Featured Stories

The Company of Wolves

The Company of Wolves: Short story by Angela CarterThe early part of Angela Carter’s Company of Wolves comprises background and several anecdotes which build anticipation and atmosphere. The main story, which doesn’t start until one-third of the way through the text, is an adult-oriented adaption of Charles Perrault’s children’s story, Little Red Riding Hood. Carter expands on Perrault’s original theme (beware of strangers) through eroticism. Rather than ending up in the wolf’s stomach, the girl uses her feminine wiles to “tame” him. Her additional themes include objectification and the innate power of women, virginity and female sexual awakening, violence, seduction, transformation.

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Shiloh

Shiloh: Short story by Bobbie Ann MasonIn the same way that Shiloh Military Park is the site of a major turning point in the American Civil War, the couple in this story by Bobby Ann Mason face several turning points of their own. The first, always lingering in the background and never spoken of, is the death of their infant son. Later comes an accident that forces the truck-driver husband to give up his job, and an identity crisis that results in his wife seeking a new beginning in life. Themes: loss, guilt, avoidance, individual and community change, marriage, gender roles, self-discovery/fulfillment, independence.

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What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?

What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?: Short story by Edward Wortis (aka Avi)The major theme of this story from Edward Wortis (aka Avi) is closed-mindedness. A struggling single mother still treats her sixth-grader son, Willie, as a young child. She is so preoccupied with her troubles that she doesn’t realize he is now an adolescent. Through prejudice, she shuns a beggar on the street. When Willie asks how to cure the beggar’s unhappiness, her answer is money. The beggar’s answer is cryptic: “What a person needs is always more than they (other people) say.” By this, he means everyone’s situation is different; we need to “open our eyes” to understand their needs.

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The Open Window

The Open Window: Short Story by H. H. Munro (aka Saki)This story by Saki satirizes the social obligations imposed upon the middle and upper classes by late-Victorian/Edwardian etiquette. A pompous hypochondriac is holidaying in a peaceful country village as treatment for a nervous condition. He doesn’t like visiting strangers, but does so as a courtesy to his sister who has written letters of introduction to people she knows there. During one such visit, an imaginative fifteen-year-old girl plays an innocent practical joke on the neurotic man, causing him to run from her house in horror. Themes include social conventions, perception (appearance vs. reality), gullibility, escapism, deception.

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The End of the Party

The End of the Party: Short story by Graham GreeneAlthough the 9-year-old twins in this Graham Greene story look the same, they have very different psychological dispositions. The first-born (Peter) is self-confident and has a special connection with his brother. The younger (Francis) has an anxiety disorder that results in unreasoning fear, particularly of the dark. Peter feels what Francis feels, and is fiercely protective of him. Despite their best efforts to avoid it, the two attend a birthday party that will include a game of hide-and-seek in the dark. During the game, a thoughtless act by Peter has tragic results. Themes: innocence, brotherhood, connection, fear, adult insensitivity, death.

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In a Grove

In a Grove: Short story by Ryūnosuke AkutagawaRyūnosuke Akutagawa‘s In a Grove, published in 1922, is based on a classical Japanese tale first documented in the 12th century. It comprises seven accounts, including three confessions, relating to the death of a young Samurai. There are differences between each account, and none of the confessions are totally convincing. The story shares similarities with Ambrose Bierce’s Moonlit Road, published fifteen years earlier. Both stories feature unreliable narrators (including the spirit of the victim speaking through a medium) and leave readers to draw their own conclusions about the crime and identity of the killer. Who do you think did it?

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The Grandfather and the Python

The Grandfather and the Python: Short story by Ruskin BondOn the surface, this story by Ruskin Bond is a light-hearted tale about a vain python that falls in love with its own reflection. However, like Bond’s A Tiger in the House, the story raises serious questions about the capture and confinement of wild animals. Rather than being in “love”, the python is more likely confused by its reflection after being isolated from its kind for years. Moreover, if the python has no jungle survival experience, it is unlikely to live long when it finally emerges from its cage. Themes include eccentricity, fear, tolerance, vanity, (unintentional) animal cruelty.

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The Death of a Government Clerk

The Death of a Government Clerk: Short story by Anton ChekhovIn this playful story by Anton Chekhov, a government clerk enjoying a night at the opera is dismayed when an unexpected sneeze lands droplets on the bald head of a civilian General. Although his immediate apology is accepted, the clerk not only makes a nuisance of himself with continued apologies during the performance, but pesters the general over the next two days trying to explain what happened. As the general becomes increasingly angry, the clerk becomes increasingly anxious until the stress gets too much for him. Themes include social class (living in fear), guilt, insecurity, paranoia, anxiety.

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