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Essay I: A Short Story

The period following World War II saw a great flowering of literary short fiction in the United States. The New Yorker continued to publish the works of the form's leading mid-century practitioners, including Shirley Jackson, whose story, “The Lottery,” published in 1948, elicited the strongest response in the magazine's history to that time.

Other frequent contributors during the last 1940s included John Cheever, John Steinbeck, Jean Stafford and Eudora Welty. J. D. Salinger's “Nine Stories” experimented with point of view and voice, while Flannery O'Connor's “A Good Man is Hard to Find” reinvigorated the Southern Gothic style. When Life magazine published Ernest Hemingway's long short story (or novella) The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, the issue containing this story sold 5,300,000 copies in only two days.

Cultural and social identity played a considerable role in much of the short fiction of the 1960s. Philip Roth and Grace Paley cultivated distinctive Jewish-American voices. Tillie Olsen's “I Stand Here Ironing” adopted a consciously feminist perspective. James Baldwin's “Going to Meet the Man” told stories of African-American life.

Miminalism gained widespread influence in the 1980s, most notably in the work of Raymond Carver, Ann Beattie and Bobbi Ann Mason. However, traditionalists including John Updike and Joyce Carol Oates maintained significant influence on the form, as did Canadian author Alice Munro. John Gardner's seminal reference text, “The Art of Fiction” appeared in 1983.

Essay II

I have always enjoyed reading different genres and in different formats. I have read novels by both female and male authors coming from various cultural, social and economical backgrounds. My love for reading stems from my childhood and it seems to me that I've loved reading ever since I first learned how to read as a child. Over the years I have also started my own personal library. I enjoy reading fiction based on real life experiences. Personally I like books that can also relate to my life experiences too or have a good message for life change. My favorite author would have to be Teri Woods. She's written a novel name True to the Game.

This book represents the drug game during the late 80's from the inner city streets of Philadelphia. The main characters, Gena and Quadir find themselves caught in the vicious, yet seductive world of drugs and money. Quadir a millionaire drug dealer flipping kilo after kilo, builds a massive money empire. He, however, is also faced with the art of extortion brought upon by the notorious junior mafia. She, however, is faced with holding onto her man, her house, her car and the money. This is our life, these are our streets and this book represents our losses, our gains, our sorrows and joys. With the good, always comes the bad and when you play in this game you have to count the highs and the lows.

In my humble opinion, this is a moving book. An action packed mystery that cannot let the reader go away for a second. It starts with a capturing beginning ...