The Stone

The Stone: Short story by Lloyd AlexanderThis story from Lloyd Alexander is about Maibon, a poor farmer who is worried about growing old. His troubles begin when he rescues one of the “fair-folk” from under a log and demands one of their famous “un-aging stones” as a reward. As often happens to those who try magic to defy nature, things start to go wrong. Maibon tries several times to throw the stone away. When it keeps reappearing, he has no choice but to return it. Maibon’s life goes back to normal and he learns that aging gracefully with one’s family can be a good thing.

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In the Family

In the Family: Short story by María Elena LlanaThis story from Cuban writer María Elena Llana uses a combination of humour and magical realty to highlight the potentially fatal consequences of pride. The victim (Clara), having excelled at university but never bothered to look for work, seems to think her formal education puts her above other family members. One evening, while “holding court” over dinner with her extended family (both living and dead) she learns the error of her ways. The next day she finds herself sitting on the other (dead family’s) side of the table. Themes: pride, acceptance of the unusual, the supernatural.

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The Red-Headed League

The Red-Headed League: Short story by Arthur Conan DoyleA common theme in most detective stories is superior observation skills and deductive reasoning. A defining feature of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Red-Headed League is the way the facts presented by the gullible Wilson appear so bizarre to Watson as to defy interpretation. This prompts Holmes’s to quip: Omne ignotum pro magnifico [we exaggerate the importance of the unknown]. Once he dismisses the Red-Headed League as a distraction, identifying the crime in progress becomes a straightforward matter for the great detective. Other themes include deception (appearance vs. reality), gullibility, greed (of both the criminals and Wilson), crime and justice.

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The Ultimate Safari

The Ultimate Safari: Short story by Nadine GordimerSet during the Mozambican Civil War, this story from Nadine Gordimer follows a family as they undertake an arduous journey to a South African refugee camp through Kruger Park. The story is told through the eyes of a nine year-old girl who understands little about the war other than that her father is away fighting for the government. Following her mother’s disappearance while buying cooking oil, the rest of her family join a group of other displaced villagers for the dangerous 40-mile (65 km) trek through the park. Themes include family, war, loss, lawlessness, displacement, fear, endurance, hope.

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The Two Brothers and the Gold

The Two Brothers and the Gold: Short story by Leo TolstoyIn this story by Leo Tolstoy, two devout brothers who have dedicated their lives to helping the needy react very differently to finding a heap of gold. One leaps aside and runs away; the other takes it into town and puts it towards building and provisioning an asylum for widows and orphans, a hospital for the sick, and a hospice for the poor and pilgrims. Returning home penniless after basking in the praise of the townspeople, he is castigated by an Angel for allowing himself to be corrupted by the devil. Themes include religion, selflessness, brotherly love, temptation, hubris.

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Victoria and Her Kimono

Victoria and Her Kimono: Short story by M. ShanmughalingamThis story by M. Shanmughalingam is in two parts. The first is a humorous description of pre-World War 2 goings-on at one of Kuala Lumpur’s most prestigious secondary schools. Told from the point of view of an “old school” disciplinarian English teacher, it has a Monty Python-like ring to it. The second deals with the brutality and privation associated with Japanese occupation and how, thanks to a home-made kimono and a few words of Japanese, the Tigress of Asia (the teacher’s wife) saves his life. Themes include colonialism, the power of language, suffering, courage, resilience.

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Absalom’s Hair

Absalom’s Hair: Short story by Bjørnstjerne BjørnsonIn this story by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, friends and family are dismayed when an intelligent, independent twenty-one-year-old woman marries a dominant, sixty-year-old recluse. When she tries to leave, he cruelly confines her and their one-year-old son to his seaside estate. On his death, she moves with the then twelve-year-old boy to England and spends the next ten years trying to control every aspect of his life, including separating him from any girl/woman he shows interest in. His love/hate relationship with her almost destroys his life. Themes include power and control, the struggle for independence, vulnerability, desire, societal norms, mother-son relationships.

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The Last Question

The Last Question: Short story by Isaac AsimovIn commenting on this story, Isaac Asimov once wrote: This is by far my favorite story of all those I have written. After all, I undertook to tell several trillion years of human history in the space of a short story…. I also undertook another task, but I won’t tell you what that was lest I spoil the story for you. Although there is very little character development or action, the ending is so powerful that almost everyone who reads it remembers it. Themes include technological change, the search for knowledge, entropy and the fate of mankind, religion (omniscience, creation).

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Dry September

Dry September: Short story by William FaulknerWilliam Faulkner’s Dry September deals with events leading up to and shortly after the vigilante murder of a presumably innocent man. Set in a racially prejudiced community in America’s South, a misplaced or malicious complaint from a middle-aged spinster incites hatred against a local negro. Only one man (the town barber) stands up for him. A decorated ex-soldier leads a mob to avenge the woman’s honor. After the killing, the reliability of the woman’s story is called into question, as is the mental condition of the soldier who is shown to be violent by nature and possibly suffering from PTSD.

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A Jury of Her Peers

A Jury of Her Peers: Short story by Susan GlaspellThe three dominant themes of this story by Susan Glaspell are feminism (gender roles), deception and justice. Men investigating a farmer’s murder bring two of their wives to the scene of the crime (his farmhouse) to collect clothing, etc. for the suspect (the farmer’s wife) while in jail. Ironically, although the men mock the women’s ability to contribute to the investigation, the wives find evidence that would convict the suspect. They then face a moral dilemma. A jury of men would not understand the suspect’s suffering. Would justice be served by proving her guilt?

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