Why Short Stories Matter

On the Going in of Stories

By Jodi Weisz

What is it about short stories that speak to our hearts so deeply, that rouse us out of our reflexive habits? Like a stethoscope, stories listen to our deepest longings and acknowledge our humanity.

Somehow, after reading a really good short story we are spurred on to be more reflective, observant, even desirous of change. We can listen to the news, we can read advice columns, we can purchase self-help books and watch YouTube videos of our favorite personality, we can re-play Tony Robbins' CDs during our morning and afternoon commutes, hoping for something to sink-in. Chances are, when our regular lives take over, we are back to our original habits, having heard with our ears, but not changed from within, not transformed.

Then there is this thing, this experience, this phenomena called a story! Dr. Seuss says is so well, "So, on beyond Z! It’s high time you were shown. That you really don’t know. All there is to be known."

Maybe, what we also like about stories is they represent possibility. Kurt Vonnegut points out, "In the era of big brains, life stories could end up any which way. Look at mine."

In the flash-of-a-moment, a short story reels us in, mind, body, and soul. We are zapped into a new level of consciousness, we want to look around the room and share our insight, somehow a composting has happened, our soul has been taken to a new place, our eyes have widened to a fresh perspective never before considered. Perhaps we have been slightly horrified or disturbed by a character in a good way? The author has fashioned a mirror, we see our own fragility, our (lack of) will power; we yearn for self-restraint, magnanimity of character, grander selfless love, suddenly the unsteady creatures in our lives become precious and bold and deserving of our best. Appreciation for our version of normalcy grows. As my dear librarian mentor, Mary Jane Tacchi use to say, "Stories go in."

Yes, stories trigger, stimulate and strengthen us; they pound in our hearts for months, sometimes years after we finish reading them. A story can lead to a new trajectory. Wise Mary Jane, you were so right when you told me. "If you want to be a good librarian, fill yourself up with stories, everything else is an afterthought." I have had the good fortune of watching hundreds of students, when stories go into them. Then, off they go, off they give, off they stand-up and, become.

Your 8th grade English teacher knew this too: short stories have a way of working on us, like no moralizing, preaching, advice-giving, dieting, turning over a new leaf, searching, buying, replacing, de-cluttering, re-recovering, uncovering, eliminating, adding, fleeing, consuming, "apping," amazoning, rising before dawn, reprogramming, investing, divesting or resolutioning can similarly achieve.

Joseph Campbell reminds us in his luminous way what stories provide: a glimpse of a hero who "ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder." When we read stories, and, in particular, when we read stories together as a community, we gain the hero's wisdom, he/she who "comes back from [a] mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

So, you want to grow, be inspired, thrive, connect or explore? The Danbury Public Library's Short on Time Book Club has gathered contemporary short stories that promise to stick.with.you. Notice the period between each word? That is to represent the going in.

Will you find, what you are called to become, from reading stories?

The Short on Time Book Club starts May 26, 2018 from 11 AM to 12 PM . Four sessions will be held. Registration is required. Please email Jodi Weisz, MLIS at: jweisz@danburylibrary.org or call (203) 797-4505 ext. 7728.

Jodi L. Weisz is a Adult Librarian at The Danbury Public Library and a permanent member of Beta Phi Mu, the international honor society for librarians.