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A brief writing lesson prefaces each story in The Paris Review’s collection of twenty contemporary short stories chosen from their archives by masters of the genre. Here are some selections from “Object Lessons, The Art of The Short Story.”

“Ten Stories from Flaubert,” by Lydia Davis

Davis fashions snatches of material from Flaubert’s correspondence to a friend and lover into small stories she artfully arranges to tell a bigger story.

Writers, do you have a box of letters in your closet that tell a story?

“The Beau Monde of Mrs. Bridges,” by Evan S. Connell

Connell captures a society matron’s shallow emotional world in a bygone era defined by good manners and narrow perspective.

…some people go skimming over the years of existence to sink gently in a placid grave, ignorant of life to the last, without ever having been made to see all in may contain.

Could that happen in today’s media-blitzed world? What have we substituted for manners to protect ourselves from seeing or feeling what we don’t want to see/feel? 

“Dimmer,” by Joy Williams

Williams paints the unrelenting misery of young, orphaned, neglected, dirty, uneducated, unloved, dimwitted, diseased, frightened, the-list-goes-on, Aussie Mal Vester so vividly you will want to take a shot of whiskey and a shower when the story ends. Almost seems trite to say she uses incomplete sentences to good effect.

“Another Drunk Gambler,” by Craig Nova

This “coming to America” story intertwines the motivations of disparate characters to tell a satisfying story about how a politician ends up with a Malaysian houseboy.

The lesson to writers: know the sequence of events, understand the nuances of each event, and employ skill in when and how you reveal information.

“Emmy Moore’s Journal,” by Jane Bowles

Emmy flirts with the problem of alcohol abuse (the author’s struggle) in a meandering internal conversation addressed to her husband. She identifies with Turkish (veiled) women because American women are “…so manly and independent, capable of leading regiments…” She is caught between wanting protection and wishing for a sense of capability and control.

“Bangkok,” by James Salter

Killer dialogue. Writers, try this: Tell a story through an exchange between someone who does not want to be part of a conversation and someone who has an ax to grind.

“Clay,” by James Joyce, classicshorts.com

This well crafted story about a have-not laundress could be told today in updated language; Joyce shows how people contrive to keep others in their place while giving lip service to compassion.

Liked: the use of adjectives in place of clauses: a colonel-looking gentleman; the next-door girls

Didn’t like: use of “very” four times in a single sentence.