Ask HN: What's the most thought provoking short story you've read?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19985487

by jason_zig • 7 years ago

18 19 7 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

jqbx_jason• 7 years ago

"Winter Dreams" by Fitzgerald is pretty great. It changed my perspective on wealth and has in general stuck with me for a long time: https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/engl494/winterdreams.pdf

auslegung• 7 years ago

The open boat by Stephen Crane is amazingly well written

AnimalMuppet• 7 years ago

"For sale, Baby shoes, Never worn."

Attributed to Hemingway, but he may have cribbed the idea from others...

arthev• 7 years ago

"The Machine Stops" by Forster sent me for a loop back in high school.

bloodorange• 7 years ago

Metamorphosis by Kafka

perilunar• 7 years ago

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5200

csquires• 7 years ago

The Egg by Andy Weir http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html

htanirs• 7 years ago

It was Excellent. Sometimes I feel the other way. I am the only human and everything else is made up.

quickthrower2• 7 years ago

I’m real

k4ch0w• 7 years ago

This one always stuck with me too.

simonblack• 7 years ago

"The last man alive was alone in a room. He locked the door."

Jackypot• 7 years ago

"I have no mouth and I must scream"

masonic• 7 years ago

"Postpaid to Paradise" aka "Postmarked for Paradise" aka "The Marvelous Stamps from El Dorado", a short story by Robert Arthur.

giardini• 7 years ago

"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.

minnca• 7 years ago

Not sure about MOST thought-provoking, but "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" and "State Change" (both by Ken Liu) are two good ones I read recently and think a lot about.

milkcircle• 7 years ago

I recommend "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang! An excellent sci-fi story set in the past that explores themes of guilt and repentance.

wintercarver• 7 years ago

Funes the Memorious, by Borges. "About" a dude (Funes) suffering from an infinite memory, written in a non-fiction tone/style.

http://vigeland.caltech.edu/ist4/lectures/funes%20borges.pdf

altsyset• 7 years ago

The Stranger by Albert Camus

3minus1• 7 years ago

I read a lot of good ones in school:

* Hills like White Elephants by Hemingway * A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor * Harrison Bergeron by Vonnegut * Most Dangerous Game

Ask HN: What's the most thought provoking short story you've read?

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