The Return

The Return: Short story by Fernando SorrentinoToday we have a story by Argentinean writer Fernando Sorrentino. At first, it reads like a typical ‘campfire’ horror story. A man looking out his window witnesses a mean neighbour accidentally causing the death of an old beggar. Later, he sees the dead beggar return in the form of a newborn baby boy. When the boy is older, he causes the death of the man who killed him and then suddenly disappears. The author has cleverly created the character of the narrator so that, if readers look a little harder, they might question if this is what really happened.

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Four Summers

Four Summers: Short story by Joyce Carol OatesThis story from Joyce Carol Oates charts the coming of age of a woman through four stages of life: infancy, childhood, adolescence and early womanhood. Her emotional development and the lives of those around her are portrayed through experiences over four summers at the same lakeside bar. Growing up in a working class environment in which hard drinking and angry outbursts are the norm, she is increasingly disillusioned by what she sees. At nineteen, she finds herself married, pregnant and facing a life of the same. Themes include marriage, family and the role of social class in determining one’s future.

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Other People

Other People: Short story by Neil GaimanThis Neil Gaiman is not for the fainthearted. Upon entering a room in Hell, a man meets the “demon” that will be his tormentor. After suffering excruciating pain from each of the 211 torture instruments lining the walls, he asks the demon what comes next. The answer: the true pain begins! And so it does for several thousand more years. In the last sentence, we learn why Gaiman agreed to change the title from his original choice (Afterlife) to Other People. Themes include sin and punishment, and the nature of Hell (suffering and inflicting dehumanizing pain and suffering).

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The Selfish Giant

The Selfish Giant: Children's story by Oscar WildeThe Irish writer Oscar Wilde is known for his plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his short stories. He also wrote children’s stories, and this is one of the best known of these. A giant finds that his beautiful garden has become a playground for children. He drives them away and builds a wall around it. The seasons close in and his castle becomes a cold, miserable place. Redemption comes in the form of a small child the giant comes to love. The two main themes of the story are greed vs sharing, and Christian love.

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Absalom’s Hair

Absalom’s Hair: Short story by Bjørnstjerne BjørnsonIn this story by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, friends and family are dismayed when an intelligent, independent twenty-one-year-old woman marries a dominant, sixty-year-old recluse. When she tries to leave, he cruelly confines her and their one-year-old son to his seaside estate. On his death, she moves with the then twelve-year-old boy to England and spends the next ten years trying to control every aspect of his life, including separating him from any girl/woman he shows interest in. His love/hate relationship with her almost destroys his life. Themes include power and control, the struggle for independence, vulnerability, desire, societal norms, mother-son relationships.

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Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain: Short story by Annie ProulxAnnie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain is an unsettling story about how a sexual encounter between two male ranch-hands, Jack and Ennis, develops into a twenty-year love affair. The relationship develops over short, intimate camping trips, sometimes years apart. Jack wants more but Ennis’s marriage, social pressures of the day (1960’s), and anti-gay upbringing prevent him from “coming out”. It is not until Jack dies, possibly in a gay hate crime, that Ennis understands the intensity of their feelings for one another. Themes: desire, love, repressed sexuality, masculinity, homophobia, shame, acceptance (if you can’t fix it, you’ve got to stand it).

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I Stand Here Ironing

I Stand Here Ironing: Short story by Tillie OlsenIn this story by Tillie Olsen, a woman reviews events that may help a counselor better understand her nineteen-year-old-daughter. In the process, she questions the extent to which she may be responsible for her daughter’s problems. Poor care choices and lack of attention as an infant, and conflict with her younger sister as she grew up, have clearly affected the girl’s emotional development. A key question is what, if anything, could the woman have done differently in a society indifferent to the plight of single mothers. Themes: parenting, mother-daughter relationships, female identity, child cruelty, guilt, acceptance, hope.

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The Little Things / Tears for Sale

The Little Things / Tears for Sale: Short stories by Samira AzzamSamira Azzam is best known for her later stories presenting a Palestinian perspective on the violence associated with the creation of Israel. Her lesser-known earlier stories are marked by entertaining descriptions of pre-war Palestinian life and traditions. In Little Things, a lovestruck college student tries but fails to heed her parent’s advice to remain virtuous and “not be like other silly girls”. Themes include reputation, first love, sexuality, self-determination. In Tears for Sale, a professional mourner who doubles as a beautician for brides learns that grief is easier to fake than suffer. Themes include curiosity, death, grief, marriage, virtue.

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