Featured Stories

The Prince Who Wasn’t Hungry

The Prince Who Wasn’t Hungry: Short story by Carolyn Sherwin BaileyThe message of this story by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey can be found in the very first line: Once upon a time there was a little Prince who had very little to do, and so he thought a great deal about eating. As he grew up, the whole palace had to work hard to meet his demand for increasingly rare dishes. Nothing satisfied him, and eventually he stopped eating. In frustration, he set out alone one day to find the best food in the world. He discovered that it isn’t the food that counts, but what you do to earn it.

Continue ReadingThe Prince Who Wasn’t Hungry

Life in the Iron-Mills

Life in the Iron-Mills: Short story by Rebecca Harding DavisSet in the 1830s, this story by Rebecca Harding Davis highlights the desperate plight of mill and factory workers during the early stages of the industrial revolution. A young furnace attendant, ostracised by other iron-mill workers because of his mild manner and artistic leaning, lives in squalid conditions with his father and a mildly disfigured female cousin. The cousin, whose love for the man is not reciprocated, destroys both of their lives by stealing money to try to help him. Themes include social inequality, exploitation, poverty, artistry, lack of opportunity, unrequited love, crime and punishment, despair, redemption.

Continue ReadingLife in the Iron-Mills

Wakefield

Wakefield: Short story by Nathaniel HawthorneThis Nathaniel Hawthorne story opens with a newspaper account of a man who ‘disappeared’ after telling his wife he was going on a week’s holiday, stalked her for twenty years, and then returned home as if nothing had happened. The narrator speculates that the man’s ‘holiday’ may have been a cruel joke to see how his wife would cope without him, and that he gradually became so enamoured with the isolated, clandestine existence that he found it difficult to return home to his former life. Themes include singularity, alienation and isolation, resilience (the wife’s life goes on), obsession, insignificance.

Continue ReadingWakefield

The Eatonville Anthology

The Eatonville Anthology: Short story by Zora Neale HurstonRather than a single story, Zora Neale Hurston’s Eatonville Anthology is a series of vignettes and anecdotes about life in a small African-American community outside Orlando, Florida in the early 1920s. Eatonville was Hurston’s hometown, and the power of her anthology is that each story is based on either real people and events or local folklore. This and the use of authentic dialect capture the local color and folksy spirit of the town, and highlight an important theme: the traditional role of storytelling in preserving cultural heritage. Other themes: community, connection, change.

Continue ReadingThe Eatonville Anthology

Yesterday was Beautiful

Yesterday was Beautiful: Short story by Roald DahlWith the devastation currently taking place in Ukraine, we have decided to feature a story highlighting the misery of innocent victims of war. Roald Dahl’s short stories are known for their dark comedy and unexpected endings. There is nothing funny about this story. However, he does manage an unexpected twist that emphasizes the overall theme reflected in the title: In war, things can go from “beautiful” to your worst nightmare overnight. Other themes: (for civilians) indiscriminate bombing, senseless death and destruction, psychological trauma, anger, revenge; (for combatants) collateral damage, personal survival.

Continue ReadingYesterday was Beautiful

Now That April’s Here

Now That April’s Here: Short story by Morley CallaghanThis story by Morley Callaghan is a bitter-sweet satire of the “lost generation”, a group of American expatriate writers living in Paris during the 1920s. Two men, obviously lovers, travel to France because America had nothing to offer them. One has a small income, the other is an aspiring writer. They appear to thrive in the local café society, constantly snickering over people they meet. All is well until they offer shared accommodation to a promiscuous young woman who shares her pleasures with them in return. Themes include disenchantment, search for fulfillment, sexuality, dependence, hedonism, jealousy, abandonment.

Continue ReadingNow That April’s Here

Miss Brill

Miss Brill: Short story by Katherine MansfieldKatherine Mansfield’s Miss Brill is a lonely middle-aged woman for whom the highlight of the week is a Sunday visit to a city park. She occupies herself by eavesdropping on strangers who share her “special” bench, listening to the brass band, and people watching. On this day, she is wearing a favorite fur stole (scarf) and imagines that the park is a huge theatre performance in which she is a central character. The dream is shattered and her day ruined when she overhears some unkind words from her imaginary heroes. Themes: reclusiveness, loneliness, habit, aging, fantasy vs. reality, disillusionment, retreat.

Continue ReadingMiss Brill

The Wedding Dance

The Wedding Dance: Short story by Amador DaguioThe major themes of this touching story by Amador Daguio are tradition, love and courage. Set in pre-colonial Philippines, a villager follows custom and remarries when his wife fails to conceive. Despite their pledges of love, neither challenges this unwritten law. Whether the theme of “courage” has positive or negative connotations for the protagonist depends on the reader’s interpretation as to why she walks away from her husband’s second wedding dance. Is this because she lacks the courage to confront the tribal elders, or because she finds the courage to “let go” and sacrifice her happiness for her husband’s honor?

Continue ReadingThe Wedding Dance