on Murakami, and is just as fluid to read. Many scenes feel like they could have come straight out of a Murakami novel.
posted by Senza Volto at 10:19 AM on April 6, 2011
David Mitchell I personally consider closest to the Murakami-feel myself, though that doesn't mean by any means that reading Mitchell is just like reading Murakami. I've only read number9dream from him though, take out of that what you want.
And while not really playful or surreal, take a spin around Raymond Carver's short stories - he was a major inspiration on Murakami, and is just as fluid to read. Many scenes feel like they could have come straight out of a Murakami novel.
posted by Senza Volto at 10:19 AM on April 6, 2011
Response by poster: Awesome list, thanks so much everyone!
posted by devilsbrigade at 6:28 PM on April 7, 2011
posted by devilsbrigade at 6:28 PM on April 7, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kittenmarlowe at 11:07 AM on April 3, 2011