Introduction

A simple working definition, the simplest. Short, so it can be read in one sitting, perhaps on a train, between calls, in a bath or a bar. Stories of note, any narrative text experienced with a particular intensity when it was first read, which has lingered and not let one go, and to which I return.

Sometimes it’s not clear why a story stands out over time. The fact one returns to it means there is juice remaining, there are questions outstanding, or a reappraisal is called for as our ways of living, of reading and writing, unfold and change.