Not only is Michael Cunningham a master of the short story—he’s one of the mentors who helped me find my own voice in undergrad. I could’ve put “White Angel” or “A Wild Swan” here, but there’s something about surreal gem “Pearls” that stands out as especially striking to me. After losing his lover, a young man notices loose pearls from her favorite necklace turning up in increasingly surprising hiding places around his home. The best jokes don’t need to be explained; neither do the best metaphors.
Published in The Paris Review, Winter 1982
A Personal Anthology 