Political and social upheaval undeniably impacts short fiction, as writers confront identity in their narratives. Grace Paley explored gender and class issues in "Faith in a Tree;" James Baldwin explored racial and class divisions in "Sonny's Blues." More recently, Junot Diaz looks at the immigrant experience in "Drown," as does Jhumpa Lahiri in "Interpreter of Maladies." Other notable stories include "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen and "The German Refugee" by Bernard Malamud.
Minimalist narratives feature stripped down prose, a flat tone and unexceptional protagonists. Readers are expected to participate in these stories by mentally filling in unexplained gaps. Not only did minimalists wield great influence throughout the 1980s, their short stories continue to be widely studied today. Prominent works include Raymond Carver's "Where I'm Calling From," Bobbie Ann Mason's "Shiloh," Ann Beattie's "Janus" and John Cheever's "The Swimmer," a story which fuses minimalism and surrealism.
A narrative mode in which the author treats fantastic events in a realistic manner while taking a mundane tone, magical realism continues to thrive. Notable stories include "The Garden of Forking Paths" by Jorge Luis Borges, "The Free Radio" by Salman Rushdie, "The Knife Thrower" by Steven Millhauser, "Eyes of a Blue Dog" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Kawabata Yasunari's "Kataude," which translates as "One Arm."
Modern gothic fiction deals in suspense, mystery and the grotesque, while maintaining a facade of eerie realism. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joyce Carol Oates is a classic example, as is Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Other masterful works in this genre include "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, "I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down" by William Gay and Alice Munro's "Menesteung" and "Hateship Friendship Loveship Courtship Marriage."