Featured Stories

Transactions in a Foreign Currency

Transactions in a Foreign Currency: Short story by Deborah EisenbergIn 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.

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The Wives of the Dead

The Wives of the Dead: Short story by Nathaniel HawthorneThis early story from Nathaniel Hawthorne seems to have the same effect on most who read it. We think we know what happened to the two recently married and even more recently widowed young women, but are not 100% sure. Their husbands were brothers, and the four shared a small house. After mourners leave, the women retire to their bedrooms. At different times during the night, each wakes to a messenger with news that their husband has survived. Was either of the messages real? Themes include loss, grief and mourning, dreams vs. reality, and consideration for others.

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The Artist / Painter

The Artist / Painter: Short story by Rabindranath TagoreWith over 100 to choose from, it was hard to decide where to start with the short stories of Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore. In recognition of his mastery of so many fields, we have chosen this lesser-known story written in 1929. This was a year after Tagore took up painting (at age sixty-seven!) and went on to re-shape the Indian art world. The themes of the story reflect Tagore’s life: embrace your passions, and don’t let the criticism of others (such as the ‘connoisseurs’ who laughed at Rangalal) or worship of money (as demonstrated by Govinda) stand in your way.

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The Memsahib of Mandla

The Memsahib of Mandla: Short story by Khushwant SinghIn this story by Khushwant Singh, nature and the ghost of a woman who founded an Indian missionary school combine to drive a British man and his family from a forest officer’s rest house. The rest house was the woman’s home before it was appropriated by the government, and hasn’t been lived in since she died. In addition to being insensitive and chauvinistic, the husband typifies the stereotype of arrogant, self-serving British officials during the Raj. He decides to shoot the ghost, but things don’t turn out as planned. Themes include colonialism, humanitarianism, loyalty, fear, justice, the supernatural.

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Festival of Eid / Idgah

Festival of Eid / Idgah: Short story by PremchandIn this well-known Indian children’s story from Premchand, a young orphan foregoes the pleasures enjoyed by friends at a festival to buy a pair of tongs to prevent his poverty-stricken grandmother from burning her hands when cooking. The most obvious themes are related to the boy: poverty, innocence, hope, love, selflessness, temptation and willpower. However, at around 5,000 words, the story also highlights several additional issues. The boy’s friends display materialism and greed, while other themes include religious devotion, superstition (Jinns), village vs. city life and, through the fate of the dolls, the fall of British colonialism.

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Stray

Stray: Children's story by Cyntia RylantHeavy snow can cause many problems, closing roads and stopping people from going to work or school. Today’s story from Cynthia Rylant is about Doris, an only child from a poor family. A cold, shivering puppy comes into her yard as she is clearing snow from around the front door. It has been abandoned. She takes the animal inside and cares for it, knowing that her parents will say they don’t have the money to keep a dog and take it away when the snow clears. The story’s themes are loneliness, compassion, responsibility, understanding, cruelty to animals, kindness and love.

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The Glass of Milk

The Glass of Milk: Short story by Manuel RojasIn this story by Manuel Rojas, a boy who has run away to sea finds himself stranded, penniless and hungry in a foreign port. He is too proud to beg for food on the dockside, and too timid to ask in the cheap taverns nearby. Rather than steal food, he decides to order something in a dairy (milk bar), even though he can’t pay for it, and accept the consequences. Instead of punishment, he is met with kindness and compassion. Themes include the lure of the sea, poverty, loneliness and isolation, pride, desperation, shame, honor and kindness.

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The Management of Grief

The Management of Grief: Short story by Bharati MukherjeeThis story by Bharati Mukherjee is a fictional account of how families of Canadian-Indian passengers coped (or in some cases couldn’t cope) in the aftermath of the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182. Told through the eyes of a woman who lost her husband and two sons, the story contrasts the Canadian government’s insensitive, “textbook” approach to grief management with the protagonist’s conviction that we must all grieve in our own way according to our cultural traditions and personal preferences. Themes: denial (hope) vs. acceptance, despair, cultural tradition, bureaucracy, collective vs individual identity, collective blame.

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