Short stories in the genre Literary Realism

Literary realism consists of short stories that relentlessly pursue the world as it is, holding up a mirror to our realities and beautifully writing down what’s there.

Listing 742 stories.

After watching his father's infidelity slowly poison the family dynamic and his mother's happiness, a young, gay Afro-Latinx boy meets his father's mistress.

A veteran boxer fights the fatigue of age as he faces off with his rival in two career-defining matches.

A woman feels a strange wash of power over her as she accidentally stumbles into the world of a science fiction convention.

A college girl becomes her professor's mistress and moves into his home with his wife and children. After she becomes pregnant, the wife is pushed to make a tragic decision to escape her crumbling marriage and protect the young new mother.

A college counselor watches anxiously as her teenage son applies to college without her help. As her son plans for his future, the counselor and her husband reflect on how quickly their lives have changed, seeking ways to steady themselves in the midst of middle age.

When a group of college boys cross paths with a girl known for her infamous sexual activities, they try to entice her into a night out, only to find she has become a different person.

A lost man finds his way back to his family after realizing he does not truly wish to be alone.

A womanizing young man agonizes over the death of his girlfriend, acting in self-sabotaging ways and ignoring the pleas of his parents to stop.

On Native American lands in the Old South, a young Indigenous man competes with a white steamboat pilot for the affection of a woman.

In the first personal plural, a psychiatric ward patient describes their day-to-day routines and thoughts while their life slowly becomes easier.