Over the past week, I have focused on novelist in the “100Novels Collection” (link expired) to highlight how, often times, novels take precedence over collections of short stories in shaping the legacy of writers.

Similar to Toni Cade Bambara, Edward P. Jones is known primarily as a short story writer and has even expressed a preference for the short story form. Ironically enough, though, he won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his sole novel, The Known World. This occurrence leads me to wonder why novels are favored more than short stories? Moreover, I wonder do publishers produce disincentives for writers who favor short stories over novels? Exploring these questions may shed light into the political world of publishing companies and to what ends do they promote novels over collections of short stories.

Below, view a list of short stories by Edward P. Jones:

Lost in the City (1992)

The Girl Who Raised Pigeons

The First Day

The Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed

Young Lions

The Store

An Orange Line Train to Ballston

The Sunday Following Mother’s Day

Lost in the City

His Mother’s House

A Butterfly on F Street

Gospel

A New Man

A Dark Night

Marie

All Aunt Hagar’s Children (2006)

In the Blink of God’s Eye

Spanish in the Morning

Resurrecting Methuselah

Old Boys, Old Girls

All Aunt Hagar’s Children

A Poor Guatemalan Dreams of a Downtown in Peru

Root Worker

Common Law

Adam Robinson Acquires Grandparents and a Little Sister

The Devil Swims Across the Anacostia River

Blindsided

A Rich Man

Bad Neighbors

Tapestry