In the Family

In the Family: Short story by María Elena LlanaThis story from Cuban writer María Elena Llana uses a combination of humour and magical realty to highlight the potentially fatal consequences of pride. The victim (Clara), having excelled at university but never bothered to look for work, seems to think her formal education puts her above other family members. One evening, while “holding court” over dinner with her extended family (both living and dead) she learns the error of her ways. The next day she finds herself sitting on the other (dead family’s) side of the table. Themes: pride, acceptance of the unusual, the supernatural.

Continue ReadingIn the Family

The Fiddler

The Fiddler: Short story by Herman MelvilleIn this story from Herman Melville, the major theme (finding the right balance between ambition, fame and happiness in life) is introduced indirectly through a chance meeting. A struggling writer is in a “desperate mood” after negative reviews of his latest work. His life changes when he is introduced to a contented, good-humored man who goes house to house teaching the fiddle. The writer admires the way “commonplace” fiddler, who appears to have no special talents, is able to live life to the fullest. Enlightenment comes when he learns the fiddler’s secret. Other themes: accepting criticism, judging by appearances.

Continue ReadingThe Fiddler

The Soul is Not a Smithy

The Soul is Not a Smithy: Novella by David Foster WallaceIn this story by David Foster Wallace, a man looks back to a day when, as a “slow” nine-year-old student, he daydreamed his way through a Civics class by making up stories based on visual clues he saw while staring out the window. Oblivious to the growing panic of classmates as a deranged substitute teacher wrote KILL, KILL THEM, KILL THEM ALL repeatedly on the chalkboard, he remained sitting after the other students fled. A major theme is fear of disappointment and lack of fulfilment in adult life. Other themes include childhood trauma, violence, pain and loss, time, memory, death.

Continue ReadingThe Soul is Not a Smithy

Clean Sweep

Clean Sweep: Short story by Jane BauerThe main theme of this story from Jane Bauer is how seemingly insignificant objects from one’s past can spark powerful (and in this case healing) memories. It also contrasts two families: one brought closer through tragedy and the need to work together to secure their future, the other torn apart by misunderstanding and bitterness and too stubborn to make the first move. In the latter case, a child’s book that brings a stony-faced old woman to tears and simple phone call are all it takes to restore relationships. Other themes: loss, memories, family connections, aging and loneliness, estrangement and reconciliation.

Continue ReadingClean Sweep

The Verb to Kill

The Verb to Kill: Short story by Luisa ValenzuelaIn this story by Luisa Valenzuela, a pubescent girl in an isolated seaside community spends a lot of time fantasizing with her sister over the imaginary depraved, murderous activities of a seemingly harmless recluse living nearby. The additional conjugations of “to kill” at the end of the story suggest the girls may have taken matters into their own hands. A major theme is the danger of judging someone based on their looks or eccentric behaviour. Other themes include gender inequality and violence in society, imagination, egocentrism, paranoia, dehumanization (of both the man and their “friend” Pocha), superstition.

Continue ReadingThe Verb to Kill

The Chrysanthemums

The Chrysanthemums: Short story by John SteinbeckIn this seemingly straightforward story by John Steinbeck, chrysanthemum-growing Elisa’s character can be interpreted in several, often contradictory, ways. Is she “strong and happy” as her husband says, or weak and disillusioned with her life? Does she crave companionship, intimacy and perhaps a child, or freedom? Is her fascination with chrysanthemums because of a special connection with nature, or because they represent the only joy in her life? Whatever the answers, after a smooth-talking tinker raises her self-esteem and then shatters it, Elisa’s tears signify her realization that nothing will change. Themes: isolation, loneliness, aesthetics, lack of fulfillment, betrayal.

Continue ReadingThe Chrysanthemums

Night

Night: Short story by Tatyana TolstayaIn this heart-wrenching story by Tatyana Tolstaya, an impoverished eighty-year-old woman struggles to cope with task of looking after her middle-aged, severely retarded son. The man is dependent on his mother’s directions to get him through the day. He has virtually no social skills, is confused about women, and is prone to violent outbursts and extreme behaviour when things don’t go his way. The story begs but does not answer the question: What will happen when his mother is no longer around to take care of him? Themes: love and devotion, mental health, alienation, poverty, fear, dreams and fantasy.

Continue ReadingNight

The Underground Gardens

The Underground Gardens: Short story by T. C. BoyleThis story by T. C. Boyle is a fictional account of the founding of California’s Forestiere Underground Gardens by an Italian immigrant in the early 1900s. The immigrant is initially disheartened to find that 70 acres of land he bought by mail order is too dry and hard to farm. He survives by working as a day laborer on other farms and, spurred on by a love interest, hand digs a subterranean mansion in his spare time. When the woman rejects him, he keeps on digging. Themes include faith in oneself, self-sufficiency, infatuation, appearance, perseverance, vision.

Continue ReadingThe Underground Gardens

The Red-Headed League

The Red-Headed League: Short story by Arthur Conan DoyleA common theme in most detective stories is superior observation skills and deductive reasoning. A defining feature of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Red-Headed League is the way the facts presented by the gullible Wilson appear so bizarre to Watson as to defy interpretation. This prompts Holmes’s to quip: Omne ignotum pro magnifico [we exaggerate the importance of the unknown]. Once he dismisses the Red-Headed League as a distraction, identifying the crime in progress becomes a straightforward matter for the great detective. Other themes include deception (appearance vs. reality), gullibility, greed (of both the criminals and Wilson), crime and justice.

Continue ReadingThe Red-Headed League

First Love

First Love: Short story by Samuel BeckettMany readers have difficulty with Samuel Beckett’s post-World War 2 stories such as this one because of their stream-of-consciousness narrative approach. In this darkly comic dramatic monologue a reclusive, indolent man recalls how, after being evicted from the family home following his father’s death, he became infatuated with a prostitute he met on a canal-side bench. The more he tried to break away the closer they became until, after moving into her apartment, she gave him cause to leave her for good… a baby. Themes include misanthrope, self-obsession, love, misogyny, sexuality, the emptiness and futility of life.

Continue ReadingFirst Love