IDEAL FICTION, Part IV: Our Fearless Leader

Elijah Jenkins: Executive Director, Flatmancrooked

I am usually reluctant to go on record discussing my favorite literature. My fear is that any such statements will paint me into a corner professionally and aesthetically. But I’m willing to make bold statements about books in casual conversation, so I’m being a coward if I don’t publish my thoughts. Regarding the following stories, would I regret my selections if asked about them on a panel or in an interview? Certainly not.

When I get asked what sort of stories Flatmancrooked looks for, my initial, tongue-in-cheek response is, “Good ones.” Then I usually elaborate by saying, “Something with conflict, strong characters, and an arc. ‘Experimental’ stories aren’t usually Flatmancrooked’s cup of tea, because we tend to believe that if a narrative is self-consciously ‘experimental,’ the experiment has failed. Innovation better describes what excites us.” With that being said, here is a list of stories that I return to, time-and-again, because they’re all, well, good. I will give some explanation as to why these particular pieces made my list, but their “goodness,” without doubt, was the most influential factor.

1. A Circle in the Fire by Flannery O’Connor

This story was first assigned to me in college. I was not much of a reader until shortly after high school, and so I was not much of a writer. I had just visited my grandmother’s hometown in Oklahoma, and had also seen parts of rural Louisiana. These small townships in the deep, angry South left quite an impression on me. This story, and most by O’Connor, took me immediately back to a place where people, often down-trodden, are as organically part of the environment as the dirt in their fields or the swamps surrounding them. I strive for that as a writer; I want my audience to get roped in and dragged under the water of my story.




2. What You Left in the Ditch by Aimee Bender

This, like so many of Bender’s stories, is not “experimental.” It’s innovative. It might be non-traditional (or, as my cohort Steven Owen might say, irrealist) but compelling, moving and, against odds, entirely “believable.”




3. Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower

My friend and business partner, James Kaelan, gave me an anthology containing this story. “You’ll like this one,” he said, pointing to the title. “It’s about Vikings.” Should I have taken offense to this? If you knew me, I suppose you would you say “no.” To get to the point, I loved the story, and sought out his other work. The anthology in which Everything Ravaged had been included came out in 2004. Since then new work from Tower had appeared only occasionally. But around the industry there seemed to be a lot of people following his career. He didn’t have a book out, but there was a rumor he had a collection coming out. A good many of us thought that he was just George Saunders writing under a pen name. Finally, a colleague of mine, who was friends with Ben Marcus-who had taught Tower at Columbia-confirmed the man indeed existed, and was living, apparently, in New Orleans. This year Tower’s debut collection, also titled Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, finally came out from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. We reviewed it on this site. Go get it.




4. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace

The book of the same name should be required reading in modern literature classes. Wallace, suffice it to say, was a unique talent. This story is devastatingly good, as is most of his oeuvre .




5. Asphodel by Eudora Welty

This is me continuing my love affair with Southern writers. Eudora Welty’s work is tender and moving, while at the same time heavy and consequential. Reading Welty will change one’s perspectives on how to write a story.




6. The Man Who Knew Me by Thomas McCafferty

I have had the great privilege of working with McCafferty. Flatmancrooked published this story. While I cherish everything we print, in McCafferty’s work I see a serene power and precision uncommon among young, contemporary writers. You should buy a copy of First Winter if you want to see for yourself what I’m talking about.




7. When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine by Jhumpa Lahiri

Lahiri’s sense of identity and nationality, though strong, are not the qualities that identify her style. The characters and arcs she creates are so compelling I have, on more than one occasion, read until my eyes ached so that I would not have to stop mid-story. Getting addicted to her work is terribly easy.




8. A City of Churches by Donald Barthelme

Far too few people know Barthelme. Even fewer read him. That he is not studied and included in every anthology of American short stories is criminal. I have not read enough of him. In fact, I’m wasting time making this list. I could be reading more Barthelme.




9. Job History by E. Annie Proulx

Proulx is for the pastureland and Wyoming what O’Connor and Welty are for the South. Her characters dig spurs into her reader’s sides. Her short stories are precise and vivid. When Proulx writes about snow I get colder. Shit, my neighbor gets colder, my dog shivers, and my heater turns on. She’s that good.




10. The Gospel According to Mark by Jorge Luis Borges

I would like to formally put all critics, authors, and readers alike on notice. I willing put my neck on this chopping block: Jorge Luis Borges was, unequivocally, the most gifted writer of his age. The writers who have matched him are rare. Maybe Nabokov, Wallace, and Marquez. I could’ve substituted twenty stories for The Gospel. I’m a fan and follower.

By Elijah Jenkins