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The Ratcatcher by Roald Dahl Short Story Analysis
Run with rats you become a rat.
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Miss Smith by William Trevor Short Story Analysis
“Miss Smith” is an early short story by Irish-English writer William Trevor. Find it in The Day We Got Drunk On Cake And Other Stories (1968) and also in Collected Stories.
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A Complicated Nature by William Trevor Short Story Analysis
“A Complicated Nature” is a short story by William Trevor, published in Angels At The Ritz And Other Stories (1975). Find it also in Collected Stories. A prim, starchy man who lives alone in his apartment faces a moral dilemma when the woman upstairs calls him, begging for a favour. She wants him to help shift a man’s body so…
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Mrs. Silly by William Trevor Short Story Analysis
Can men write women? For a case study in “Yes!” read William Trevor. Today’s short story, Mrs Silly is told via the viewpoint character of an eight-year-old boy. Trevor never lets us into “Mrs Silly’s” head. Instead, he shows us the cauldron of misogyny
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Uncle Einar by Ray Bradbury Short Story Analysis
We’ve already met Einar as Timothy’s uncle in “Homecoming”. Now we see the man at home, and learn more about the realities of living as a supernatural being in a world made for regular humans.
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Homecoming by Ray Bradbury Short Story Analysis
“Homecoming” is a short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published in 1946. A family of ghouls hosts a big family reunion for Allhallows Eve. Dead relatives return for the occasion. Unfortunately for Timothy, he seems to be the only member of the family who doesn’t have supernatural powers. Some readers pick this up expecting a chilling thriller. This…
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The Night by Ray Bradbury Short Story Analysis
“The Night” is a second-person point of view short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published in 1955.
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The Man Upstairs by Ray Bradbury Short Story Analysis
Let’s take a look at a vampire story by American writer Ray Bradbury. “The Man Upstairs” was first published in the March 1947 issue of Harper’s Magazine. You’ll also find it in Stories Volume One and Bradbury’s 1955 collection called The October Country.
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How To Write Like Carson McCullers
If you want to start with the best of Carson McCullers, focus on the stories she wrote in the 1930s and 40s. Ill-health and issues related to alcoholism made it difficult for McCullers to keep producing the same high quality of life up until her death. The most prevalent theme in the novels–rejection or unrequited love–repeats itself, as one might…
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The Haunted Boy Short Story by Carson McCullers Analysis
“The Haunted Boy” is a 1955 short story by American writer Carson McCullers, who writes of adolescent boys as adroitly as Alice Munro writes of adolescent boys, focusing on their softness, and the conflict that derives from needing to look manly while not feeling at all strong in the face of adversity. “The Haunted Boy” explores the struggles of Hugh…
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A Cup of Tea by Katherine Mansfield Short Story Analysis
“A Cup of Tea” is a Modernist short story by Katherine Mansfield, first published in May 1922. I’m reading it 100 years later.
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The Canary by Katherine Mansfield Short Story Analysis
“The Canary” is a short story by Katherine Mansfield, and the last she ever finished. It was published in April 1923, after she had already died. “The Canary” was then collected in A Dove’s Nest.
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Rip Van Winkle Can Get In The Sea
I finally read the short story “Rip Van Winkle” (1819), by America’s first well-recognised author, Washington Irving. Some say that Irving invented the American short story. (Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe turned it into literary art.)
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Invisible Bird by Claire-Louise Bennett Short Story Analysis
Claire-Louise Bennett’s story is a great mentor text if you’re writing (perhaps autobiographically) about a period in someone’s life, looking back after much has been forgotten, when memories come episodically. The difficulty with these stories is: How to end them?
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Charles by Shirley Jackson Short Story Analysis
“Charles” is a very short story by Shirley Jackson, first published in 1948. Told in first person from a mother’s point of view, this is the story of a little boy who starts school and immediately transforms from a little boy into a smart-mouthed brat. He talks constantly about a boy called Charles who gets up to all sorts of mischief.
