Respite

This blog will resume on January 4, 2010. It consists of brief summaries of short stories published over the years. RayS.

"Fard." Aldous Huxley.

One-minute review: Comparison between a woman who thinks she is tragic (Madame) and one who really is (Sophie, the maid), but, of course, who doesn’t complain, though she is horribly overworked and is completely exhausted. Madame cannot stand to see the appearance of real tragedy (“The woman was a walking corpse”), so she commands Sophie to put rouge on her cheeks and gloss on her lips to mask the face of tragedy. But she does not remove the real cause of Sophie’s tragic exhaustion—she continues to work her—hard!

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.

"The Exact Science of Matrimony." O. Henry.

One-minute review: Flim-flam times two. Two male schemers employ a female “wealthy” widow to be the lure for men to try to marry her—at a price to the flim-flammers who arrange meetings with her. As they are about to slip away, she begs for $2,000 to give to the successful applicant for her love, whom she loves to distraction. Seems the successful applicant was one-half of the flim-flamming duo who was courting the widow himself. All the money, including the widow’s $2,000, is accounted for and they are gone. The perfect scheme.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.

"The Lost Soul." Ben Hecht.

One-minute review: A man about to be executed for a horrible murder loses his memory and has no idea who he is. When he sees that he has been led to the gallows, he screams, “This ain’t me!” Has the soul of the original murderer been taken from him and replaced by another’s soul? Was it all a hoax of a brilliant madman in hopes that officials wouldn’t hang a man who was unaware that he had committed a crime? Or did the madman really feel that it wasn’t the guilty man they were hanging? Split personality? The story of a man driven out of his senses prior to being hanged for a horrible crime.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.

"The Boy Who Drew Cats." Lafcadio Hearn.

One-minute review: A boy (Oriental) draws cats—very life-like cats, so life-like that they come alive to kill an enormous goblin-rat which has scared the priests out of a very large Oriental temple. The goblin-rat was as big as a cow. This story is told like a fairy tale, but seems to have no point.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.

"A Question of Blood." Ernest Haycox.

One-minute review: A man alone in the early years of the frontier needs a woman. And when there are no white women available, he takes an Indian. When white civilization catches up to him, racial prejudice makes him a man outside of his kind. Indian and white, their varied customs and habits war. She insists on walking behind him. He takes on tasks that she is used to performing like cutting the firewood. He eats at the table while she—and now her son—eats in the corner on a blanket. There is no victory in this war. Neither can change. And when he claims the growing boy as white by seating him at the table, he signals that he will raise him as a white and she cries, heart-broken. He has taken her son from her.

Comment: A powerful story about the power of culture to divide. RayS.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.

"The Hollow of the Three Hills." Nathaniel Hawthorne.

One-minute review: A woman has sought out a withered old crone, a witch, to learn what has happened to her family, her parents, her husband and her child whom she has deserted. The crone conjures up the sounds and conveys images of the family, crushed by the desertion of their daughter and wife and mother. The sounds of the casket containing her child passes, with the mourners decrying the faithlessness of the mother. The woman is lifeless on her knees. The crone, a representative of the devil, chuckles and says, “Here has been a sweet hour’s sport.”

Comment: A mood piece. Hawthorne seems fixated on the consequences and regrets of sin. RayS.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.

"Absent-Mindedness in a Parish Choir." Thomas Hardy.

One-minute review: The band that played in the gallery of the parish church played also in taverns. The Sunday after Christmas they had played all the previous night and early morning in a tavern and arrived at church which was very cold in the gallery where they played. To keep warm, they furtively took some liquor during the beginning of the service and, during a very long sermon, they fell asleep. When the time came to play the hymn after the sermon, they were all sleeping. The parishioners turned to see what was the cause of their silence. A boy who sat in the gallery nudged them and they leaped up and, since the church was so dark, and, forgetting where they were, they began playing “The Devil Among the Tailors,” a tavern song instead of the hymn. The Squire said it was a disgrace, they were dismissed and the parish purchased an organ to replace them.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.

"The Butterfly." James Henley.

One-minute review: The boy has missed mass. Brother Timothy is in a rage. The boy meets Brother Timothy’s rage with stoical silence. Brother Timothy’s rage grows at this response of silence. He confines the boy to his room. They boy is sensitive. The reason he missed mass was his exploring the grounds with a friend and they did not hear the bell. On this exploration of nature, he has found and put in a box with air holes a green caterpillar that will grow into a butterfly. He treats the caterpillar gently. The caterpillar seems like a friend in the face of Brother Anthony’s rage. Brother Anthony crushes the caterpillar and the boy cries.

Comment: Each time I go into a rage like Brother Anthony’s, and I tend to do so, I will remember this story. That will be my “anger management.” RayS.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"Proof Positive." Graham Greene.

One-minute review: a man whose body has been dead for a week, but whose spirit has not deserted his body, keeps the body moving and acting, can talk only what seems to be incoherent nonsense.

A man who is apparently alive, though appearing to be extremely ill, is giving a speech that is boring or frightening to everyone in the room by his appearance and incoherent thought. One of his main messages is that the spirit can continue to exist without the body which has died and he is “proof positive” that what he has said is true. He finishes his speech, such as it is, and he collapses into complete death.

Ideas:

“It was like the conversation of an old man which flits from subject to subject, the thread a subconscious one.”

“The spirit, he said, was stronger than anyone realized; the physiological action of heart and brain and nerves were subordinate to the spirit. The spirit was everything.”

“… ‘proof positive’—proof…that the spirit outlived the body…but all he had certainly revealed was how, without the body’s aid, the spirit is seven days [that the body was dead] decayed into whispered nonsense.”

Comment: One of the weirder stories I have read. RayS.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.

"Her Lover." Maxim Gorky.

One-minute review: A completely friendless, forlorn and ugly human being calling herself Theresa, invents a boy friend from back home. She is aware of how pathetic she is, but she stubbornly fights the loneliness of life by accepting this invented boy friend as real. And we, in our self sufficiency do not understand or even recognize the troubles of those around us, who need our friendship and sympathy.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.

Note: Blog will resume on Monday, November 30, 2009. RayS.

"Virtuoso." Herbert Goldstone.

One-minute review: The maestro and a robot. The maestro plays the piano as the robot listens and asks questions. And then it, the robot, plays the piano superbly. The maestro becomes excited, invites experts to come hear the robot play, but the robot has seen the maestro cry at the robot’s playing beautifully and refuses to play because tears are a sign of harm to humans and he has been programmed never to harm humans.

The robot understands man to a point—understands that those sounds which he can produce through the piano so perfectly, in the spirit that the composer wrote them, have an effect on humans that they do not have on the robot. These sounds can make men cry. The robot does not understand that tears are not always harmful.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.

"The Disabled Soldier." Oliver Goldsmith.

One-minute review: A disabled soldier, a beggar, whose life has been one misery after another, one leg shot off, and four fingers of his left hand, unrelieved by any good fortune, but he takes great satisfaction in the little comforts of life, especially that he still lives, can eat and sleep, even if he has to beg for both. And he loves England. “Thus saying, he limped off, leaving me in admiration at his intrepidity and content.”

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.

"Truth and Consequences." Brendan Gill.

One-minute review: A bad young girl makes a Mama’s boy think about his decision to become a priest, a decision his mother had hounded him into making after his father died. For the first time, he faces his doubts about his decision, induced by the blunt, direct questions from the foul-mouthed young girl. And now he must face his mother.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"The Test." Angelica Gibbs.

One-minute review: Marian is a young black girl, just graduated from college. Mrs. Erickson, a white woman, with whom she is staying while helping out with the household, accompanies Marian to her second driving test. She had flunked the first because the white inspector made up mistakes she had made when she was driving. This time the inspector is also white and a wise guy who continues to make disparaging remarks about her race while she is trying to pass the driving test. He calls her “Mandy,” acts surprised when she says she is from Scranton, not down South, and a college graduate. Finally, Marian can take his jibes no longer, and exclaims, “Damn You.” She fails the test.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"Mr. Andrews." EM Forster.

One-minute review: Mr. Andrews is dead and going to heaven. He was a righteous man in the world and he is joined on his journey to heaven by a Turk who has killed the Infidel and had three wives. Outside the gates of heaven they feel the world soul. Inside heaven they have all that they want, including the Turk’s seven virgins who were promised by Allah in the Koran. They encounter all the little gods that had been worshipped in the world—Buddha, Vishna, Allah, Jehovah—whose personalities grow brighter or fade depending on the number of prayers from below. They are not happy gods.

Both Mr. Andrews and the Turk decide to leave heaven and they join the world soul to which their wisdom from their experience in heaven contributes to make the world soul better. They have been given all that they expected in heaven and yet they were not happy. That is the wisdom they gained from their experience in heaven.

A strange tale of the after life.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"The Bedchamber Mystery." CS Forester.

One-minute review: Three prim maiden ladies who play whist with Dr. Acheson each week. Three prim Victorian sisters. In going to bed one night, one of the sisters—we’ll never know which one –sits mistakenly on some china and is bleeding profusely in the butt. They must call for the doctor who comes to find the victim covered by a sheet with a hole in it revealing the injured part of the body with the victim lying face down, her face not visible. No one knows which sister it is. The other two are not in the room. The doctor stitches her up. He comes back the following week to remove the stitches with the same sheet and the same hole in it. He returns the following week for their game of whist. But all three sisters are sitting on pillows so we’ll never know which sister was the victim.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"The Scoop." James T. Farrell.

One-minute review: A newspaper circulation enforcer bullies the young boys who are selling his newspapers. He cheats them of their rightful money. When one youngster talks back and takes a pen knife to defend himself, Dennis, the enforcer, pulls a razor and slashes his throat from ear to ear. No one has seen him committing the murder and the story becomes a headline in a newspaper campaign to urge the police to enforce the law and prevent murders like this one.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"The Ghosts." Lord Dunsany.

One-minute review: An isolated old house filled with the reminders of its past noble inhabitants. The narrator argues with his brother about the existence of ghosts and goes to bed without dinner to experience the ghosts. They come in animal shapes. They are not the ghosts of the former inhabitants, but the ghosts of their sins. They claw to get at the narrator and suddenly he wants to kill his brother. The ghosts of sin are delighted. Thinking of algebraic formulas, he is restored to normal logic and the ghosts of sin disappear. He is again of normal intelligence and perspective.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"The Heavenly Christmas Tree." Fyodor Dostoevsky.

One-minute review: A dead mother, dire poverty; a scared, lonely little boy who freezes also to death; this part of the story is probably true. But Christ’s Christmas tree, consisting of happy children who had all perished in dire circumstances? Happiness in the world on the other side of this one? This the author cannot vouch for.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"While the Women Are Sleeping." Javier Marias.

One-minute review: Older, bald, fat man, a Spaniard. Young 23-year-old Spanish beauty. On the beach. He films her from every angle. Continuously. Why? He explains one night by the pool. He adores her. He wants film so that he can continue to adore her. Why? Because she will change. Or she will grow old, or she will leave him. He can’t allow that. He will have to kill her while she is in the phase of her great beauty before she begins to change or leave.

The narrator asks, what if I tell Inés (the girl’s name) or the authorities what you have said? No problem. We are leaving tomorrow to go back to Barcelona. Early. We will not have time for the beach. You can’t have anything done to me because of intentions. Besides, what if she is already dead? What if I have already killed her? The narrator looks up at the balconies of their rooms. His wife is there. Inés is not.

The New Yorker (November 2, 2009), 96 – 105.

"The Jewels of M. Lantin." Guy De Maupassant

One-minute review: M Lantin, a clerk in a government office, marries a woman who loves both jewelry, even if artificial, and the theater. Her husband likes neither. She begins to collect jewelry, apparently artificial, because M. Lantin does not make enough for anything else. And, because her husband dislikes the theater, she goes by herself accompanied by, he thinks, a lady friend. She dies. M. Lantin mourns deeply.

One day, needing some money, he takes a pearl necklace made of artificial pearls from his late wife’s collection to a jeweler, who tells him that they are real pearls and worth a great deal of money. Her other jewels turn out to be worth great sums of money. She apparently had had a lover and these jewels were all gifts to her—and all real.

Now, independently wealthy because of his late wife’s collection of jewels, M. Lantin decides to marry again. His second wife makes his life miserable.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"The Riddle." Walter De La Mare.

One-minute review: Seven children come to live with their aging grandmother. They were playful, inquisitive children. Their grandmother warned them to stay away from the large oaken chest with a lid that closed gently. One by one the children were drawn to the chest, lay down in it and disappeared, never to be seen again. And the grandmother sat in her bow window and climbed the stairs, now alone in the large house.

Comment: Whew!

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"Fear." Rhys Davies.

One-minute review: Alone in the train compartment, the boy eyes its only other passenger—a man from India with a basket on his lap. There is a sickening odor and a feeling of unease in the boy. The man from India hums louder and louder and finally opens the basket and out comes a drugged cobra writhing toward the lips of the man from India. The boy reacts in horror. The snake turns angrily toward the boy, but the snake charmer quiets the snake. At the next station, the boy leaps from the train before it even stops and runs away across the field.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"A Game of Billiards." Alphonse Daudet.

One-minute review: An exaggerated, I hope, contrast between the thoughtless irresponsibility of the officer class while the mud- and rain-drenched and weary enlisted men await orders and are slaughtered as the battle comes closer because the marshal, their leader, is inside a chateau, playing a game of billiards.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"The Upturned Face." Stephen Crane.

One-minute review: Two officers bury a comrade, while bullets spit over and around them. The irony of the commonplace “plop” as the dead man’s body and face are finally covered with dirt in the awful, momentous, tremendous experience of death.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.

"A Wicked Boy." Anton Chekhov.

One-minute review: Two young lovers are spied on by her brother, who insists on being given things or he will tell her parents. The cost of these things grows until it’s a watch he wants. The situation is resolved when the young man proposes, the young girl accepts, all is agreed on with the parents and then both the young lovers find the wicked boy and pull him up by his ears, the young man on one side, the young girl, the wicked boy’s sister, on the other.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961.