leontrout
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« Reply #30 on: October 14, 2009, 10:04:04 AM » |
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A lot of these have omniscient narrators.
If you want to stay Nabokovian, try "The Vane Sisters," which has an omigod ending that most readers don't see till you remind them who the author is and that he gives you a clue early in the story. His unreliability is not as reliably unreliable as Humbert's or "Kinbote's," but.
Lots of stuff in Songs of Innocence if you want to go in that direction. Besides "Chimney Sweeper," try "The Little Black Boy."
But the one I'd strongly suggest for today's first-year students is Bambara's "The Lesson." The narrator really misdirects the reader in ways that you can use in the classroom.
It leads nicely into "Araby," btw.
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senay
Wholesome
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« Reply #31 on: October 14, 2009, 10:56:11 AM » |
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"Four Directions" by Amy Tan (in The Joy Luck Club).
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I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
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conjugate
Compulsive punster and insatiable reader, and
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« Reply #32 on: October 14, 2009, 11:15:32 AM » |
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I'll second the notion for Thurber, and add that some of his family reminiscences in The Thurber Family Album ought to qualify. Also, I think Saki has some stories that would fill the bill.
Numerous of H. Allen Smith's anecdotes work (no narrator is more unreliable in many of those cases!) but they're not technically short stories, just sections in his collections of essays. Lord Dunsany has a rich selection of such stories. "Told Under Oath" is a good example, and "Poor Old Bill." Those should be in public domain by now, and inexpensive if they're not.
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Unfortunately, I think conjugate gives good advice.
∀ε>0∃δ>0∋|x–a|<δ⇒|ƒ(x)-ƒ(a)|<ε |
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mickeymantle
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« Reply #33 on: October 14, 2009, 04:06:44 PM » |
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I can't think of any short story, but Ford Madox Ford's short novel The Good Soldier is a favorite of mine.
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compdoc
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« Reply #34 on: October 15, 2009, 06:04:33 PM » |
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Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Tell-Tale Heart."
This is really not a short story, but it's not a novel either-- The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf. It's a children's book where the wolf claims he has been framed. And it's a frame story, to the delight of my English teacher self.
I thought I had a list of these somewhere around, but I don't appear to have kept it. Guess I'll use this forum to create one.
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marigolds
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if it ain't ruff it ain't me
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« Reply #35 on: October 15, 2009, 07:48:03 PM » |
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Oh gosh, how could I forget Poe? ANY Poe would do! ("The Black Cat" comes to mind, as does "William Wilson" [LOVE that one! It's like the seed story for Fight Club!].)
Also, lots of Henry James's short work (too bad Daisy Miller is too long - it's more subtle than the best unreliable narrator tale of ALL TIME, Turn of the Screw, but it's pretty awesome; and since you're interested in child narrators as well, What Maisie Knew would be ideal but for the fact that it's a novella. But for REALLY short things "The Jolly Corner" might work, too. Or "The Beast in the Jungle".)
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"You and your mom are hillbillies. This is a house of learned doctors."
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irhack
Marshwiggle
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« Reply #36 on: October 16, 2009, 03:28:31 PM » |
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Have you looked into Kazuo Ishiguro? I believe he has a short story called "a family supper" that could fit the bill.
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canonicalkumquat
a small and sometimes bitter
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« Reply #37 on: October 16, 2009, 07:18:32 PM » |
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It's not a short story, but still a pretty wee novella: Nella Larsen's Passing
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"Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself." -John Dewey
"The eternal conflict of good and the best with bad and the worst is on." -Melvil Dewey
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wilbrish
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« Reply #38 on: October 16, 2009, 11:42:55 PM » |
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Ron Carlson's "Bigfoot Stole My Wife."
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arizona
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« Reply #39 on: October 28, 2009, 11:23:15 AM » |
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What's that T.C. Boyle story with the nuclear scientist giving a speech? I can't remember the title, but I've used it to teach unreliable narration before (obviously, quite a while ago).
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prytania3
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« Reply #40 on: November 08, 2009, 07:41:41 PM » |
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Don't forget the lawyer in "Bartleby the Scrivener." I never thought he was all that reliable. In fact, I'm not sure Ishmael is all that reliable.
Still, Humbert Humbert is the king.
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Clowns, I tell you. Clowns.
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conjugate
Compulsive punster and insatiable reader, and
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« Reply #41 on: November 08, 2009, 08:01:26 PM » |
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I still think Dunsany's Told Under Oath is the best. Of course, I'm biased because I'm a Dunsany fan.
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Unfortunately, I think conjugate gives good advice.
∀ε>0∃δ>0∋|x–a|<δ⇒|ƒ(x)-ƒ(a)|<ε |
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verbena
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« Reply #42 on: November 16, 2009, 04:45:14 PM » |
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Still, Humbert Humbert is the king.
Actually, he's the knave. Even Nabokov would agree that Gogol's Madman's the king. |
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"My kind of paper, into lots of fiber."
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easterner1
New member
Posts: 1
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« Reply #43 on: November 25, 2009, 10:18:05 AM » |
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hi
just thought Marquez' Novella 'chronicle of a death foretold ' would be an excellent example for unreliable
narration- the main plot is narrated with five different versions. each one of them equally believable and
unbelievable.another classic read would be Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov , where author's tone and the
characters become inseparable. if you are a movie buff ,watch Akiro Kurosowa's film Rashomon- witnesses of
a murder and rape telling 4 differnt stories- all mutually contrdictory!
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tinyzombie
She hides the stars under her hair, and is a
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elevate from this point on - chuck d
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« Reply #44 on: November 25, 2009, 10:24:32 AM » |
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hi
just thought Marquez' Novella 'chronicle of a death foretold ' would be an excellent example for unreliable
narration- the main plot is narrated with five different versions. each one of them equally believable and
unbelievable.another classic read would be Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov , where author's tone and the
characters become inseparable. if you are a movie buff ,watch Akiro Kurosowa's film Rashomon- witnesses of
a murder and rape telling 4 differnt stories- all mutually contrdictory!
Hi, easterner1; welcome to the fora. You might want to check out the rules; we're sticklers for proper grammar and punctuation in these parts. |
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*waving tiny zombie flags* Correct, as usual, TZ. That's because you are not Dude. TZ, however, is Dude. TZ is my favorite. |
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