The space between the stories: An interview with Thomas Morris

Ana García-Soriano; Madeleine Sinclair

doi:10.1386/fict_00114_7

Landscape and Temporality in Short Fiction, Part 1

ISSN: 2043-0701
E-ISSN: 2043-071X

The space between the stories: An interview with Thomas Morris
Authors: Ana García-Soriano¹ and Madeleine Sinclair²
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¹ ISNI: 0000000419368403 University of Leeds ² ISNI: 0000000088091613 University of Warwick
Source: Short Fiction in Theory & Practice, Volume 14, Issue Landscape and Temporality in Short Fiction, Part 1, Oct 2024, p. 281 - 295
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/fict_00114_7
Language: English
- Published online: 10 Mar 2025

Abstract

In this interview, Thomas Morris discusses the intersection between place and selfhood in the collections We Don’t Know What We’re Doing (Faber & Faber, 2015) and Open Up (Faber & Faber, 2023), reflecting on the tension between mobility and immobility, past and present, and the individual and collective. Throughout the interview, Morris also sheds light on the literary influences behind his short fiction and the particularities of the short story collection or ‘suite’, in constructing a sense of place. The following interview took place over e-mail between June and September 2024.

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References

Little Atoms (2023), ‘Little Atoms 848: Thomas Morris’ Open Up’, Acast, UK, 25 August, https://shows.acast.com/littleatoms/episodes/little-atoms-848-thomas-morris-open-up. Accessed 25 May 2024.
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Morris, Thomas (2015), We Don’t Know What We’re Doing, London: Faber & Faber.
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Morris, Thomas (2023), Open Up, London: Faber & Faber.
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Anderson, Sherwood (1993), Winesburg, Ohio, London: Penguin Classics.
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Cisneros, Sandra (2004), The House on Mango Street, London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
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Joyce, James (2008), Dubliners, Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics.
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May, Charles E. (1976), Short Story Theories, Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.
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Thomas, Dylan (2014), Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
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Article Type: Other

Keyword(s): humour; magical thinking; place; selfhood; short story; stuckness; time

The space between the stories: An interview with Thomas Morris

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