In 2013, North Korean writer Bandi reputedly smuggled seven stories, including this one, out of the country. Although unverified, the stories provide a valuable insight into the fear and repressed lives of North Korean citizens. In this one, ‘unpatriotic behavior’ by a two-year-old child results in banishment of a senior bureaucrat and his family to the countryside. Earlier, the child had suffered a fit in its mother’s arms. In most countries, she would call for a doctor. Here, we are told that had a doctor happened to be at hand, the incident might well have ended in disaster. More…
The Circuit
This is a chapter from the The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child, a collection of autobiographical short stories by Francisco Jiménez. The title refers to the way many migrant laborers move from place to place over a year in search of seasonal farm work. For the children of this close-knit family, this means poor living conditions, never being in one place long enough to have permanent friends, working in the fields when old enough, and limited opportunities to attend school. Themes include family, poverty, perseverance, impermanence, loneliness, language and communication, child labor, lack of educational opportunities. More…
Adam and Eve and Pinch Me
In one of A. E. Coppard’s more enigmatic stories, a confused man finds himself unable to open the doors in his house or communicate with his three children or servants. The inference is that he is dead and doesn’t know it. Relief comes when he awakens from a daydream with his wife beside him. However, he has a different identity and the third child featured in the dream, who had special powers, has not yet been born. Themes include the convergence of reality and fantasy, death, family, frustration, anger, precognition, identity. More…
You’re Ugly, Too
Lorrie Moore’s protagonist Zoë is a small-town college professor. She is a free-spirited, “almost pretty”, emotionally troubled woman whose efforts to forge relationships without being a “Heidi” have achieved the opposite. Her witty, cynical one-liners have alienated colleagues, students and suitors alike. Central themes are loneliness, the expectations of men, and the role of sex in relationships. An offensive, misogynistic “big city” blind date confirms her misgivings about marriage; a medical scare and consequent thoughts of death bring into focus what she sees as the futility of her life. Other themes: isolation, alienation, appearance, gender roles, mortality, nihilism. More…
Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?
Private First Class Paul Berlin faces three antagonists in this story by Vietnam veteran Tim O’Brien: the enemy (it is after all a war story!), his fellow soldiers (he will be punished and/or branded as a coward if he fails in his duty), and himself (the ability to control his fear). Although the major theme is clearly fear, the story also highlights the naivety and youthful innocence of many of those sent to fight in the war. Fear is presented as two-dimensional. While giving in to it can have grave consequences, facing and harnessing it can save a soldier’s life. More…