2K. L. Cook Short Story CycleShort Story Cycle: Quotes & NotesWhile there are various conventions associated with the genre of the short story cycle. . . there is only one essential characteristic of the short story cycle: the stories are both self-sufficient and interrelated. On the one hand, the stories work independently of one another: the reader is capable of understanding each of them without going beyond the limits of the individual story. On the other hand, however, the stories work together, creating something that could not be achieved by a single story. . . . The ability of the story cycle to extend discussionsto work on a larger scaleresembles what is accomplished in the novel. But the forms of the cycle and novel are significantly different: only the first is constructed from stories. Susan Garland Mann The Short Story Cycle: A Genre Companion & Reference GuideSome critics might trace the current rash of story cycles to rather dubious causes. (I dont necessarily share these views, but Ive heard them voiced.) (1) Some might say that the story cycle is the perfect genre for a writer who cant plot a novel; a series of stories would be more manageable, less daunting, requiring less courage. (2) Others might say that the story cycles popularity is due to the proliferation of creative writing workshops which favor the story over the novel for the simple reason that a story can be discussed and evaluated in a short time, and a series of them can be viewed both singly and as a group. (3) Still others might point a finger at cynical publishers who know that story cycles can often be published as novels, which almost always sell far better than collections of short fiction. The most obviouscase in point is Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club, which was marketed as a novel despite the authors public disclaimers that it was nothing of the sort. And Harriet Doerrs The Stones for Ibarra was made into a novel “after the fact”; having written the stories separately, Doerr provided a thin narrative thread so that the book could be marketed as a novel.Richard Russo In structure the book Winesburg, Ohio lies midway between the novel proper and the mere collection of stories. Like several famous books by more recent authors, all early readers of Andersonlike Faulkners The Unvanquished and Go Down, Moses, like Steinbecks Tortilla Flat and The Pastures of Heaven, like Caldwells Georgia Boyit is a cycle of stories with several unifying elements, including a single background, a prevailing tone, and a central character. These elements can be found in all cycles, but the best of them also have an underlying plot that is advanced or enriched by each of the stories. Malcolm Cowley, Introduction to Winesburg, OhioAlthough many critics identify her Alice Munros Lives of Girls and Women as a novel, the author herself considers it a set of interrelated stories rather than a single work. She claims to have experimented with novel writing, but finds the short story form more suited to the narrative shape and pacing her style demands. “I no longer feel attracted to the well-made novel,” she explained. “I want to write the story that will zero in and give you intense, but not connected moments of experience. I guess thats the way I see life. People remake themselves bit by bit and do things they dont understand. The novel has to have a coherence which I dont see anymore in the lives around me.”From Contemporary Literary Criticism, v. 50 on Alice MunroA group of linked narratives can create an effect you cant get from a novel or from one story alone. Its like a series of snapshots taken over time. Chabon praises Updikes Too Far to Go as an example. Part of the pleasure is turning to them again and again. The interest lies in what has happened in the interstices. Michael Chabon, on John UpdikeTaking Susan Minots Monkeys, then, as a model of the short-story novelnot to be followed slavishly, but as an exemplar of basic requirementswe should look for at least these five elements: Fundamental unities that distinguish connected from collected stories: place, time, cast, theme, tone, style. A framework question addressed throughout successive chapters and answered by the end, indicating what the novel emerging from these individual stories is about. Provisional rather than complete closure for each chapters “story,” creating narrative progression by propelling us, through open-ended interconnections, to the next “story.” A recognizable protagonist (whether individual, family, or group) to empathize with as we realize what is at stake. Final closure when the framework question is answered and the provisional closures ending previous chapters culminate in a satisfactory overall resolution. George R. Clay, “S