The Sea of Lost Time

The Sea of Lost Time: Short story by Gabriel Garcia MarquezThe seaside town in this story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a smelly, unpleasant place. With every incoming tide, the ocean brings garbage and rotting fish. Many people have moved away; the town is dying. Things change when a local man, Tobias, notices something different about the sea breeze. It smells like roses. Weekend visitors begin to arrive. There is music and dancing again. One of the visitors is a strange foreigner with bags of money. He gives it away to people who ‘do things’ for him, and one day shows Tobias the secret of what lies beneath the waves.

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Young Archimedes

Young Archimedes: Short story by Aldous HuxleyThis tragic story from Aldous Huxley is about an English family renting a secluded Italian villa. When their young son is befriended by Guido, the son of a farm-worker, his father notices that in addition to being musically gifted, Guido has the makings of a math prodigy. While the family are holidaying in the Swiss Alps the childless, status-seeking wife of their landlord tricks Guido’s father into letting her take the boy away for musical instruction. The selfish woman tells Guido a terrible lie, with tragic results. Themes: greed, genius, family, class, social status, manipulation, abandonment, suicide.

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Yellow Fish

Yellow Fish: Short story by C. S. Lakshimi (aka Ambai)On the surface, this story by C. S. Lakshimi (aka Ambai) is about a grieving mother who arranges the rescue of a discarded fish dying on the shore because its struggles remind her of those of her premature baby Jalaja before she died. The story also reflects the cycle of life (the vibrant colors and frenetic activity associated with return of the fishing fleet), death (Jalaja’s passing and the yellow fish flapping on the sand) and rebirth (the fish’s return to the sea). Themes include loss, grief, insensitivity, maternalism, the cycle of life.

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Zoo

Zoo: Short story by Edward HochThis very short science fiction tale from Edward Hoch is an excellent story to illustrate the meaning of point of view in literature. A traveling zoo makes annual visits to world cities. But this is no ordinary zoo: it is a space ship displaying strange creatures from different parts of the universe. The story can be interpreted from three perspectives: the people who visit the zoo, Professor Hugo’s (the zoo’s owner), and the creatures behind bars inside. Each sees the zoo differently, and benefits from the visit in a different way.

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A Haunted House

A Haunted House: Short story by Virginia WoolfIf you read Virginia Woolf‘s A Haunted House expecting it to be a horror story, you will come away disappointed. Rather than scary, the best word I can think of to describe it is bittersweet. Sweet because two ghosts are still very much in love after hundreds of years; sad because the ghostly couple appear to be anxiously searching for something. Although the central theme of the story is the immortality of love, it also carries the message that life is short, and we should treasure each moment with those we love. Other themes include loss, time, memories, the supernatural.

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Aunty Misery

Aunty Misery: Puerto Rican folktale from Judith Ortiz CoferIn this Puerto Rican folktale retold by Judith Ortiz Cofer, a lonely old woman has only one love… a beautiful pear tree growing outside her door. Her one hate is mischievous children who climb the tree and steal its fruit. A wish granted by a travelling sorcerer solves her problem with the children and, when Death comes for her, allows her to capture him. Her trick on Death causes so many troubles around the world that she finally releases him in exchange for immortality. The message of the story: there will always be misery and death in the world.

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Poonek

Poonek: Short story by Lim Beng HapIn this story by Lim Beng Hap, a young man returns to his riverside village in Sarawak after ten years absence at school. The only thing that has changed is that a girl who had been his constant childhood companion has grown into a beautiful woman. When the girl’s father offers her to the young man in marriage, he initially declines. The belief among his people is that refusing such an offer makes him Poonek (likely to suffer a disaster), and he soon has a warning encounter with a crocodile. Themes include tradition, superstition, patriarchy, love.

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Life in the Iron-Mills

Life in the Iron-Mills: Short story by Rebecca Harding DavisSet in the 1830s, this story by Rebecca Harding Davis highlights the desperate plight of mill and factory workers during the early stages of the industrial revolution. A young furnace attendant, ostracised by other iron-mill workers because of his mild manner and artistic leaning, lives in squalid conditions with his father and a mildly disfigured female cousin. The cousin, whose love for the man is not reciprocated, destroys both of their lives by stealing money to try to help him. Themes include social inequality, exploitation, poverty, artistry, lack of opportunity, unrequited love, crime and punishment, despair, redemption.

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