Featured Stories
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This story from Shiga Naoya uses situational irony to highlight the importance of encouraging people to pursue their artistic passions. Seibei has a fascination with decorative gourds. He spends all his free time buying natural pods and turning them into the polished decorative pieces. When this causes problems at school, Seibei’s teacher shames his parents into forbidding the hobby and destroying his gourd collection. Unbeknown to all, this may have cost Seibei a lucrative, satisfying career. The disheartened boy complies, but soon takes up another artistic interest. Themes: (Seibei) art, passion, talent, obedience, resilience; (his parents) narrow-mindedness.
This story by Toni Morrison explores the relationship between two women of different race who meet as eight-year-olds in a children’s shelter and become reacquainted at several points in the future. In addition to conflicts that arise as their lives move in different directions, both remain haunted by recollections of the ill-treatment received by a disabled kitchen-hand who worked at the shelter. An unusual aspect of the story is that although a major theme is racism, we never learn the ethnicity of the two women. Other themes: friendship, alienation, prejudice, disability, parenting, memory.
This Woody Allen story includes elements of fantasy, science fiction and farce. Kugelmass, bored with his “oafish” wife, wants a lustful extra-marital affair with no commitments either way. His wish seemingly comes true when a failed magician offers him a chance to seduce any woman from world literature. His first choice begins well, but ends badly; his second proves disastrous. The story is a cutting satire of America’s 1970s ‘Me’ culture. Themes include psychological well-being, marital relationships and casual sex. Ironically, instead of “having” the affair he wanted, Kugelmass spends the rest of eternity running from hairy, long-legged Spanish “haves”.
In this Mark Helprin story, two children from a distressed marriage are sent to live for a period on their grandparents’ idyllic Vermont farm. One night, they are frightened by the call of two Arctic loons. To calm them and perhaps provide hope about the future, the grandfather tells a tale about two loons. The story is an allegory of his marriage with themes of love, infidelity, separation, despair and reunion. Unfortunately, we learn later that the story’s “happily ever after” ending does not match reality. Themes of the frame story include natural beauty, childhood innocence, appearance vs. reality.
Joseph Conrad’s major theme in this story is the hypocrisy of colonialism. Motivated by greed, the bumbling administrators of a remote African trading post rationalize their activities by talking about the sacredness of the civilizing work, and the merits of those who (go) about bringing light, and faith and commerce to the dark places of the earth. They denigrate the local tribesmen, but make no effort to learn their language or customs. Ironically, being cut off from civilization results in their moral, physical and mental decline to an even lower level of savagery. Themes: colonialism, greed, slavery, isolation, madness.
This Jack London story describes the seventeen-year relationship between a hard-drinking American pearl buyer and an outcast Pacific Islander (Otoo). The only survivors of a ship that sinks in a hurricane, the two form a life-long bond. Otoo becomes the American’s shadow and protector and, thanks to his judicious career and investment advice, the friends become wealthy. While the American enjoys their riches, Otoo refuses to spend them. The story ends tragically, with Otoo making the supreme sacrifice in saving the American’s life. Themes include colonialism and exploitation, the power of nature, racism, friendship, selflessness, courage, sacrifice, secular humanism.
In this story by Sinclair Lewis, a successful 1920s businessman becomes infatuated with a secretary he sees from his twelfth story window working in an office across the street. Over time they come to exchange greetings and communicate daily through their windows. When they finally meet, she is not the simple secretary he had expected. She is as driven by corporate success as he is. He finds her a job with better prospects and is surprised when, several months later, she calls him with a request to urgently meet. Themes include infatuation, chauvinism, misogyny, gender stereotypes, ambition, loneliness, depression, sexuality.
This children’s story by W. D. Howells is actually a ‘story within a story’. A demanding daughter insists that her busy father tell her a Christmas story. Perhaps with his daughter in mind, he makes up a tale about a little girl who makes a selfish Christmas wish. She wants it to be Christmas every day so she can get presents and eat Christmas treats all year long. The wish comes true but in so doing causes problems for almost everyone in the world. Although told in an amusing way, you could call this a Christmas horror fairy-tale.
