Featured Stories

An Astrologer’s Day

An Astrologer's Day: Short story by R. K. NarayanThe “astrologer” in this story by R. K. Narayan is a fake, making a living by knowing enough about human nature to trick people into believing he has mystical powers. One day, he bargains with a reluctant passer-by to answer a question for many times his usual fee. He tries to cancel the reading immediately the passer-by sits down, but the man forcibly insists he continues. Although a deliberate lie, his answer not only eases the tormented man’s mind, but also brings in peace and redemption to himself. Themes include deception, fate, crime and punishment, revenge, redemption, spirituality, greed.

Continue ReadingAn Astrologer’s Day

Kusum

Kusum: Short story by Khushwant SinghIn this story by Khushwant Singh, a young university student belatedly has a sexual awakening. Overweight and physically unattractive, she has compensated by being a model student and good girl with a capital G. Accepting her lot, she has shunned boys and had no interest in sex. That is until her passions are stirred by an accidental encounter with a cheeky young street hawker who makes an obscene, possibly flirtatious gesture at her. She puts on make-up, looks in her mirror, and an attractive, dark-eyed girl smiles back. Themes include identity, self-image, alienation, self-confidence, physical vs. inner beauty, sexuality.

Continue ReadingKusum

The White Horses of Vienna

The White Horses of Vienna: Short story by Kay BoyleThis story from Kay Boyle reflects the rise of Austrian Nazism in the early 1930s. Its main characters are an injured doctor (and Nazi sympathizer), his anti-Semitic wife, and a Jewish locum sent to work with them. The story neither condemns nor condones Nazism. A puppet show alludes to the injured doctor’s political ideals; a tale about Vienna’s famed Lipizzaner horses is a metaphor for the fall of the Austrian Empire and the dire economic circumstances that will soon encourage the government to welcome Hitler’s armies. Themes include isolation and natural beauty, family, racism, fascism, activism vs. acceptance.

Continue ReadingThe White Horses of Vienna

The Japanese Quince

The Japanese Quince: Short story by John GalsworthyThe message of this story by John Galsworthy can be summarized in the English idiom “stop and smell the roses”. The protagonist and his doppelganger neighbor are so caught up in their daily routines that they not only fail to notice the beauty around them, but also lead solitary, unfulfilled lives alienated from those outside their immediate circle. The titular quince, with its refreshing fragrance and colorful blossoms, symbolizes rebirth. The blackbird’s song represents the potential joy of life that eludes them. Themes: the beauty of nature, work/life balance, alienation, lack of fulfillment/inner emptiness, appearance, social anxiety.

Continue ReadingThe Japanese Quince

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: Short story by Rudyard KiplingThe major themes of this famous children’s story from Rudyard Kipling’s Second Jungle Book are duty, loyalty and courage. When viewed from a Western perspective, the story’s motif is the triumph of good over evil. However, as the cobra is a revered Hindu religious symbol, the plot can also be interpreted as an allegory of colonial conquest: the victory of “benevolent” British imperialists (Teddy and his family) and the Indians who support them (Rikki-tikki) over those resisting domination and change (Nag and Nagaina). Other themes include family, the balance of nature, progress and peace under British colonialism.

Continue ReadingRikki-Tikki-Tavi

The Mezzotint

The Mezzotint: Short story by M. R. JamesIn this story by M. R. James, a bookshop sends a mezzotint depicting an early 1800s manor house to a university lecturer on approval. The methodical don, who is also responsible for collecting rare topographical drawings and engravings for the university library, initially dismisses it as being of little interest. However, he soon changes his mind as the image on the mezzotint changes several times over the next day, finally revealing a heinous crime. Intrigued, he feels duty-bound to find the location of the house and discover its secret. Themes include mystery, crime and punishment, revenge, the supernatural.

Continue ReadingThe Mezzotint

Flight

Flight: Short story by John SteinbeckThe major theme of this story by John Steinbeck is a young man’s quest for manhood. An unsophisticated nineteen-year-old from an isolated farm is given his first task as a “man” when his widowed mother sends him to town alone to buy medicine and other supplies. While staying overnight at the home of a family friend, he gets drunk and stabs a man in an argument. The inexperienced youth flees into the mountains where, in addition to his pursuers, he must face the perils of nature. Other themes: isolation, innocence, lack of composure/self-control, frontier justice, struggle, death.

Continue ReadingFlight

The Ambitious Guest

The Ambitious Guest: Short story by Nathaniel HawthorneBased on a true event, this Nathaniel Hawthorne story illustrates the power of nature and the futility of man in trying to best it. A young man stops at an inn high on a mountain pass and boasts to the family inside about his ambition to do something great to be remembered by. Above the inn are towering mountains from which rocks and boulders are frequently dislodged. The family have built a safe house nearby in the event of an avalanche, but when the ‘slide’ comes, nature wins. Other themes include hubris, ambition, contentment, connection, fate.

Continue ReadingThe Ambitious Guest