Thursday, September 30, 2010

"The Treasure." Alberto Moravia.



Similar to the tale of the brothers who dig up the land searching for treasure, only to find that the “treasure” is the crops they now plant. In this case the “treasure” seekers dig a manure pit. Good character in old man Marinese. He is an incoherent jabberer, loving gardener and courageous in the face of the pistol-waving treasure seekers.

Fifty Great European Short Stories. Ed. Edward and Elizabeth Huberman. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

"The Lay of the Ash Tree." Marie de France.


There was a belief in medieval times that if a woman bears twins, she must have had two husbands. When a woman in a neighboring castle has borne twins, a knight’s wife from the next castle speaks slander of her—that she has had two husbands—a stain upon her honor. Ironically, this neighbor also has twin daughters and, in order to avoid the reputation of disgrace, a servant girl offers to remove one of the twin girls to an abbey far away and leaves her in an ash tree with a gorgeous cloth wrapping and a ring. The mother tells her husband that she has given birth to only one daughter. The abbess rears the separated twin.

The girl, named Frene, grows up a fair maiden at the abbey. A knight becomes enamored of her, visits the abbey where she lives and talks her into fleeing the abbey and living with him—unmarried. She takes the cloth in which she had been wrapped as a child and the ring. The time comes, however, when he needs to have a son and must be married and he has to put Frene away. Every servant in his castle is horrified at this injustice. They love and respect Frene. The knight is affianced to another---the twin sister of Frene.

When the preparations for the wedding night are made, Frene visits the prospective marriage bed of her sister (still not knowing it), and decides to add the gorgeous cloth in which as a baby she had been wrapped and placed in the ash tree. The mother views the prospective marriage bed in which her daughter will lie and discovers the cloth in which she had wrapped her separated twin child. She questions Frene, who also produces the ring. At once the mother recognizes that Frene is her twin daughter, confesses her sin to her husband, who insists that the marriage be annulled and the knight marries Frene while her sister is married to another.

All is well that ends well.

Fifty Great European Short Stories. Ed. Edward and Elizabeth Huberman. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

"A Counterfeit Husband." Margaret, Queen of Navarre.



A Chaucerian Tale. Two priests defraud the mother and her daughter. The one priest acts as a marriage broker, the other priest, as the husband of the daughter. But the scheme is discovered and they receive their just deserts.

Fifty Great European Short Stories. Ed. Edward and Elizabeth Huberman. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.

Monday, September 27, 2010

"Railway Accident." Thomas Mann.


The details of a railway accident and the feelings that go with it, including fear and confusion. That’s the story. Mann’s language is precise and vivid. Makes you feel as if you are there, on the scene.

Fifty Great European Short Stories. Ed. Edward and Elizabeth Huberman. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.

Friday, September 24, 2010

"Jeannot and Colin." Voltaire.



A fable. Jeannot and Colin are schoolboy friends. Then Jeannot’s parents get lucky and make a fortune. They become peers and Jeannot becomes a marquise and no longer recognizes Colin as a friend. Jeannot’s parents try to decide what their son should know and learn. They hire a tutor . The tutor suggests that all worldly topics, including science, math, Latin, etc. are a waste of time when one is going to spend life in society.

So Jeannot learns nothing and spends money and his parents lose theirs from spending it to keep up their son’s social standing. When they are bankrupt, their house is taken by creditors, Jeannot runs to his wealthy friends for help, but, of course, they no longer recognize him as a member of their society. In despair, Jeannot stands by the side of the road, when Colin comes by driving a wagon loaded with copper, tin and iron from which he has become wealthy by manufacturing metal goods in a factory. Colin treats Jeannot magnanimously, gives him a job, makes him a partner and bales out Jeannot’s parents. A fable.

Fifty Great European Short Stories. Ed. Edward and Elizabeth Huberman. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

"Children of Men." Gustav Wied.


Two impoverished lovers daydream in the countryside about the house they will buy, describing in detail the richly furnished rooms. And then they go home at the end of the day, third class, in order to save money.

Fifty Great European Short Stories. Ed. Edward and Elizabeth Huberman. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

"But For This." Lajos Zilahy.


“That night—on the fourth day of October, 1874—at a quarter past one in the morning, the journeyman carpenter, John Kovacs, died.” And in the rest of the story, every person who knew John Kovacs in any way died, and, finally every last scrap of paper containing the name of John Kovacs, was tossed out—and thus every piece of evidence that John Kovacs ever existed is gone—except for this story.

Fifty Great European Short Stories. Ed. Edward and Elizabeth Huberman. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

"A Country Doctor." Franz Kafka.

An innocuous title, but another strange story. A country doctor. A patient in desperate need ten miles away in a blizzard. His horse has died. No one in the village will lend him one. A groom and two huge horses mysteriously appear out of the deserted pig sty. His servant girl is attacked by the groom and so on. The doctor relates what happens. A series of improbable incidents. First, the young patient asks the doctor to let him die. The doctor believes there is nothing wrong with him. Then the doctor discovers a large wound with worms in it. A doctor’s nightmare?

Fifty Great European Short Stories. Ed. Edward and Elizabeth Huberman. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.

Monday, September 20, 2010

"The Bucket Rider." Franz Kafka.



Another strange story. Freezing, a man begs for a bucket of coal from the coal dealer. He rides the air in his coal bucket. The coal merchant’s wife either sees him and hears his pleas or she doesn’t. Discouraged, he rides off into the empyrean on his coal bucket. Strange. A nightmare?

Fifty Great European Short Stories. Ed. Edward and Elizabeth Huberman. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.

Friday, September 17, 2010

"Don Juan." ETA Hoffmann.



Strange story. Impressions of the opera Don Juan as rendered by the music of Mozart. The sub–heading is “A fabulous Incident that Happened to a Travelling Enthusiast.” Life and theater intermix. Theater becomes life for the actors. Donna Anna is really consumed by the character who plays Don Juan. Impressions of the opera and the music. Strange.

Fifty Great European Short Stories. Ed. Edward and Elizabeth Huberman. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

"Within and Wishout." Hermann Hesse



Frederick, the man who worships reason and logic and science meets an old friend, Erwin, who believes in magic. That magic is summarized with the words “For what is without is within.” Erwin gives Frederick a parting gift, a glazed idol. He tells Frederick when that idol is no longer without but within, come back to tell him.

Frederick hates the idol. Tries to put it out of his way. A maid eventually smashes it. Frederick is glad it is gone, but it is not gone. It still bothers him. One night Frederick wakes up at 3 A.M. and knows that the idol is within him, a part of his inner mental state. Erwin says to him: “Until today you have been the slave of the within. Learn to be its master. That is magic.” The within and the without are now interchangeable.

Comment: I don’t think I completely understand this story. I guess it’s a balance between thought and emotion. RayS.

Fifty Great European Short Stories. Ed. Edward and Elizabeth Huberman. New York: Bantam Books. 1971.