Sherwood Anderson's classic about an adolescent who is not self-aware even as he tries to critique the lifestyle of the rich. Adapted in various media by Orson Welles, Ron Howard and others.
I'm a Fool
1898 novella set at the Bly Manor that is a ghost story featuring an ambiguous first-person narration and an ending open to interpretation.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Classic about a principled writer who does not compromise and refuses all tasks with the words "I would prefer not to".
Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville
Theodore Dreiser, otherwise known for his novels, wrote this short story as a nostalgic tribute to rural living. This is the story of how Henry deals with departure of his long-married wife who is referred to in the title.
The Lost Phoebe
Edith Wharton's story about Alice Lethbury who is stuck in an unfulfilling marriage and decides to adopt a baby who changes the relations between the couple.
The Mission of Jane
Considered the author's most significant accomplishment as well as her most autobiographical work, it tells the story of Azel Morse, a passive and aging woman who struggles with depression while trying to keep up her social appearance.
Big Blonde by Dorothy Parker
Called a classic since its publication in 1950, it is about a house in California that survives a nuclear bomb blast but is then destroyed in a fire caused by a windstorm. Gets its evocative title from a poem of Sara Teasdale that alludes to the survival of nature after humankind.
There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury
1937 novella of Tom Wolfe that is the story of a family from Asheville, North Carolina that suffers the loss of their 12-year-old son Grover who dies of typhoid during a family visit to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.
The Lost Boy
Bret Harte is best known for two stories and the one about a childbirth in a gold mining camp is another clue in this quiz. Name the other story that is about a group of people exiled from their town for loose morals.
The Outcasts of Poker Flat
F.X. Toole's collection of short stories about boxing that were adapted into the movie The Million Dollar Baby.
Rope Burns
Story of Willa Cather about a young boy who fails to fit into the world has been called a "gay suicide".
Paul's Case
Sarah Orne Jewett's story about Sylvia, a city girl, who discovers the serenity of the countryside as she helps an ornithologist hunter capture the title bird.
A White Heron
Classic American horror/fantasy story of Conrad Aiken that tells of Paul Hasleman, a normal boy, who starts obsessing about snow. Was dramatized as an episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery.
Silent Snow, Secret Snow
Nathaniel Hawthorne's creepy story about a maiden and poisonous plants has its basis in several stories from Ancient India.
Rappacini's Daughter
The plot of this Richard Connell story about hunting of a certain kind is so distinctive that it has been adapted in several formats.
The Most Dangerous Game
Perhaps the greatest short story written about the elements of nature, this is a frequently anthologized story about an unnamed traveler in the Yukon Territory who battles subzero temperature.
To Build a Fire by Jack London
The celebrated and accessible story of a Nobel winning author, otherwise known for difficult to read novels, is about the struggle of maintaining tradition in the face of radical change. The words "Southern gothic" are frequently used wherever the story is analyzed.
A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
A moving 1953 story about a simpleton Jewish bread maker who is at the receiving end of jokes and pranks of his village folk but continues to remain stoic.
Gimpel the Fool by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Celebrated 1939 story that is synonymous with day-dreaming and delusions of grandeur. Filmed multiple times, the 2013 version starred Ben Stiller.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber
Hamlin Garland's story about Edward Smith, a soldier who is trudging back home after fighting in the Civil War.
The Return of the Private
Hapless criminals Bill and Sam and a very naughty 10-yr old Johnny, the son of Ebenezer Dorset. That should be enough.
The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry
Classic set during the US Civil War known for its non-linear narrative and twist ending. Peyton Farquhar is about to be hanged and has visions.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce
Story of the Jazz Age adapted by David Fincher in 2008 with Brad Pitt which in the first few scenes shows clocks turning back in keeping with the theme of "reversing".
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Fannie Hurst's 1919 story, made into a 1920 silent film and a 1946 film noir starring Joan Crawford, is subtitled A Laugh on Life with a Tear Behind It.
Humoresque
Short story that brought a quintessential American author to national attention, it is about a betting man named Jim Smiley and his pet Dan'l Webster.
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Based on the John Updike's teenage years in Pennsylvania, this coming of age story is about David Kern, a young man who has a crisis of faith as he struggles with his belief in life after death.
Pigeon Feathers
Long short story by Henry van Dyke about a fourth "Magi" that is set in Biblical times and is about Artaban, who searches for Jesus in vain while upholding the spirit of kindness and charity.
The Story of the Other Wise Man
Bret Harte's story about a childbirth is a gold mining camp catapulted him to national fame.
The Luck of Roaring Camp
This story by Saul Bellow observes a sixty-year-old Chicago businessman Woody Selbst as he comes to terms with the death of his father, a con-man and petty thief and opens with “How against a contemporary background, do you mourn an octogenarian father?”
A Silver Dish
Mark Twain and the story about the downfall of a town - enough said.
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg
This Katherine Anne Porter's story about lost faith seen through Christian theme features Laura and Braggioni, a Mexican revolutionary leader who is courting her.
Flowering Judas
An entire quiz can be written on the short fiction of the great Edgar Allan Poe. In the interest of brevity, here's one clue: name the sequel to The Murders in the Rue Morgue.
The Purloined Letter
Long sleep.
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
These stories collected in seven books form a significant corpus of African American folklore and are narrated by a character who was portrayed by James Baskett in Song of the South.
Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris
This author wrote many great short stories but perhaps the most loved, anthologized, and adapted one is about mutual giving and self-sacrifice and features a pocket watch and combs.
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
This 1948 story about an annual rite in a fictional US small town was published in The New Yorker and features one of the most famous horror/twist endings ever.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
This classic of Kate Chopin is set in antebellum Louisiana and is about a baby born from mixed race heritage.
Désirée's Baby
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story that was one of the first to focus attention on mental health and is told as a series of journal entries.
The Yellow Wallpaper
Now a holiday classic that has been produced in various media, this moving autobiographical story of Truman Capote set in the 1930s describes a period in the lives of the seven-year-old narrator and an elderly woman who is his distant cousin and best friend.
A Christmas Memory
Story of Ring Lardner that is about a couple, Lucy Frost (also known as Mother) and Charley, who have been married for fifty years and are going to Florida for the titular event. On the surface, it is about the celebration of a long marriage but there are other undercurrents.
The Golden Honeymoon
Bernard Malamud's story about the search of Leo Finkle, a would-be rabbi, for a wife and his finding her photograph in what he believes is the titular object.
The Magic Barrel
First published in 1936 in Esquire, this celebrated story about Harry, a writer dying from gangrene, has been filmed in 1952 with Gregory Peck as the lead.
The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
Classic story of Eudora Welty about a narrator named Sister that was inspired by a real-life photo of a woman ironing clothes at the title location.
Why I Live at the P.O.
The basis of this chilling story by Joyce Carol Oates was the murders committed by serial killer Charles Schmid which were profiled in a Life magazine article in 1966. Concerns a 15-yr old Connie who is stalked by Arnold Friend.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
What door to open?!
The Lady, or the Tiger by Frank Stockton
Award winning story that is a character study of Francis Weed, a middle-aged family man, who is aboard a plane that is making an emergency crash landing in a corn field. When he returns to his home in Shady Hill, he finds his family uninterested in his experience. Like most of John Cheever's stories, it is set in suburbia.
A Country Husband
Set in rural Kentucky, it is about a strict school teacher who detains a student to work and pay for damage he did to the titular object.
The Split Cherry by Jesse Stuart
This story adapted into a noted Twilight Zone episode starring William Shatner is about the protagonist seeing something on an airplane wing. The story has also been called an allegory to the fear of flying.
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet by Richard Matheson
Long tale of John O'Hara that is from the story-set Sermons and Soda Water and is about a bad marriage taking a turn for the better.
Imagine Kissing Pete
Frank Norris's story about the business of a staple grain is set at the Chicago Board of Trade and examines how speculation and price wars impact a farmer from Kansas.
A Deal in Wheat
Survival story from 1897 that is based on the author Stephen Crane's experience of surviving a shipwreck off the coast of Florida.
The Open Boat
Fantastic story of a Hessian soldier impacted by a cannonball in a certain way - any more clues would be a dead giveaway.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
This 1941 debut of Eudora Welty explores the lonely life of Bowman, a titular professional for a shoe company and the effect that an isolated lifestyle takes on mental health.
Death of a Traveling Salesman
Set in the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929, the major theme of this story about Charlie Wales is the inevitability of past mistakes resurfacing.
Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald
About a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul and is defended by a real-life 19th-century American statesman and orator. The story celebrates the concept of America both its past and future possibilities.
The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet
Story of William Saroyan about a twenty-two-year-old writer living in San Francisco. Divided into two chapters titled "Sleep" and "Wakefulness", the title comes from a popular 19th century song about a circus performer.
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze
A paean to American patriotism, this is the story of an Army lieutenant Philip Nolan who is tried along with Aaron Burr during a trial for treason and foolishly renounces his country.
The Man Without a Country
This dystopian classic with themes of overpopulation concerns a criminal mastermind Billy the Poet who lives in a world in which the government urges people to commit suicide to stabilize the population at 17 billion.
Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut
This frequently anthologized story concerns an escaped prisoner named The Misfit and a closed-minded and hypocritical individual named Grandmother.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor