Questions tagged [short-stories]
For questions about stories with a fully developed plot, themes, and characters, but significantly shorter and less detailed than a novel.
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Looking for recommendations of “unfinished” books/short stories [on hold]
So I'm looking for unfinished works. I know that there is no proper way to define "unfinished", especially if an author has decided that their work is 'finished', but the kinds of things I am looking ...
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What kind of “portable telephone” does H. P. Lovecraft write about in his letter to August Derleth?
The letter is called "Letter to August Derleth". He describes a frightful dream he had to Derleth. In this dream, he and his friend Loveman go to a old cemetery to investigate a sepulchre and Loveman ...
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1answer
55 views
Looking for a shoujo/romance one-shot manga
I am looking for a short manga or a one-shot (not really sure) about the main guy who bumps into a girl on his way to school and the girl drops her hair pin which she got from her crush (childhood ...
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36 views
Question about a personal interpretation of Mckee's basic elements of Story: events and beats
I would like to propose a "technical/practical" interpretation of Mckee's basic story elements.
My interpretation is some sort of a set theoretical motivated, on which the construction of the next ...
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In Going Places by A.R. Barton, does Sophie really meet Danny Casey?
In the story Going Places by A.R. Barton, the plot revolves around the story of a schoolgirl Sophie, who fantasizes over many things, but no one ever believes her.
Can someone please confirm whether ...
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Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between Ulrich and Georg?
This question comes from the story "The Interlopers" by Saki.
Due to their families’ longtime feud, they both consider each other enemies and trespassers.
They were once friends, but after inheriting ...
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1answer
47 views
Where did the Grimm brothers' story “The Shepherd Boy” originate?
"The Shepherd Boy" is a very short story by the Brothers Grimm which recently found fame in the world of popular sci-fi by being referenced prominently in an episode of Doctor Who. In general it is ...
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What is the significance of “half past two” in Wolfgang Borchert's The Clock and The Bread?
In both The Clock and The Bread by Wolfgang Borchert there is a mention of the events happening at "half past two" in the morning. I have been unable to find a historical event of World War Two that ...
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1answer
324 views
A short story on two brothers meeting one a criminal one policeman
I read this around 15 years ago in English as a Second Language class in a summer class I was attending in Poughkeepsie.
We were reading short stories from a book (a collection of short stories by ...
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1answer
66 views
How are old horror short stories classified?
When I was young, I had a few books with compiled horror, mystery or macabre short stories. I want to go back and read some of these short stories, and was able to find a few.
I was able to find many ...
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81 views
Restaurant serves everything with money back guarantee, patron defeats them by ordering a Twinkie
I'd like to find a short short story, probably only one page long. I've read it on the internet in English less than two years ago, probably around 2018-08-04 when I was binging short short stories.
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Radical Canadians and Radio Broadcasts
Long ago, I was told to study a part of a short story. It was about a group of radical Canadians, and radio broadcasts. I want to ID that story, so I can find and study it again. It had a ...
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1answer
84 views
Is “The Most Dangerous Game” Literature?
Way back in high school, many many years ago, our teacher described to us what made something literature or not. This lesson always stuck with me for two reasons: 1) I didn't really think it was ...
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1answer
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What inspired E. M. Forster's short story 'The Machine Stops'?
E. M. Forster's short story 'The Machine Stops' was published in the 1909 edition of the Oxford & Cambridge Review and was prescient in terms of thinking about the downsides of the Internet - well ...
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1answer
68 views
Looking for a short story about painters who fake a death
I'm trying to find a short story about two painters. They realize that nobody ever becomes famous or earns any money from their work until after they die. So they decide to fake one of them being ...
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2answers
143 views
Short Story Identification - From English Textbook, about Person Living in Wrong Time Period
When I was a Junior in High School (2007-2008) my English teacher used an English textbook that had a story about someone who thought they were living in the wrong time period. I cannot remember ...
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1answer
43 views
What is the meaning of this sentence: …for there was nearly half as much of the entertaining as of the contemptible about the man
It is a line of one of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, and it says:
We gave him a hearty welcome; for there was nearly half as much of the
entertaining as of the contemptible about the man...
I ...
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What are Trubies?
Nalo Hopkinson's short story "Ours is the Prettiest" (published in the collection Falling in Love with Hominids, 2015) mentions Trubies several times, for example:
Page 190:
I swung aside the ...
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Relevance of tiger limerick to Gilla's story
In the short story "The Smile on the Face" by Nalo Hopkinson (published in the collection Falling in Love with Hominids, 2015), the author intersperses the story with fragments and lines from the ...
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43 views
Story about a precious bottle of wine; owner waiting for the perfect occasion
A wonderful story about a man who owns a bottle of luxury wine and waiting for an important occasion to open the bottle, at the end the bottle is lost and drank by a homeless man does who not know its ...
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1answer
51 views
What were the “Leicestershire clowns”?
In Sir Walter Scott's "Chronicles of the Canongate" we have the following
"indigestion, from having swallowed victuals like a Lei'stershire clown bolting bacon"
I have not traced any other ...
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English short story where a wife makes an investigation officer eat the murder weapon
I remember reading this English short story during my school days; it was part of our English curriculum 18-19 years ago.
Plot:
It starts with a wife killing her husband with turkey or chicken or ...
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Why does Uri get a special answer when his balloon pops?
In Miriam Roth's classic Hebrew children's book A Tale of Five Balloons (Hebrew: מעשה בחמישה בלונים), five children each get a balloon:
In sequence, each child sees their balloon pop. And each is ...
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Chekhov story involving a “peeping tom” priest and a newly married couple?
The story takes place on a ship and involves the priest spying on the newlyweds couple in their cabin.
Can't remember the title though. (It was re-published in one of his short story collections in ...
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Does “The Whalebone Parrot” draw inspiration from any specific Apache sources?
"The Whalebone Parrot" is a short horror story by Darcie Little Badger. In it, a parrot is killed, and then possesses Loretta to try to kill the cat that killed the parrot.
Darcie Little Badger often ...
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How is the possession by “The Whalebone Parrot” related to Loretta's Native American identity?
Darcie Little Badger's short story "The Whalebone Parrot" tells the story of young Emily in the 19th century struggling with her sister Loretta's possession by what turns out to be the eponymous ...
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1answer
54 views
What is the language which appears in “The Whalebone Parrot”?
"The Whalebone Parrot" by Darcie Little Badger is a short story freely available online about a family living on a small island with a cat and a parrot. An important theme is that both sisters are "...
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The Merchant of Venice
İs there any short version of the merchant of Venice to play?
We are going to play it in our class but the problem is that the story is too long and we don't have enough time for all of it. I need a ...
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“The South” by Jorge Luis Borges: book/movie differences?
What are some of the differences and similarities between the book "The South" and the movie? The book is about Juan Dahlmann with his accident. I know that the cat is in different places, that the ...
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1answer
73 views
What's the name of that short story written by C.S. Lewis about female vanity?
There's a short story written by the Christian author C.S. Lewis concerning the vanity and solipsism of women, but, for the life of me, I cannot remember the name, and a Google search proved fruitless....
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Is Irene actually delusional in “The Famine King”?
At the end of "The Famine King", we are given the impression that Irene is delusional and that everything that relates to the windigo is actually just imagined:
“Where did that bruise come from?” ...
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What's going on in Charlotte Riddell's Old House in Vauxhall Walk?
Maybe I'm looking too hard for meanings that aren't there, but can someone explain to me what's going on in Charlotte Riddell's Old House in Vauxhall Walk?
How was the second burglar caught?
What was ...
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1answer
68 views
“The impostor magician Smerdis” from Borges
In the Jorge Luis Borges short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius the only historical name the narrator and Bioy recognize from the cyclopaedia entry on Uqbar is that of
the impostor magician Smerdis,...
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1answer
170 views
What is “the fabled obelisk” alluding to in The Boy at Mugby?
In this fragment from The Boy at Mugby within paragraph 60:
The swelling tumult was arrested in its rise. Sniff, bore away by his servile disposition, had drored up his leg with a higher and a ...
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67 views
Trying to re-find a horror/suspense short story involving a painting [closed]
I remember in high school our class read a horror/suspense story involving a man who finds a painting at a garage sale. I can't remember many other details about it but would like very much to read it ...
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Book by eastern European author about small house toys including a dog called Floki
I vaguely remember one book from my childhood, which I would be glad to have around. I do not recall much, but I think that it was written by (possibly) Slovenian author, or Slovak. Perhaps even Czech ...
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203 views
Short horror story I read two years ago about a Jack-in-the-box
About two years ago I read a short story about a Jack-in-the-box that is unused. I believe that he was at the bottom of the toy box and where he came from was unknown.
In the house were a bunch of ...
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1answer
48 views
What is this children's short story about an expat English girl who wants to pick primroses on her birthday?
I remember reading as a child a fictional short story about the difficulties that an English girl had fitting in after moving to America. The children at her school make fun of her using words like "...
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69 views
Identification of an American short story about a horse that can't carry two train robbers
I apologize in advance if the details I'm about to provide are too poor or distorted by my memory.
My father told me once of a short story which (if memory serves) is made up of the following plot: ...
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How does irony contribute to the Flannery O'Connor stories “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People”?
In Flannery O’Connor's short stories “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People”, how does irony affect the reader's perception of the narrative and how it is used to construct the plot?
...
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Anyone know a book about a coat with rainbow square patterns?
I have a vague memory of a book my mum read to me before she passed away when I was very young. I think it was a book for young readers but it was decently thick. I'm from Australia, but I'm not sure ...
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Looking for the title of a folklore which was about moon princess being jealous of her sister sun princess
I read this short story back in middle school during my literature class when we were studying about folklore. It was about a moon princess being jealous of her sister sun princess so much that she ...
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Looking for an O.Henry story where a young man from the country working in the city marries a socialite and then goes for a visit to his home
The young man in the question takes his bride to his home in the countryside to meet his family. The author describes the following scene in exquisite detail:-
It's night and the entire family is ...
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Has Nalo Hopkinson had pets which influenced her writing?
In at least two of Nalo Hopkinson's short stories that I've read, the main characters are women with an interest in ... unusual creatures. Namely, "Can't Beat 'Em" (Marisella keeps a 'glup', a sort of ...
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The structure of 'Winesburg, Ohio' by Sherwood Anderson
I am currently reading Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. It is essentially a collection of related short stories compiled into one novel. Why might Anderson have chosen to structure it like this? ...
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What's with the reference to “Alice in Wonderland” in Nalo Hopkinson's “The Reverse Cheshire Cat”?
Nalo Hopkinson's "The Reverse Cheshire Cat" is obviously making a reference to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, with the Cheshire Cat. The two protagonists enter a shop named "The Reverse Cheshire ...
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Short story read c. 1960: boy unhappy with his family, dreams of being picked up by his “real parents”
One of the short stories in my elementary school reading book (late 50s or early 60s) was about a young boy who was unhappy in his home and family. He constantly fantasized about his "real parents" ...
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What's the significance of the name Loyola?
As soon as I started reading Nalo Hopkinson's short story "The Reverse Cheshire Cat" (freely available to read online), the name "Loyola" jumped out at me. Surely this must be a reference to Ignatius ...
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Meaning of the /ʌ/ sounds in Nalo Hopkinson's story Can’t Beat ‘Em
In Nalo Hopkinson's short story Can’t Beat ‘Em, people try to deal with a sort of "sink throat monster" that one of the characters calls "glups".
While reading the story a second time, I gained the ...
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461 views
What does the last line of Nalo Hopkinson's “Shift” mean?
I've finished reading Nalo Hopkinson's short story "Shift", and I'm baffled by the ending.
After the protagonist's encounter with his family, and his girlfriend tells him to find out who he is, the ...
