Seven Floors

Seven Floors: Short story by Dino BuzzatiDino Buzzati’s Seven Floors is an allegory of both the stages of life, and the futility of trying to fight bureaucracy. A slightly ill patient enters a ward on the top floor of a seven-story sanatorium. He learns that more seriously ill patients are progressively moved to lower floors, with the dying relegated to the dreaded first floor. Once caught up in the system, and against his perception of the severity of his illness, he makes the slow, inexorable progression to the bottom. Themes include the inevitability of ageing and death, institutional inflexibility, the unpredictability of life, fear.

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The Sphinx without a Secret

The Sphinx without a Secret: Short story by Oscar WildeIn this story by Oscar Wilde, two old college friends discuss a mysterious woman one of them had fallen in love with. The relationship ended when she refused to reveal the secret behind her apparent paranoia about being contacted at home and a clandestine visit to a boarding house. The major themes of the story are love and trust, as evidenced by the narrator’s initial comment: women are meant to be loved, not be understood and his friend’s retort: I cannot love where I cannot trust. Other themes include the allure of mystery, obsession, insecurity, jealousy, privacy, escape.

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In the Kindergarten

In the Kindergarten: Short story by Ha Jin (aka Jin Xuefei)In this story by Ha Jin, a Chinese kindergarten student (Shaona) comes up with an unusual response to her teacher’s lies about herbs their class has been collecting. Major themes are (for Shaona) loneliness, uncertainty, alienation, adaption (for Shen) poverty, hunger, deception, betrayal. Shen may be a symbol of the Chinese authorities, her ‘poverty’ being a metaphor for greed. With no respect for the rules, she accumulates wealth (purslanes) through corruption and the toil of her charges. Shaona identifies several of Shen’s character traits, and puts two of them (bribery and deceit) to use in dealing with the class bully.

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The Celebrated Jumping Frog

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County: Short story by Mark TwainThe humorous frame story of this unlikely tale by Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) satirizes the way late nineteenth-century American “Easterners” looked down on their supposedly less sophisticated Western compatriots. In the inner story, a man named Jim loves gambling so much that he will bet on almost anything. He finds a frog he believes can leap further than any other in Calaveras County, and learns an expensive lesson when a passing stranger bets against his frog and wins easily. Themes include regional stereotypes, storytelling (tall-tales), gambling consequences (there’s no such thing as a sure bet), trickery and deception.

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The Intoxicated Years

The Intoxicated Years: Short story by Mariana EnriquezThis story by Mariana Enriquez is set during one of Argentina’s worst economic crises. As their parents struggle for economic survival and fight their own demons, three late-teenaged girls are given almost total freedom. With no respect for adults or their conventional peers, the thoroughly dislikeable trio pursue a hedonistic, drug and alcohol fueled lifestyle. The socially detached girls pledge a bond of “sisterhood”. When a punk rocker causes one of them to distance herself, the others exact violent retribution. Themes include alienation, social isolation, alternative culture, drug dealing and abuse, betrayal, revenge.

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The 13-Carat Diamond

The 13-Carat Diamond: Short story by Khin Myo ChitKhin Mya (aka Khin Myo Chit) is one of a small number of recognized Burmese (now Myanmars) authors who wrote in English as well as their native tongue. The story takes place during World War II at the time the Japanese occupied Burma. It tells of the humorous experiences of a young couple who are finding it hard to make ends meet. The woman fails at running a market stall, and comes up with a plan to become rich overnight. All she has to do is find someone with a 13-carat diamond they are willing sell.

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The Loaded Dog

The Loaded Dog: Short story by Henry LawsonThis is one of the best-known stories by Australian poet and writer, Henry Lawson. It takes place in the late 1800s and involves three men and their big, lovable retriever pup. The men are working together digging for gold and like to go fishing in their free time. When the fish stop biting, they decide to catch them by making a bomb and exploding it in the water. The pup picks up the bomb, accidentally lights the fuse as he runs past the campfire, and has great fun chasing the men around the gold fields trying to give it back.

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Slowly, Slowly in the Wind

Slowly, Slowly in the Wind: Short story by Patricia HighsmithIn this story by Patricia Highsmith, doctors warn “Skip” Skipperton, a notoriously bad-tempered business executive, to slow down or risk early death. His answer is to buy Coldstream Heights, a small but comfortable farm. Skip’s only problem is that the titular “stream” is a few meters inside a neighbor’s property, which the owner won’t sell or lease at any price. Not used to being refused, Skip is enraged. When his beloved daughter elopes with the neighbor’s son, he kills the old man. Unfortunately for Skip, the murder is exposed by a children’s Halloween prank. Themes: anger, narcissism, pride, revenge, justice.

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