Poll

This is a tough one! I think both are great and unique. I really don't know which way to go.

Neither do I. I will sleep on them.

I've read TTTC (and the novel) more than once before today, so it was less propulsive and intriguing vis-a-vis with TIAN, but O'Brien's singular language stands alone. Where ordinary man would manage, at his best, only invective and diatribe, O'Brien composed a requiem.

And I like the several interpretations of TIAN. It's all of them.

I've voted for The Island at Noon for being more memorable, but based on my notes, I am not sure I got the end if there was something to get.

Ang wrote: "I've voted for The Island at Noon for being more memorable, but based on my notes, I am not sure I got the end if there was something to get."

I didn't get the end either. But isn't that the thing with short stories. But I voted for O'Brien. I have always loved his book.

This is a no-brainer for me. "The Things They Carried" is an incredibly crafted story and the most poetic of the stories (I have read) on the the list. There is a masterful style at work here that creates a clear impression of the mundane routine of war and the horror of it at the same time. The lists upon lists of things they carry has a profound effect and when the listing turns to abstract and metaphorical things it becomes even greater. This is a fantastic story.

"The Island At Noon" was really interesting until the plane crash, then it all fell to garbage. Yes, garbage. If you stop reading four sentences from the end, there is no ambiguity, no magical mystery anything. It is a straight-forward story. Then we get a few odd contradictions in description tossed in right at the end and suddenly no one has any idea what is going on anymore, but everyone sets to work developing their pet theories about it. Ambiguity in a story can be a strength, but here it is the worst sort of bad ambiguity. To offer one example, The man with a gash in his throat is described as dead, but then we are told about them "searching for other survivors". The word "other" indicates he lived, but he's dead. The author's explanation that there is a double situation here and that one of them has to just magically pop out of existence is not clear in the story at all. The ending is less Deus Ex Machina and more Disaster Ex Machina.

Trevor, I am sensing a trend in a difference in our taste for stories. First the silly joke of "The Open Window", then this, and (yes I read ahead a bit) the (SHOCK!) plot twist ending for "Michael's Wife" tomorrow. I hated that ending, too, but we will get to that in due time....

Voted for "The Things They Carried". Wish I could vote for it ten more times.

You've convinced me on this one, David, but I still like The Open Window.

I've changed my vote to The Things They Carried.

I've voted for TTTC, but here's Cortazar's theory of relativity

https://logger.believermag.com/post/j...

Interesting that some details of the story Cortazar mentions differ from the version I read. The story has continued to develop in his memory?

After cogitating, I'm closer to David's opinion about TIAN.

I think "The Island at Noon" is much better than many of us are giving it credit for, but I'm still voting for "The Things They Carried." The poetic qualities of that top the "meaningfulness" of Island, but I'm not convinced that lyricism will carry it too far t/o the rest of the bracket

I feel similarly to Thomas. "The Island at Noon" is about meaninglessness, but in a meaningful way.

That said, I still went with "The Things They Carried," which I think is one of our greatest short stories about war (and, as I think on it, one of our greatest short stories, period).

Big fan of O'Brien but I can't have any part in kicking out Cortazar this early.

I should admit that I took a while to find my footing with Cortazar. I first read some of his stories because people I respected loved them. I'd read them, though, and often ended up shaking my head, though something strange continued to pester me.

This something strange was what kept me going, kept me trying when I'd normally give up. I finally started to really feel it, which isn't to say I finally started to understand it -- and that's why I love him now. He helps me feel things I usually cannot articulate.

I could say the same about Bolano who enters the contest tomorrow with a story I read four times before I finally just accepted that I loved it even if I didn't fully understand it.

I'm pretty sure Cortazar was Bolano's favourite writer alongside Borges...anyway, I feel similarly re: the former.

I'm somewhat surprised at the love for "The Things They Carried."
I thought I'd be one of the only votes. I thought the story might be too time specific and detail oriented to appeal to a wider audience. I can't really be objective here. I served during the Vietnam conflict and the story too close my past to judge. I hate to see the Cortazar go.

I didn’t relish reading TTTC as war stories are not appealing to me as a rule. But I found myself mesmerized by the writing of this story. It was poetic, almost lyrical. It was singing to me - not a happy song but compelling to the end. So it wins my vote hands down.

Sam wrote: "I'm somewhat surprised at the love for "The Things They Carried."
I thought I'd be one of the only votes. I thought the story might be too time specific and detail oriented to appeal to a wider au..."

Oh, Sam, I can't read TTTC without becoming outraged all over again, and heartsick, and shaking, and I merely watched and read about the war in Vietnam from the sofa every day.

I thought "The Island at Noon" would have a bit better showing, but I cannot argue with the results of this one.