Mr Know-All

Mr Know-all: Short story by W. Somerset MaughamThis story by W. Somerset Maugham takes place at sea. A narrator we learn almost nothing about is forced to share a cabin with a man he takes an instant disliking to because of little more than his name. The other man plays an organizational role in many aspects of ship life to the point of being everywhere and always. The narrator finds him hearty, jovial, loquacious and argumentative. He calls him the best hated man in the ship. It is not until the man ‘loses’ a bet about pearls that the narrator develops a grudging respect for him.

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The Crocodile’s Lady

The Crocodile's Lady: Short story by Manoj DasLike one of our earlier Manoj Das stories, Farewell to a Ghost, this story illustrates the prevalence of superstition in traditional Indian village life. A foreign professor visits a remote village and is fascinated by the story of the Crocodile’s Lady. In appreciation for her protection, villagers take it in turns to feed and care for the now ninety-plus year-old. As a young woman, she had been carried off by a crocodile and reappeared a decade later, claiming to have fallen in love with and lived with it in the river. Themes include religious faith, the supernatural, unnatural love, loyalty.

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My Lord, the Baby / The Child’s Return

My Lord, the Baby / The Child’s Return: Short story by Rabindranath TagoreMajor themes of this story by Rabindranath Tagore are duty, love and sacrifice. A young magistrate places the faithful servant who raised him in charge of his own son. After the boy disappears in a flood, the servant is discharged. Miraculously, he has a son of his own who he comes to believe is the lost boy reincarnate. He spends everything he has raising his son to the same standard as the dead boy and, when he becomes too old to work, “returns” the boy to the magistrate. Other themes include loss, guilt and redemption, ingratitude.

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The Grave

The Grave: Short story by Katherine Anne PorterIn this coming of age story by Katherine Anne Porter, a motherless nine-year-old girl defies social convention by wearing similar day clothes to her brother, and wandering the woods freely with him. Two events bring about an epiphany in her life. Trading of an object she finds in an open grave for a gold ring brings about the first stirrings of womanhood. Seeing unborn kittens in the womb of a dead rabbit adds to the picture of what it is to be female. Themes include the cycle of life (youthful innocence, adulthood, birth and death), matriarchy, gender roles, poverty.

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Cathedral

Cathedral: Short story by Raymond CarverIn Raymond Carver’s Cathedral, a troubled, disillusioned man with a cynical view of the world is suddenly confronted by his metaphorical blindness. Ironically, the person who brings about this epiphany is a blind friend of his wife. The story begins with the husband full of sarcasm (Maybe I could take him bowling…) as the couple discuss the blind man’s visit. He has pre-conceived ideas about the blind and is surprised when their visitor doesn’t fit the stereotype. Themes include friendship and marriage, insecurity, alienation and loneliness, creativity and imagination, perception (looking vs. seeing).

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Storyteller

Storyteller: Short story by Leslie Marmon SilkoThis story by Leslie Marmon Silko retraces the life of a Yupic Eskimo woman up to the point she is jailed for murder. The story deals with the effects of “Gussick” (American) miners and traders on traditional village life, the way the village community supports her family of eccentric outcasts, how her sexual molestation by her grandmother’s partner drives her into the arms of American miners, and her quest for retribution against a Gussick storekeeper who sold poisoned liquor to her parents. Themes include cultural loss, exploitation, alienation, community, revenge, and storytelling.

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Papa, What Does that Spell?

Papa, What Does that Spell?: Short story by Vasily AksyonovIn this story by Vasily Aksyonov (Aksenov), a Russian factory worker reviews his life and relationships as he spends a day with his six-year-old daughter while his wife is at a “meeting”. He is growing apart from a once close-knit group of childhood friends, and faces a growing gap with his wife who is completing a doctoral degree and may be having an affair. In an epiphany, he realizes that being there for his daughter as she grows up is the most important thing in the world. Themes include childhood innocence, fatherhood, social relationships, marriage disconnect, deceit.

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The Treasure of Abbot Thomas

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas: Short story by M. R. JamesIn this story by M. R. James, a British antiquary comes across an old book written in Latin that tells of a German monastery in which a fortune in gold is believed to have been hidden. He believes the key to the treasure lies on a stained-glass window removed from the Abby and returned to England when the monastery was closed. He finds the window, decodes the message hidden on it and, despite the warning contained in the message, finds the gold. His only problem… dealing with the treasure’s monstrous guardian. Themes include treasure hunting, cryptography, fear, the supernatural.

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