In this story by A. E. Coppard, a higgler (peddler) faces a difficult choice. Although not formally engaged, he has been “keeping company” with a girl everyone expects him to marry. Life gets complicated when one of his suppliers, a wealthy widow in poor health, asks him to marry her beautiful, well-educated daughter. Though strongly attracted to the girl, she has shown little interest in him. He makes his decision thinking the mother’s offer must have a hidden catch. When she dies, he learns something that may have changed his mind. Themes include struggle, choices and consequences, suspicion, unconsummated love. More…
The Doll’s House / The Washerwoman’s Children
Today we are featuring two stories from New Zealand: The Doll’s House by Katherine Mansfield and its sequel, The Washerwoman’s Children, written in celebration of Mansfield’s centenary by Maori writer Witi Ihimaera. In the first story, a family friend gives a magnificent doll’s house to the children of a well-to-do family. Their mother allows them to invite all but two of the girls at their school to come and see it. These girls (sisters) are shunned and teased by the other children because of their mother’s lowly job. Themes: imagination, class, prejudice, peer pressure, bullying, kindness. More…
The Fortune-Teller
This 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. More…
Transactions in a Foreign Currency
In this story by Deborah Eisenberg, a twenty-eight-year-old woman decides to end her relationship with a lover she has been seeing on and off for almost ten years. The man, who hasn’t contacted her for six months, calls and asks her to drop everything and spend a few weeks over Christmas with him in Montreal. Like many times before, she readily agrees. Some experiences while he is away for a few days help her realize that it is time to let him go. Themes include love, passivity, commitment, selfishness, letting go. More…
The Death of a Government Clerk
In this playful story by Anton Chekhov, a government clerk enjoying a night at the opera is dismayed when an unexpected sneeze lands droplets on the bald head of a civilian General. Although his immediate apology is accepted, the clerk not only makes a nuisance of himself with continued apologies during the performance, but pesters the general over the next two days trying to explain what happened. As the general becomes increasingly angry, the clerk becomes increasingly anxious until the stress gets too much for him. Themes include social class (living in fear), guilt, insecurity, paranoia, anxiety. More…