This delightful fantasy from H. G. Wells is about ‘magic’ and perception. A father and son enter a strange Magic Shop. As they begin to look around, the shopkeeper appears and entertains them with some ‘magic’. The innocent boy watches in awe, while his skeptical father looks for the sources of trickery. The pair moves further into the store and witness additional, seemingly impossible wonders. The father, realizing that what he sees may be real, becomes increasingly uncomfortable and begins to suspect the presence of unnatural forces. Themes: childhood innocence and wonder, father-son relationships, trickery vs. the supernatural. More…
The Wall
In this story by Jean-Paul Sartre, a foreign volunteer in the fight against Franco’s Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War is arrested. He and two other men are put in a cell where they learn they will be shot the following morning. Most of story is about how each deals with the prospect of death. After the other two are led away, the narrator is given a choice: to follow them or give up the location of a Republican leader. Themes include the brutality of war, death, existentialism (free will to determine the meaning and purpose of our life). More…
A Family Supper
A common feature of Kazuo Ishiguro stories is their ambiguous endings. A young Japanese man returns home after living in America following a falling out with his parents. His mother has died from eating poisonous fugu fish, and his father feels disgraced over the collapse of his business. As a matter of honour, his business partner killed his family and committed suicide following the collapse. At the end of the day, the family sits down to a delicious fish supper prepared by the father. Themes include change (heritage and tradition vs. modernity), generational conflict, family disconnection, grief, guilt, “honour”, murder-suicide. More…
Spring in Fialta
Acclaimed as one of Vladimir Nabokov’s best stories, Spring in Fialta’s is a haunting reminiscence of what was and might have been. A businessman travels widely across Europe. On many occasions, and in different cities, he coincidentally comes across and enjoys brief dalliances with the same enigmatic woman. Both are married and know each other’s partners. He has strong romantic feelings for her, but is unsure if they are reciprocated. A meeting in Fialta, in which he tentatively admits his love, is their last before her tragic death. Themes include memories and the past, fate, love and desire, death, loss. More…
The True Story of Kanakapala, Protector of Gold
This “story within a story” from Raja Rao reads more like a reinterpreted folktale than a work of fiction. The unidentified narrator repeats a tale related by an old woman that includes elements of oral history, personal observation/interpretation, and gossip. The major themes of her story, which spans three generations, include piety, devotion, duty, greed, karma and the supernatural. The “glue” holding the story together is Kanakapala, a huge cobra that guarded a buried treasure bestowed upon Lord Shiva and the goddess Vishalakshi. Kanakapala literally “met its end” when its powers proved ineffective against rogue descendants of the treasure’s donor. More…