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Fun With A Stranger by Richard Yates Analysis
Some short stories exist mainly as character studies. Fun With A Stranger (1962) by American author Richard Yates is one example. The story paints a portrait of a particular kind of old-fashioned school teacher. The reader feels empathy for everyone involved, from the young pupils to the teacher herself.
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Kiss Me Again, Stranger by Daphne du Maurier Short Story Analysis
“Kiss Me Again, Stranger” by Daphne du Maurier (1952) is as supernatural as a story gets without actually being supernatural.
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The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg Analysis
The Stranger (1986) is the seventh picture book written and illustrated by popular American storyteller Chris Van Allsburg.
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The Home Girls by Olga Masters Short Story Analysis
“The Home Girls” is a short story by Australian writer Olga Masters (1919 – 1986), and the first story of Masters’ 1982 collection, also called The Home Girls. I’m interested in Olga Masters partly because her fiction wasn’t published until she was in her 50s. Then, when she was published, she won a bunch of […]
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Loneliness in Art and Storytelling
Edward Hopper was a master at depicting loneliness with paint. The sense of isolation is achieved with colour and composition. Eyes don’t meet, or not at the same time. Body language is closed off. Figures are small inside vast spaces, their heads far from the top of the canvas. They gaze from windows as if longing for connection.
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Short Story Study For Writers
In the 1880s Brander Matthews said that short stories should be spelt with a hyphen to distinguish between two different forms, which reminds me of the picture book vs picturebook debate. A short story is a story that is short. A short-story proper derives from the Romantic tradition and has its beginnings in myths and legends.…
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Two Hundred Rabbits (1968) by Lonzo Anderson and Adrienne Adams Picturebook Analysis
“Two Hundred Rabbits” is a 1968 picture book written by Lonzo Anderson and illustrated by Adrienne Adams, who were married.
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Whistler’s Grandmother by Shirley Jackson Short Story Analysis
“Whistler’s Grandmother” by Shirley Jackson was published in the May 5, 1945 edition of The New Yorker. Find it also in the collection Just An Ordinary Day (1996).
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The Things They Left Behind by Stephen King Short Story Analysis
“The Things They Left Behind” is a post 9/11 short story by American writer Stephen King, first published in 2006.
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Hairball by Margaret Atwood Short Story Study
“Hairball” is a dark and playful short story by Margaret Atwood. Find it in the Wilderness Tips collection (1991).
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Asexuality Reading List: Non-fiction
You don’t understand sexuality until you understand asexuality. Asexuality is not an absence of sexuality. Rather it is a ‘self-contained sexuality’.
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Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood
“Wilderness Tips” (1991) is an ecological short story by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, full of duplicity, doubles and dark humour.
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“Home” by Shirley Jackson and the Gossiping Busybody Archetype
In “Home”, Shirley Jackson takes the urban legend of the ghost hitch-hiker and turns it into something new.
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Paranoia by Shirley Jackson Short Story Analysis
“Paranoia” is a noir short story by American writer Shirley Jackson (1916-1965). A man is followed home by a stalker. Or is he?
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The Turning by Tim Winton Short Stories Analysis
The Turning is a 2004 short story collection by Western Australian author Tim Winton. In 2013 the collection was adapted for film. It’s unusual to find a feature-length film which is actually a series of short stories, which might partly explain the tagline on the movie poster: A Unique Cinema Event. I really enjoyed three…
