‘Black-Eyed Women’, by Viet Thanh Nguyen Read it here, in about 40 minutes. Thinking about metafiction… Metafiction is fiction that is self-referential. Fiction that draws attention to its own fictionality, either overtly (e.g. the narrator directly addresses the reader) or covertly (e.g. the story is about writing stories). Black-Eyed Women’ is all about the natureContinue reading “A short story I recently re-read”
Category Archives: Short story analysis
A short story I recently read
‘Sleeping Beauty’ by Laura Demers Read it here in 18 minutes. Thinking about intertextuality… Intertextuality simply means there’s a link between one text and another. ‘Text’ here doesn’t just refer to literature; it could refer to any text, such as art or music or architecture. Some theorists argue all stories are intertextual, because every storyContinue reading “A short story I recently read”
A short story I recently re-read
‘We Wave and Call’ by Jon McGregor Available here. Read it in 30 minutes. Thinking about how structure and themes interact… The story begins after the young man’s death, in the present tense (simple and continuous). For me, the opening creates a sense of detachment – it’s a combination of the use of present tense;Continue reading “A short story I recently re-read”
A short story I recently re-read
‘The Paper Menagerie’, by Ken Liu Read it here in 15 minutes. Thinking about using foreign language and genre to illustrate a theme… I love how Liu uses words from a foreign language, and the magical realism genre, to show the character’s confusion about his identity. Chinese is character-based, but Liu Romanises the words soContinue reading “A short story I recently re-read”
A short story I recently read
Back When We Talked to The Dead, by Mariana Enriquez (trans. Megan Mcdowell) Read it here in about 30 minutes. Thinking about portraying themes… I recently discovered Enriquez, and have been reading Things We Lost in the Fire, her debut short story collection. ‘Back When’ comes come her second collection, The Dangers of Smoking inContinue reading “A short story I recently read”
A short story I recently read
‘Help Me Follow My Sister to the Land of the Dead’, by Carmen Maria Machado Read it here in about 25 minutes. Thinking about form and structure… I’ve fallen madly in love with Carmen Maria Machado’s writing ever since reading ‘The Husband Stitch’, which led me to read her debut short story collection, which ledContinue reading “A short story I recently read”
A short story I recently re-read
‘The Island at Noon’ by Julio Cortázar (translated by Suzanne Jill Levine) Read it here in about 25 minutes. Thinking about using time in narrative… The protagonist in this story, Marini, is a flight steward who has become obsessed with a Greek island called Xiros, which he flies over on one of his regular routes.Continue reading “A short story I recently re-read”
A short story I recently re-read
‘Zombie’, by Chuck Palahniuk Read it here, in about half an hour. (Note: the story contains sexual elements, and mentions of suicide.) Thinking about themes and ideas… If you don’t know Palahniuk’s work, he writes fucked up, alienated characters in a dirty reality, with a big splash of irony. ‘Fight Club’ is a classic example; PalahniukContinue reading “A short story I recently re-read”
A short story I recently read
The Case of Death and Honey, by Neil Gaiman Read it here in less than an hour. Thinking about narrative point of view… This story is a lot of fun. It’s divided into two narrative strands, each using a different narrative perspective. The voices created in the two strands sound completely different to each other,Continue reading “A short story I recently read”
A short story I recently read
Ghost Days, by Ken Liu Read it here in about 75 minutes. Thinking about ideas and structure… I wouldn’t normally read sci-fi, but I’ve been broadening my horizons recently. In this short story, Liu combines aliens and computer programming with ideas about identity – these are common themes, from what I’ve read of his work,Continue reading “A short story I recently read”
Mina Ma 