"Three Letters...and a Footnote." Horacio Quiroga.

One-minute review: Female trolley rider sends a letter to a newspaper editor describing the battle of the sexes on the streetcar gong to and from work. Especially describes the probing of the male’s foot and all that it implies. The editor, who has been asked to publish the letter under his own name, asks if the female who wrote it has ever been tempted to respond to a probing foot. She replies yes, only once, and it was the editor’s foot and he never took advantage of the situation.

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 Oval Portrait." Edgar Allen Poe

One-minute review: Narrator is wounded. He and his valet seek shelter in an abandoned house. Comes upon a series of paintings and a book discussing them. One portrait is especially interesting because it is so life like, a portrait of the artist’s wife. He had painted her to the life and in doing so, he had sucked the life from her. She was dead.

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 Standard of Living." Dorothy Parker.

One-minute review: Two office girls establish their appearance as regal and wealthy. They play a game of “What would be the first thing you would do if you were left a million dollars in someone’s will?” With this illusory million dollars, they act as if they really have it. Their haughty behavior cows all who come in contact with them.

When they visit a jewelry shop, the obsequious clerk bows to their high station in life. When they ask the price of a double-rope of pearls in the shop window he says, “$250,000.” The reality that those pearls cost so much deflates their simulated standard of living and they leave the shop deflated, their poverty showing itself in their lack of composure and their office girl behavior.

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.

"How the Devil Lost His Poncho." Ricardo Palma.

One-minute review: When the Good Lord and his disciples visited the desert town of Ica, all was peaceful. No strife could be found anywhere in the town. All this because of the spirit of Christ. But the time came when Christ was summoned to return to Jerusalem.

The Devil, envious of Christ, disguised himself as Christ and visited the town and, of course, all hell broke loose. He was wearing a poncho.

At the time of the Devil’s visit, a bride was being married. With the Devil’s blessing, guests flung insults at her in the spirit of the Devil, and women flirted with the handsome groom. The bride accosted the disguised Devil, discovered his joy in the chaos at her wedding, and made the sign of the cross. Naturally, at that sign, the Devil beat a hasty retreat, but the bride clung to his poncho and ripped it from him as he exited. She has it still and occasionally the Devil, returns to try to retrieve it. And that sets the liquor to flowing again.

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 Crime on Calle de la Persequida." Palacio Valdes.

One-minute review: Man returning home late at night from visiting a friend. Encounters four men who gesticulate wildly, terrifying him. He bludgeons one who collapses and lies on the street dead while the others disappear. Convinced he is guilty of murder, he flies from a friendly gendarme who he thinks is about to arrest him. He reaches his daughter’s home and falls into a guilty, fitful sleep.

The next morning his daughter wakes him. He asks for the daily newspaper, expecting to read the story about his murdering someone. What he finds instead in the gossip column is the story of mentally deranged men, sent by an insane asylum, who were transporting a corpse to the autopsy room, a regular assignment. It’s that corpse that the man has clubbed. He had murdered a dead man. “…you had really killed a man who was already dead.”

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 Sniper." Liaam O'Flaherty

One-minute review: Civil war in Ireland. Two snipers battling it out on the rooftops. One is shot dead and falls to the street below. Badly wounded, the surviving sniper decides to see with whom he has been dueling. He goes to the street below and falls down beside the corpse as a machine gun tears up the street. He turns over the corpse and discovers that the other sniper was his brother.

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 Pearl of Toledo." Prosper Merimee

One-minute review: Two knights fight a duel over who has the right to the most beautiful woman, the Pearl of Toledo. The loser lies on the ground, his blood running out. The Pearl of Toledo approaches him and offers solace. With his dying breath, he seizes his sword and slashes her face. She is no longer the Pearl of Toledo.

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 Fiddler." Herman Melville.

One-minute review. Helmstone has had a poem he had published destroyed by a critic. He storms into the street, about to dismember the critic, when he meets a friend and becomes caught up in the antics of a clown who fiddles. The clown charms whole audiences. Helmstone tries to understand what makes the clown so enjoyable that audiences are enraptured by him.

His friend eventually tells him the secret of the clown. He had once been a genius who gathered wealth and fame. He escaped both wealth and fame and his unhappiness by becoming the clown that he is today and enjoying life to the fullest. His friend refers to the poem and the critic. It isn’t having genius that causes trouble, but seeking fame because of genius. Forget the desire for fame and use your genius for its own sake.

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 Guardian Angel." Andre Maurois.

One-minute review: Politician. Often out of control. Marries a wife who puts a brake on his behavior, advises him how to behave with restraint, even with graciousness. She dies. But she has foreseen certain scrapes into which he must inevitably become engaged and has left letters advising him on two occasions. The letters arrive as he is about to destroy himself by ridiculing another politician and the other in a second marriage with a worthless woman. The politician takes the advice of his first wife from her grave and escapes a dire fate.

When he is about to marry again to a worthy woman, there is no letter and he lives comfortably, gaining a baby a year with the perfect woman for him. His first wife has foreseen that, too.

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 Ant and the Grasshopper." Somerset Maugham.

One-minute review: Remember the old fable? The ant works all summer and stores up provisions for winter. The grasshopper does nothing but sing all summer and stores up nothing for winter. When the winter comes, the grasshopper begs for a little food from the ant who tells him to go dancing after reminding him that he has done nothing to prepare for winter. The author comments that he is in favor of the grasshopper.

Two brothers. George works hard. Tom is in one scrape after another, often bailed out by George. George retires on a small sum. Tom marries a wealthy woman, old enough to be his mother, who dies and leaves Tom not only well off, but wealthy. George is fit to be tied. The grasshopper triumphs.

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 Use of Poetry." Ian McEwan.

Note: The next story is from The New Yorker. New Yorker stories are almost always depressing, dealing with disillusion, marital break-ups, and pointlessness in life and plot. The characters are almost always hapless, helpless and hopeless. I include New Yorker Stories that have a scintilla of interest when I can find them. RayS.

“The Use of Poetry.” Ian McEwan.

One-minute review: Two different people with two different interests, he a scientist, she an English major with a special interest in Milton. When he learns this, he sets out to learn everything he can about Milton. He reads Milton’s poetry and critical reviews of it. He focuses on the poem about Milton’s blindness. She capitulates. They marry quickly and separate just as easily. That’s the story.

Comment: In every marriage, two people with separate personalities and separate interests, join and the merger begins to break even at the start. In this one there are no emotional ties and the separation occurs easily and happily. I guess that’s the point. RayS.

New Yorker. (December 7, 2009), 78-83.

"Alone." Yu You Li

Note: The next story is from The New Yorker. New Yorker stories are almost always depressing, dealing with disillusion, marital break-ups, and pointlessness in life and plot. The characters are almost always hapless, helpless and hopeless. I include New Yorker Stories that have a scintilla of interest when I can find them. Rays.

“Alone.” Yu You Li.

One-minute review: Six young school girls agree to commit suicide together by drowning because none of them could swim. Why? One of the girls survives and reflects on what happened and why she saved herself. Why?

New Yorker. November 16, 2009, 64-71.

"Germans at Meat." Katherine Mansfield.

One-minute review: A group of travelers at mealtime. Some from Germany. At least one from England. The Germans have disgusting eating habits and vividly display vulgar personal habits. The eve of war and the Germans say patronizingly, “We [the Germans] don’t want England. Don’t be afraid.” The English narrator—a woman—shuts up and leaves.

Comment: Not much point to the story other than a sharp contrast between the vulgar Germans and the refined English.

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 Toast to Captain Jerk." Russell Maloney.

One-minute review: An actor—not sure just what is real or not real because he has been playacting so long—is abut to go back to England to join the army and fight. He is so tired of play acting that the war will be real experience. His girl thinks he is using enlistment to escape his debts, even his room rent. She calls him “Captain Jerk,” He says, “It’ll be real at least” …but there is no certainty in his face. He looks as if he might never know what is real, even if he dies trying to find out.”

Opening paragraph is a good description of jumbled talk in a crowded restaurant.

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 Wild Duck's Nest." Michael McLaverty.

One-minute review: A little boy, a nature lover, lets his curiosity get the better of him and he touches a duck’s green egg in a deserted nest. He feels guilty. He should not have touched the egg. The mother duck might desert it. He passes a rainy day fitfully in school and then, after dinner, finds the wild duck’s nest to see if it is still deserted. He is relieved. The mother is on the egg. But she spots the little intruder. She makes a motion and she flies from the nest. Again the boy feels guilty until he sees that there are now two green eggs. The mother duck has not deserted the nest in spite of the little boy’s intrusion.

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.

"If Not Higher." Isaac Loeb Perez.

One-minute review: A Jewish holy man, a “Rebbe” (a Rabi?) disappears and everyone wonders where he is. He is doing charity work, dressed as a peasant, helping the peasants to have warmth when they are cold. He cuts the wood, lights the fire for the impoverished sick woman. He is followed in his travels by a skeptical Lithuanian Jew. Later when the Lithuanian is asked if the “Rebbe” goes to heaven each day that he leaves, replies, “…if not higher.”

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.

"Then Came the Legions." Mackinley Kantor

One-minute review: The grizzled old Cap, who can’t do anything right and who had drunk himself out of his commission in the army, takes over a group of recruits in the town and teaches them to march smartly. Someone jokingly tells him to apply to the army for a commission again. He does. And he is U.S. Grant.

Comment: I wonder if this is true. 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.

"Charles." Shirley Jackson.

One-minute review: “Charles” is a bad, bad little boy in kindergarten. Laurie tells his mother each day of Charles’s escapades and Laurie’s mother wonders at how bad a child can be. It takes quite a time for Laurie’s mother to learn from the teacher that “Charles” is really Laurie.

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 Wife." Washington Irving.

One-minute review: A beautiful little romantic idyll. Behind every happy man, there stands a loving, super-strong little wife who will sink or swim with him and who will bear with him whatever great troubles he might have. A husband makes some bad speculations and is plunged into poverty. His friend urges him to tell his wife so she can support him, but he is afraid to. When, at last, he does tell her, she is transformed into a ravishing beauty who helps keep their newly purchased humble cottage like a castle, and sharing strawberries and cream in the back yard.

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.