Herewith, I Quibble
I read a short story in The New Yorker recently. Nothing unusual about that. Since its inception in 1925, the magazine has been properly praised for its contemporary fiction, and over the years I’ve read its stories often and usually with admiration. The title of the piece was intriguing: “Barbara, Detroit, 1966.” I didn’t know who this Barbara was, but I certainly know Detroit and 1966.
The story’s author is Peter Orner, a prolific and highly praised writer of short fiction and director of the creative writing program at Dartmouth College. It was tagged by the magazine as Flash Fiction, which these days means a very short story, but at almost 1450 words it turned out to be a little longer than what I would call Flash Fiction.… Go Away!