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A Trip to the Coast by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
**UPDATE LATE 2024** After Alice Munro died, we learned about the real ‘open secrets’ (not so open to those of us not in the loop) which dominated the author’s life. We must now find a way to live with the reality that Munro’s work reads very differently after knowing certain decisions she made when faced…
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Sunday Afternoon by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“Sunday Afternoon” is a short story by Alice Munro, included in the 1968 Dance of the Happy Shades collection.
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Symbols of Freedom in Literature
Do not allow yourselves to be deluded by the abstract word ‘freedom’. Whose freedom? It is not the freedom of one individual in relation to another, but the freedom of capital to crush the worker. Marx, On the Question of Free Trade 1848 The American West is more than a place. It’s a super powerful…
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Urban Legend Analysis: The Babysitter
The urban legend about the babysitter goes like this: Teenage girl is babysitting one night when she gets a menacing call. When she calls authorities, she is told that the call is coming from inside the house.
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The Office by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“The Office” is a short story by Canadian author Alice Munro, first published in Dance of the Happy Shades (1968).
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Psychopaths, Sociopaths, Narcissists in Fiction
Let’s take a look at psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists in fiction, or rather: How people with malignant personality disorders dominate popular culture.
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Spaceships Have Landed by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
Spaceships Have Landed is a long short story running over 10,000 words. But after you’ve read it, you’ll feel like you read an entire novel. With perfectly chosen narrative summary and a roving point of view, Alice Munro paints the story of a 1950s town, as experienced by two very different young women united by…
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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?