IN THE REIGN OF HARAD IV SHORT STORY REVIEW

IN THE REIGN OF HARAD IV  SHORT STORY REVIEW - A miniature maker--honored with a fur coat to attend court—creates doll house furniture with incredible detail. He loses himself in his own ambitions, ever creating things that are smaller and smaller, that his apprentices check on him one day. He has made a doll house so small, that it is invisible, even under powerful magnification. In The Reign of Harad IV by Steven Millhauser the author explores themes common to his other works, small moments, replicating reality, small models and exploration of the literary fantastic. This Pulitzer prizewinning writer has authored Dangerous Laughter, A Precursor of the Cinema and The Other Town.

https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2014/02/in-reign-of-harad-iv.html

https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2014/02/in-reign-of-harad-iv-by-steven.html

https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2014/01/in-reign-of-harad-iv-by-steven.html

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK SHORT STORY REVIEW

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK SHORT STORY REVIEW - This is an extremely short story, at barely two pages in length. I find a relationship in that the further an author pushes into experimental form, the shorter a story needs to be, to keep readers engaged in the story arc. Similar to “Father’s Great Escape”, “The Gospel According to Mark” (by Jorge Luis Borges) succeeds as such. Because the author gets in and gets out, quickly. This avoids any possibility of allowing readers spotting the upcoming twist ending (which I won’t give away here). Thus, when an aimless medical student goes to stay at a ranch, he becomes trapped indoors by a flood. Alongside an illiterate farm family, that works the land as ranch hands. They are in awe of the young man because he reads passages to them from an old notated family Bible. In the final sequence, the father asks him if Christ let Himself be killed to save all men. The young man says, “Yes, to save everyone from Hell.” They mock him, spit on him and shove him, into the back part of the house. The girl weeps (he has had sex with the ranch hand’s daughter but vows to deny it) because she knows what’s waiting for him, on the other side of the door. The story touches on themes of crucifixion (with several deliberate references to Christ, it’s no coincidence), salvation and earthly pleasures. I feel that the author is also sending a clear message about class. Specifically (I imagine), the treatment of common laborers in relation to the upper echelon, in Latin America, if not as a comment on the world at large. 

https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-gospel-according-to-mark-by-jorge.html

https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-gospel-according-to-mark.html

https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-gospel-according-to-mark-by-jorge.html

The Gospel According to Mark by Jorge Luis Borges PDF

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The Gospel According to Mark by Jorge Luis Borges PDF

The Gospel According to Mark by Jorge Luis Borges MP3

The Gospel According to Mark by Jorge Luis Borges MP3

THE LOTTERY SHORT STORY REVIEW

THE LOTTERY SHORT STORY REVIEW - Love it or hate it, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is indelibly etched on the American subconscious. It’s on every high school and college reading list. When it first appeared in The New Yorker in June of 1948, the magazine received an onslaught of complaint letters and subscription cancellations. The reactions were widely varied, from mild confusion to strong dislike. Since then the story has won just about every major award, has been adapted into multiple formats (radio, television, film and theater) and is oft cited as one of the best horror short stories ever written. The author was frequently questioned about its meaning. Her husband, a literary critic in his own right, stated the following. “She consistently refused to be interviewed, to explain or promote her work in any fashion, or to take public stands.” She is also the author of the much lauded novel, The Haunting of Hill House.

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-lottery-letters

http://mentalfloss.com/article/57503/11-facts-about-shirley-jacksons-lottery

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/memory-and-delusion

http://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-lottery-short-story-review.html

http://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-lottery-by-shirley-jackson-pdf.html

http://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-lottery-by-shirley-jackson-mp3.html

http://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-lottery-part-1-of-2.html

http://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-lottery-part-2-of-2.html

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson MP3

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN SHORT STORY REVIEW

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN SHORT STORY REVIEW - The novella that became an award winning film, by a literary vanguard, was originally published in The New Yorker in 1997. It was later included in her collection entitled Close Range: Wyoming Stories in 1999. Annie Proulx has won just about every major writing prize, her story became an Oscar winning film and also strangely enough, an opera. Brokeback Mountain captured the imagination of readers and film viewers alike. Fan fiction (and even more risqué fare) abound on the interwebs. I think the reason is Proulx employs narrative distance allowing readers to insert themselves onto the page. Two men unite amidst idyllic mountain beauty, Brokeback Mountain itself, becomes a symbol of their love. Their isolation against the rustic Wyoming backdrop pushes them closer together and the attraction is compelling. But, it’s not a story with a happy ending. Proulx has herself said she wishes she’d never written the story. I look at it another way, she should be flattered. She’s created something so powerful that readers can’t help but to inject themselves into the world of Brokeback Mountain.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/10/13/brokeback-mountain

https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2016/01/brokeback-mountain.html

https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2016/01/brokeback-mountain-by-annie-proulx-mp3.html

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN pdf

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Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx

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https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/10/13/brokeback-mountain

https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2016/01/brokeback-mountain.html

https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2016/01/brokeback-mountain-by-annie-proulx-mp3.html

HARVEY'S DREAM BY STEPHEN KING pdf

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Harvey’s Dream by Stephen King

WHEN WE WERE NEARLY YOUNG SHORT STORY REVIEW

When We Were Nearly Young - The inspiration for Mavis Gallant’s short story, entitled ‘When We Were Nearly Young’ was a diary she kept during the 1950’s. The backstory goes that Gallant was living in Madrid, forced to pawn her typewriter, while waiting for a check from her agent. She did what every writer does by turning a real-life situation into fiction. The short story deals with a woman on a quest for self-discovery, living with three friends, all of whom are waiting for money. They eat cheap, loaf around and try to enjoy life on a budget. Gallant is a prolific contributor to The New Yorker, featuring publication of more than one hundred stories in the magazine. I wonder, now that handwritten journals are obsolete, how will writer’s notes be remembered?

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A Day by William Trevor PDF

WHEN WE WERE NEARLY YOUNG

When We Were Nearly Young by Mavis Gallant MP3

When We Were Nearly Young by Mavis Gallant PDF

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When We Were Nearly Young by Mavis Gallant PDF

A DAY BY WILLIAM TREVOR SHORT STORY REVIEW

A Day by William Trevor SHORT STORY REVIEW - In William Trevor’s short story, entitled ‘A Day’, the author successfully immerses the reader in the point-of-view character’s consciousness. We wake with Mrs. Lethwes as she watches her husband sleep, as she goes marketing and stops by the coffee shop. We listen to her chat and eavesdrop on her thoughts. Her nerves deepen, growing more serious, while day turns to night. She is trying to reconcile herself to her husband's affair. ‘A Day’ is featured in William Trevor’s 1996 collection ‘After Rain’. In his own words, Trevor says: “My fiction may, now and again, illuminate aspects of the human condition, but I do not consciously set out to do so.”

A Day by William Trevor MP3

A Day by William Trevor MP3

In the Reign of Harad IV by Steven Millhauser.pdf

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In the Reign of Harad IV by Steven Millhauser.pdf

In the Reign of Harad IV by Steven Millhauser.mp3

In the Reign of Harad IV by Steven Millhauser.mp3

ABLE, BAKER, CHARLIE, DOG SHORT STORY REVIEW

ABLE, BAKER, CHARLIE, DOG  SHORT STORY REVIEW - This short story is part of a larger work by the author entitled Sweet Talk. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker numerous times over a twenty year period. I haven’t read any of the other stories, so this review only pertains to: Able, Barker, Charlie, Dog by Stephanie Vaughn. The story is spare and haunting, centering on the first person narrator’s perceptions of her father, as they changed over time. The title is derived from a trick to memorize the alphabet, that she learned at age twelve years, taught to her by her father, used by the military to keep the B’s separate from the V’s. Throughout the story, he (the father) teaches life lessons, he is a good man, while at the same time, that he is deeply flawed, as a human being. Thematically, this is Vaughn’s moral of the story: even at our best, we’re still capable of our worst. 

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Able, Barker, Charlie, Dog by Stephanie Vaughn

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Able, Barker, Charlie, Dog by Stephanie Vaughn PDF