This story by Arswendo Atmowiloto explores the life of an eccentric Indonesian bridal make-up artist. While some of her views reflect Indonesia’s Muslim culture (marrying when it is time, not of love, and support for polygyny), others challenge it (pregnant brides should be proud of their proven fertility and not hide the fact). She believes that while marriage is illogical and “humanity’s most restricting and frightening discovery”, the ceremony brings joy and happiness. She proclaims: “Let people experience joy once in their lives,” implying the ceremony may mark the end of their happiness. Themes include marriage, freedom and happiness. More…
Diamond Dust: A Tragedy
This story by Anita Desai uses dark humor to highlight themes of loneliness, pet love, tolerance, alienation, conformity and fulfillment. A puppy of “indecipherable” breed brought home by a conservative Indian public servant causes havoc in his home and neighborhood as it grows into an almost uncontrollable, ferocious badmash. Mr Das, who has a secure job and is seemingly happily married, is clearly missing something in life. Although his obsession with the dog fills this gap and brings about a kind of second childhood, it leads to condemnation and ridicule from his wife and colleagues, and anger from the community. More…
The Censors
Written during the early days of Argentina’s Videla dictatorship, this story by Luisa Valenzuela satirizes the use of censorship in limiting free speech. A man worried that government censors may misinterpret an innocent letter he wrote to a woman in Paris gets a job at the censorship office to recover it. Ironically, he becomes so immersed in the job that his values change to embrace censorship. His dedication results in promotion to a top position and, when his letter finally reaches him, he dutifully censors it, bringing about his own downfall. Themes include censorship, oppression, paranoia, love, alienation, identity, duty. More…
The Colour Out of Space
In this cosmic horror story by H. P. Lovecraft, a surveyor becomes curious about five acres of grey desolation known as “blasted heath”. He learns that a meteor like no other found on earth had landed near a farmhouse on the site. Within the meteor scientists found a globule of unearthly colour which, when cracked open, released a presence that caused every living thing nearby to mutate. Plants grew unnaturally large but were inedible. Animal life, including the farming family, went mad and deformed into grotesque shapes before dying. Themes include curiosity, fear, scepticism, the supernatural, realms beyond human understanding. More…
Life
Bessie Head sums up this story in a song title: “That’s What Happens When Two Worlds Collide”. Life, an attractive young prostitute, is forcibly relocated from the bright lights of Johannesburg to her home village in Botswana. Although premarital sex is an integral part of village life, payment for it is unheard of. Life shocks the villagers by taking up her old profession. They are even more shocked when she marries the village’s most eligible bachelor. Themes: village vs. city life (monotony vs. excitement, subsistence vs. easy money), cultural traditions (sexual norms, male domination, women as property), change, oppression, emancipation. More…