Forty-Five a Month

Forty-Five a Month: Short story by R. K. NarayanIn this 1940s story by R. K. Narayan, a working-class father is tortured by guilt over his inability to spend time with his young daughter and provide some of the luxuries other children enjoy. When the chronically overworked man asks for an evening off to take her to a movie, he is refused. He is on the point of resignation when offered a small raise that the family needs badly. In a poignant moment, he arrives home late and finds his daughter asleep, still dressed for the movie. Themes: childhood innocence, parent-child relationships, powerlessness, exploitation, financial struggle, sacrifice, guilt.

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The Three Questions

The Three Questions: Short story by Leo TolstoyThis parable from Leo Tolstoy is about how to succeed in life. A king believes he would never fail in a task if he always knew three things: What is the best time to begin? Who are the most important people to have around you? and What is the most important thing to spend your time doing? He offers a reward for the answers, but neither his wisest counselors nor others who come to claim it can help. An experience with a forest hermit and injured assassin teach him what he needs to know. Themes: wisdom, humility, kindness, forgiveness, morality.

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The Fortune-Teller

The Fortune-Teller: Short story by Joaquim Maria Machado de AssisThis story by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis involves a love triangle between life-long best friends and a woman who is married to one of them. The sceptical lover laughs when the woman consults a fortune-teller for comfort that their relationship will last. Shortly afterwards, he begins to receive anonymous letters claiming that their affair is public knowledge. Ironically, when the husband sends a note asking for an urgent meeting at his house, the frightened lover visits the same fortune-teller for comfort that he is not walking into a trap. Themes include betrayal, adultery, superstition, fate.

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The Judgment (The Verdict)

The Judgment: Short story by Franz KafkaOn the surface, this story by Franz Kafka is about a troubled man’s relationship with his frail but dominating father. The father thinks his son is trying to ease him out of their successful business. The son communicates regularly with a ‘friend’ in Russia, who may be an imaginary alter ego. The father says the friend would be more a son after my own heart, and judges his son guilty of selfishness and betrayal. He sentences him to death by drowning, which the son promptly carries out. Themes: loneliness, insecurity, bachelorhood vs. marriage, patriarchy, father-son relationships, crime, guilt, punishment.

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The Ring

The Ring: Short story by Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen)In this coming of age story by Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen), a recently married nineteen-year-old woman from a wealthy family is confronted by violence for the first time. Having led a sheltered life, the woman has an innocent, child-like view of the world, and in particular her husband’s commitment to improving their farm. Her married bliss is shattered by a chance encounter with a man covered in blood who is on the run for theft and murder. The triggers a re-evaluation of her naïve views on life and marriage. Themes: loss of innocence, responsibility, sexuality, violence, identity/self-awareness, consciousness.

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The Bear

The Bear: Short story / novel by William FaulknerWilliam Faulkner published several versions of this classic story, the most notable of which are a short story that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and a novel-sized chapter in his book, Go Down, Moses. In the short story, an unnamed boy becomes a skilled woodsman over six years of annual hunting trips. His dream is to bag “Old Ben”, a huge bear that has terrorized farmers on the fringes of their hunting grounds for years. When he finally gets the chance, he doesn’t shoot. Themes: family, land and people ownership, racial identity, love of and respect for the wilderness.

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The Pearl of Love

The Pearl of Love: Short story by H. G. WellsIn this story by H. G. Wells an Indian prince, devastated by the death of his young wife, has her body entombed in a sarcophagus and begins to build a magnificent shrine around it that he names the Pearl of Love. Over the years he makes the memorial grander and grander, until one day he tires of it. He not only disassembles the shrine, but also has the sarcophagus removed because it blocks his view of the lord of mountains. Themes include love, loss, grief, art and artistry, the nature of beauty, time and healing.

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The Outsider

The Outsider: Short story by H. P. LovecraftH. P. Lovecraft was a pioneer of cosmic horror, a sub-genre in which gothic settings and “other-worldly” elements replace shock and gore. A feature of his writing is nightmare-like plot twists that defy logic or reason. Here, a man grows up alone in a decaying castle set among frightening woods. When he climbs the crumbling castle tower to look further afield, he finds a stone slab that leads to an earth-like world above the clouds. He is excited to encounter other people, but soon learns a frightening truth. Themes include alternative reality, isolation and loneliness, social rejection, alienation, self-discovery.

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