The King is Dead, Long Live the King!

The King is Dead, Long Live the King!: Short story by Mary ColeridgeThis story from Mary Coleridge includes some excellent examples of situational irony. A king dies of fever, regretting that he had not lived long enough to finish his work. His spirit dreams his life will be restored if it can locate three people who wish that he was still alive within an hour of his death. The spirit’s findings are not what it had expected, and an even greater insult awaits when it returns to the palace. The story encourages readers to think about what kind of person they think they are, and whether their friends or partner would agree.

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Victory Over Japan

Victory Over Japan: Short story by Ellen GilchristToday we are featuring the trilogy of “Rhoda” stories from Ellen Gilchrist’s short story collection Victory Over Japan. In the titular first story, set in the final days of World War 2, Rhoda is a willful third-grader living in fear of when her disciplinarian father returns home from the war. In the second story, Music, she is a rebellious fourteen-year-old, obsessed with beauty and romance and constantly at war with her father. In the final story, The Lower Garden District Free Gravity Mule Blight or Rhoda, a Fable, she is a lost thirty-four-year-old at a crossroads.

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The Butler

The Butler: Short story by Roald DahlThis story by Roald Dahl is about a newly rich man who tries to buy his way up the social ladder. He employs an expensive butler and French chef and hosts many lavish dinner parties. To impress his guests, he buys some of the world’s best wines and learns a lot about them. What he doesn’t learn about are the things that should and shouldn’t be served with fine wine and how to enjoy it. The butler takes advantage of this, and in so doing puts an end to the rich man’s high society hopes.

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The Man Who Could Work Miracles (A Pantoum in Prose)

The Man Who Could Work Miracles: Short story by H. G. WellsIn this light-hearted story by H. G. Wells, a man known as a sceptic as far as miracles are concerned suddenly discovers he can make things happen just by thinking about them. After a few teething problems, such as sending a local police constable to Hades, he confides in his parish priest. Once convinced, the priest becomes so obsessed with using the miracle worker’s powers for good that he inadvertently encourages him to do something that brings about global catastrophe. Themes include the supernatural, power and responsibility, human frailty, the danger of interfering with nature, science vs. religion.

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In a Grove

In a Grove: Short story by Ryūnosuke AkutagawaRyūnosuke Akutagawa‘s In a Grove, published in 1922, is based on a classical Japanese tale first documented in the 12th century. It comprises seven accounts, including three confessions, relating to the death of a young Samurai. There are differences between each account, and none of the confessions are totally convincing. The story shares similarities with Ambrose Bierce’s Moonlit Road, published fifteen years earlier. Both stories feature unreliable narrators (including the spirit of the victim speaking through a medium) and leave readers to draw their own conclusions about the crime and identity of the killer. Who do you think did it?

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What Men Live By

What Men Live By: Short story by Leo TolstoyIn this story by Leo Tolstoy, God punishes a disobedient angel by casting him out of Heaven to live as a man. The only way he can get his job back is to learn the answers these questions: What dwells in man? What is not given to man? and What (do) men live by? He learns the answers from the family of a poor but compassionate shoemaker, an imperious rich man, and a kind, charitable woman who has adopted the two orphaned children of a dead neighbor. Themes: humanity, compassion, kindness, arrogance, duty, death.

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Mammon and the Archer

Mammon and the Archer: Short story by O. HenryMammon is a biblical term for great wealth. In this story by O. Henry, a self-made millionaire is initially of the belief that money can buy anything. When his son falls in love with a woman from an aristocratic family, he learns there are two things his money can’t buy: love and family recognition among New York High Society. Fortunately for his son, it is able to buy the young man enough time to allow the archer to do his job. Themes include money vs. love, pride, new vs. old money, upper class etiquette, superstition, deception.

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The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg: Short story by Mark TwainSamuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain)’s imaginary Hadleyburg is a remarkable place. Despite its reputation for being the most honest and upright town in all the region, its citizens managed to offend a vindictive passing stranger. The visitor was so upset that he came up with an elaborate plan to destroy the town’s image. Ironically, as the story plays out, we learn that Hadleyburg’s version of “honesty” came at a price. It is a mean, hard, stingy town, and hasn’t a virtue in the world. Themes: revenge, appearance vs. reality, hypocrisy, temptation, morality vs. greed, “herd mentality”, guilt and shame.

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