A Shout-Out for Short-Story Cycles

​In a recent episode of Maine Calling on Maine Public Radio, Morgan Talty, author of the award-winning 2022 short-story cycle Night of the Living Rez, put in a “shout-out” to the form, characterizing it as an “emerging genre” that might soon merit its own section in bookstores.
 
But what exactly is a short-story cycle?
 
Also referred to as “linked stories” or “a novel in stories,” a short-story cycle is a group of stories that are entirely satisfying when read individually but, because they share characters, themes, or setting, together create an experience of meaning that transcends that of each individual story. In short, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
 
As Talty points out, short-story cycles straddle the space between the long, deep immersion of a novel and the brief, bracing dip of a short story. They do this by offering the satisfaction of a lengthy engagement with characters, theme, or setting, while unfolding via discrete and quick-to-read encounters that are pleasurable and meaningful in their own right. A moving example is Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, originally published in 1990, in which the stories relate the experiences of a small group of soldiers before, during, and after their service in Vietnam. Another popular example is Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, 2008, in which the stories are linked by the presence of—or at least allusions to—the cantankerous Olive.
 
Again, some short-story cycles are based not on characters or themes, but on setting. In place-based cycles, a specific geographical location—a city, town, or smaller community—becomes, in a sense, the main character of the work. Through its residents’ stories, we see that community undergoing conflict and experiencing change leading to a climax and resolving in a dénouement. This is the case with my own novel in stories, Consecration Pond.
 
Above is a photo of a few well-known examples of place-based short-story cycles. Here’s a brief look at each:

• Dubliners by James Joyce, originally published in 1914, portrays a succession of middle-class Dublin citizens, from children and merchants to lovers and dreamers. The stories’ main characters are not acquainted with one another; rather, they’re linked by their shared setting and by the themes of stultification, isolation, loss, and regret, which culminate in the last and longest story, “The Dead.”

 

• Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson, 1919, presents 22 scenes from the lives of the residents of a small and provincial town. These characters may or may not know each other, but most are acquainted with George Willard, a young reporter for the town newspaper. Major themes are isolation—despite the close proximity of neighbors—and the psychological necessity of leaving one’s birthplace to venture into the wider world.

 

• The Golden Apples by Eudora Welty, 1949, consists of seven stories involving eight families living in fictional Morgana, Mississippi. The collection is steeped in references to mythology and fable, from the title to the names of characters (King MacLain) to descriptions (Circe feeding her swine). Some of the stories have been anthologized and are successful as individual stories, whereas the cycle as a whole provides a complex and piercing portrait of a place and time. A warning: one of the stories depicts rape, and many include the use of racist language and tropes.

 

• Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout, 2017, is a sequel to Strout’s 2016 novel My Name Is Lucy Barton; however, familiarity with the novel isn’t essential for appreciating the cycle. The stories all take place in Lucy’s fictional hometown of Amgash, Illinois, which she left to become a writer. The portraits here are of those who stayed behind. Their moments of disappointment, despair, generosity, and hope together reveal a community’s struggles, heartaches, and quiet goodness.

 
I hope this brief look at short-story cycles inspires you to try a few. Even the most devoted fans of the novel are unlikely to be disappointed.

For more information on short-story cycles, check out Christopher Marcus'  website, linkedshortstories.com.

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