Best Short Story Writers of 1901-1950
I will make another list of the best 19th century short story writers. There are far too many good writers for just 10, so dividing them up by century made sense with the 20th century divided again. Dividing the 20th C. still presents problems as where do authors with long careers or who straddle the dividing line belong (Welty, Capote, Bradbury, Porter, Salinger, Jackson for example). Off the top of my head I came up with over thirty writers. My mother, an English teacher who was my high school English teacher 9th-12th grades, incidentally, came up with even more names.
You have made some really beautiful lists Blue_Deveraux. Bravo! All the writers you chose have indeed great quality and style, thank God for your fair apprciation of literature. I voted for Lawrence. My favourite short story by him is 'The Horse Dealer's Daughter'. I found it really gripping and very intriguing!
Saki is unbeatable. His stories reflected wits of uncomparable stature and had a dramatic, unexpected endings. Go read Dusk written by him, if you want an example.
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American novelist and short story writer, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age.
Truman Garcia Capote, born Truman Streckfus Persons (September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and the true crime novel In Cold Blood (1966), which he labeled a "nonfiction novel". At least 20 films and television dramas have been produced of Capote novels, stories, and plays. He could go on either side of the dividing line, but I think his best stories are pre-1950.
She is so diffcult to place as she lived almost the entire century (1909-2001) and published almost as many short story collections pre-1950 and post-1950. However, her most famous stories are pre-1950.
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced ...read more.
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician, most noted for creating the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and writing stories about him which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Her " Collected Stories" won the Pulitzer and National Book Award in 1966, but most (maybe all? ) of the stories collected were written in the 30s as were her novellas.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. Virtually unknown and published only in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors in his genre. ...read more.
Another one who straddles the line, but her most famous novels were pre-1950, and her most famous collection of stories, "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe", while published in 1951, contains stories written pre-1950.
William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays, and screenplays. He is primarily known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where he spent most of his life.