In this dark story by Saki, a sickly ten-year-old boy masks his hatred for the “Woman”, a controlling guardian who thwarts his every pleasure in his life. To cope, he acts out fantasies in a disused tool-shed in a forgotten corner of her garden. There, in response to the Woman’s religious zeal, he worships a caged polecat-ferret named Sredni Vashtar. When she notices his absorption in the tool-shed and tries to clear it out, Sredni Vashtar answers his prayers. Themes include oppression vs. freedom, isolation and loneliness, imagination vs. reality, religion, rebellion, revenge. More…
The Black Cat
The Stephen Kings of the writing world tend to use external, often supernatural forces as their instruments of terror. With Edgar Allan Poe, the horror generally develops from the tortured mind of man. The protagonist here has lost his mind to alcoholism. Like many alcoholics, he becomes violent when in a drunken state. This is initially directed towards family pets. Extreme cruelty to animals can indicate psychopathic tendencies, and this proves true later in the story when he shows no remorse for any of his actions, including the murder of his wife. Themes: alcoholism, mental illness, brutality, death. More…
The Beginning of Homewood
This partly autobiographical story by John Edgar Wideman takes the form of a letter from an African-American man to his brother in prison. The central topic is how their great-great-great-grandmother Sybela escaped slavery with the son of her owner and their two illegitimate children and, after a five-hundred-mile flight across America, established a new community in a remote corner of Pittsburgh. The letter seeks to reconcile Sybela’s flight from bondage with his brother’s incarceration for murder, questioning whether the latter should be mitigated by their legacy of slavery. Themes include race, heritage, slavery, escape, freedom, justice and accountability, the supernatural. More…
The Library of Babel
Jorge Borges is known for his unusual and sometimes complex stories which connect things that don’t seem real or possible with the themes of metaphysics and religion. The Library of Babel also includes several other themes commonly found in Borges’s work: infinity, language and order vs. randomness. The Library, which is composed of a seemingly endless number of galleries, is an allegory for the universe. The books within the galleries are incomprehensible. The librarians, who represent mankind, search for the gallery of a mythical “Man of Books” (God?), thought to contain a compendium volume which may unlock the Library’s secrets. More…
Grandpa’s Magic Hat
In this story by Marilyn Helmer for Cricket Magazine, two brothers set out to prove their grandfather was joking when he told them an old straw hat he never wears has the magical ability to bring things to life. They decide to test the hat by placing it on the head of scarecrow standing in a neighbor’s garden. As they are doing this, the neighbor’s dog barks and the boy’s flee, leaving the hat behind. Later that night, they are shocked when a stranger dressed exactly like the scarecrow joins a neighbourhood barn dance. More…