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posted: August 17, 2024
tl;dr: A fine selection of stories from around the world, for readers looking to expand their horizons...
This is the second year for the latest format of The O. Henry Prize short story anthology, in which any story published in the English language, including in translation, is eligible. There’s only one step beyond this to go, which would be to include all short stories published in any language. That, however, would make judging extremely difficult. Maybe an Artificial Intelligence will be able to do this someday? But what would be the point of producing such a volume, as only a few polyglots would be able to read it?
The publishers of The Best Short Stories 2023 are attempting to differentiate it from The Best American Short Stories anthology, and they are succeeding. There is, for the second year in a row, a strong international flavor to the selections, with the inclusion of stories written by authors in countries and cultures outside the United States. This includes Eamon McGuiness’s “The Blackhills”, which was written in English but set in Ireland, and which uses the Irish version of many words. When a taxidriver undid his “belt”, I was initially confused until I realized that the word referred to what I, as an American, would call a “seatbelt”.
Localized cultural references and colloquialism are endemic to most writing, my own included. Hence some of the stories The Best Short Stories 2023 will not resonate with a given reader as much as other stories do. But if you are seeking exposure to a wider variety of authors, cultures, and writings, you may prefer The Best Short Stories 2023 to The Best American Short Stories 2023.
Here are my favorite stories in The Best Short Stories 2023:
“Temporary Housing” by Kathleen Alcott: This is the best-written story in the volume, and primarily portrays the relationship between two young women and how their later lives are impacted by events and situations from a troubled past. The storyline jumps back and forth in time a tremendous amount, but Alcott makes it work, masterfully.
“Xífù” by K-Ming Chang: Any woman who has issues with her mother-in-law should read this amusing tale, which the author has distilled down to the most potent form possible, where every word and sentence matters.
“Dream Man” by Cristina Rivera Garza, translated by Francisca González-Arias: At almost fifty pages in length, this piece may have crossed the line from short story to novella. It’s an intriguing story of an affair of the heart that may be more an affair of the mind.
“After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool” by Kirstin Valdez Quade: In contrast to some of the stories in The Best Short Stories 2023 which take place on the other side of the world from me, this story is set a little more than a hundred miles from where I currently live. It’s a coming-of-age story from my generation which probes the underside of family and marital relationships, while keeping this reader’s interest throughout.