Best American Short Stories 2022

·58 min·5 clips

In a shocking twist, Andrés's lips are sewn shut and he folds into a scrap of fabric after harassing the little widow.

Coming up: the best American short stories. Meg Wolitzer opens cleanly, naming Andrew Sean Greer’s part in editing the year’s collection and placing the edition inside Selected Shorts’ care. The setup stays modest. Wolitzer does not turn fiction into a lesson. She treats it as a way to loosen a settled opinion for a while and let another worldview take the chair. Heidi Pittler gets her credit, too. The annual collection comes across as a steady act of attention, pulling together short fiction from big names and newer writers without making too much fuss about it. Then Wolitzer steps aside. The story passage moves into an apartment building where one man comes apart in front of neighbors and a little widow behind her door. Andres loses his footing. Shoved aside, he tries to get his dignity back through anger, threats, and blows against the door. The scene is ugly, and it works because ordinary apartment life suddenly has room for something impossible. Cheryl sees it from the cautious safety of her chain lock. Andres’ raised arm freezes. His other hand gets trapped against him. Panic takes over. His body seems to turn on him, his mouth closed with large, sloppy stitches until his distress becomes only a faraway hum. He folds inward. All that remains is a small scrap of cream fabric on the floor outside apartment 4E. The neighbors barely breathe. Later, over coffee, they sort what they know from what they have to invent for themselves. Belief never quite settles. Wolitzer’s closing credits return everything to production names, music, support, and Symphony Space, after a story that has made ordinary authority feel suddenly breakable.

As heard by us

A polished literary hour that lets strong stories do the unsettling work.

Selected Shorts frames the annual Best American Short Stories collection as a chance to set aside fixed opinions and spend time inside another worldview.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play for a guest-edited Best American Short Stories hour, with actors bringing the fiction to life.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Selected Shorts