What does it mean to be human? Dancing, music, love, sex, cooking, other people… You’ll have heard these answers. Many are problematic. EXPANDING THE QUESTION First, this question has various answers depending on context: Much of the time, though, ‘what it means to be human’ feels like another way of exploring ‘what it means to […]
“The Flat’s Road” is a short story by Canadian author Alice Munro. This story opens Munro’s 1971 collection Lives of Girls and Women.
Logos is one of three main persuasive techniques as categorised by Aristotle alongside ethos and pathos.
“Postcard” is a short story by Canadian author Alice Munro, first published in Dance of the Happy Shades, Munro’s first short story collection (1968). This one’s about a player, and his unwitting bit-on-the-side who thinks he’ll eventually marry her.
This is an ongoing post about my 2023 reading goal of reading queer books by and about queer people. After half a lifetime of absorbing and analysing story, there remains only one sure way to find interesting and surprising perspectives and narratives: Actively seek the perspectives of marginalised voices.
“Boys and Girls” is a short story by Alice Munro. Find it in Dance of the Happy Shades (1968), Munro’s first collection.
Finally, I decided to switch to a dedicated eReader. Here’s what I think of the Kobo Libra 2.
“Thanks For The Ride” is a short story by Canadian author Alice Munro. Find it in Dance of the Happy Shades (1968). “Ride” has two meanings in this one. Yes, those two meanings.
What is the meaning of simulacrum? What is the plural, and how is this word used metaphorically to illustrate ideas?
“The Peace of Utrecht” is a short story by Canadian author Alice Munro. The easiest place to find it: In Munro’s first short story collection Dance of the Happy Shades (1968). This story was actually published earlier, in 1960 (by a 1956-1982 Canadian literary magazine known as Tamarack Review). THE MEANING OF THE TITLE Alice…
“The Brain In The Jar” is a short story by Norman Elwood Hammerstrom (c. 1900-1970) and R.F. Searight (c. 1902-1975).
“Images” is a short story by Alice Munro, first published in Dance of the Happy Shades (1968). This story comprises two character studies through the eyes of a woman looking back on her own early childhood. One character study paints a portrait of a second cousin once removed, who prevails upon the household to take…
As much as possible, I try to avoid talking about what the author intends by doing such-and-such in a work of literature. Today I’d like to clarify why I personally think this is not a helpful way to approach a text. I’m hardly the first to criticise this approach, though I suspect some of my…
“The Red Shoes” (1845) is a — let’s face it — horrific literary fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen (1805 – 1875), built on a tradition of stories in which a female character is punished (by her ostentatious, sexually charged shoes) for her social deviation.
“A Trip To The Coast” is a short story by Alice Munro, first published in Dance of the Happy Shades (1968). In stories, trips to the coast often coincide with a big self-revelation. A character looks out to sea, realises something, and the audience understands their life is about to change in some significant way.…