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7 June 2013updated 02 Feb 2015 2:58pm

“Can’t and Won’t”: a short story by Lydia Davis

A new (very) short work.

By Lydia Davis

I was recently denied a writing prize because, they said, I was lazy
What they meant by lazy was that I used too many contractions: 
for instance, I would not write out in full the words cannot and will not,
but instead contracted them to can’t and won’t.
 
The American writer Lydia Davis was recently awarded the Man Booker International Prize. She is the author of one novel and seven short story collections.

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