Featured Stories

Souvenir

Souvenir: Short story by Jayne Anne PhillipsThis story by Jayne Anne Phillips focuses on the almost sisterly relationship between a young graduate student (Kate) and her fifty-five-year-old widowed mother who is diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain tumor. Kate’s anguish over her mother’s condition is compounded by moral concern over her older brother’s decision not to disclose the unpleasant prognosis of scheduled brain surgery. As Kate struggles to cope with the possibility of losing her mother, the mother eases her pain by reminiscing about their good times together and making a comforting admission. Themes include alienation and loneliness, death and the fragility of life, motherhood.

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Bears Discover Fire

Bears Discover Fire: Short story by Terry BissonThis story from Terry Bisson includes several important themes. Although bears may be thousands of years behind man in discovering fire, they are portrayed as being well ahead of us in terms of consideration, compassion, sharing and inclusiveness. The major theme is the effect of our modern lifestyle on families. Sixty-one-year-old Bobby does his best for his dying mother who, with only the TV for company at her nursing home, has given up on life. His brother is too busy “ministering” and selling real-estate to make time for her, or even pay attention to the needs of his growing son.

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A Tiger in the House

A Tiger in the House: Short story by Ruskin BondIn this story by Ruskin Bond, an old man finds what appears to be an orphan tiger cub in the jungle and takes it home as a family pet. After six months, the cub grows out of its ‘playful’ stage and starts to become less friendly. The old man donates the tiger to a zoo, and gets an unexpected surprise when he visits it six months later. The story raises serious questions about the man’s two decisions (to take the tiger cub home, and to give the grown animal to a zoo where there are no others of its kind).

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Hermann the Irascible (Story of the Great Weep)

Hermann the Iracible: Short story by SakiThis story by Saki is a classic example of the use of reverse psychology to achieve a desired result… in this case, shutting down the women’s suffrage movement. The story first appeared in 1909 at the height of mass demonstrations of both men and women in support of the cause. I have seen some suggestions that the story trivializes women’s rights. This misses the point that Saki’s use of satire is so “over the top” here that, rather than mocking suffrage, the story highlights and supports it. Themes include human rights, tyranny, manipulation through excess.

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Unto Dust

Unto Dust: Short story by Herman BosmanThe major themes of this story by Herman Bosman are attitudes towards the dead, and equality in death. A Boer farmer and native enemy die side by side while fighting in a ‘Transvaal Kafir War’. When the farmer’s friends return to take his body home for a proper burial, they find that wild animals have mixed up the bones. The friends spend a lot of time trying to sort out which is which so that the dead farmer does not have to lie forever among the warrior’s bones. A yellow ‘kafir’ dog judges the result. Other themes: war, mateship, racism.

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The Shell Collector

The Shell Collector: Short story by Anthony DoerrIn this story by Anthony Doerr, the life of a blind shell expert living alone with his dog on an island off the coast of Kenya is thrown into chaos. The aging man becomes world famous when two people suffering from malaria are cured by the venom of a deadly cone snail. Ailing people from all over the world converge on his tiny island, causing him to lose his privacy, much of his collection, the life of his son, and almost his own life. Themes include isolation, the dangers and benefits of the natural world, media power, desperation, hope.

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Look at All Those Roses

Look at All Those Roses: Short story by Elizabeth BowenIn this story by Elizabeth Bowen, car trouble on a deserted country road results in a woman spending several unsettling hours with an amazon of a woman and her seemingly psychic, paralyzed daughter. Her partner has walked to a nearby village to get help, and she becomes increasingly anxious. She falls asleep, and is in the middle of a disturbing dream when her partner returns in a taxi and rudely whisks her away. While in the village, he had heard a frightening rumor about the family. Themes include isolation and alienation, insecurity, emptiness, alternative reality (the white circle), rumor.

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Grandfather’s Story

Grandfather’s Story: Short story by Catherine LimThis two-part story by Catherine Lim begins with the background of the narrator’s grandparents. We learn that the grandfather, unable to live with his wife who cruelly exploited bondmaids (female slaves) in growing a successful garment business, found lifetime love with another woman. In the second part of the story, the grandfather relates a folktale-like account of how the fates of all three were predestined a thousand years previously when the Almighty passed judgement on a Chinese farmer, his good-hearted but naïve wife, and a cruel, mercenary nun. Themes include love, cruelty, slavery, greed, fate, rebirth and karmic justice.

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