Re-Reading
Last time, during my discussion of Samanta Schweblin’s story Eye in the Throat, an audience member questioned the value of re-reading fiction, and today, I hope to address these concerns. (The audience member has been silenced). I suppose the best reason to re-read a story or novel would be that you like it. I want to argue that because of the complexity of fiction, re-reading also enriches your understanding of a text. Every reading is different, a savant has said. Our frie
Alan Bray
4 hours ago6 min read
Eye in the Throat
The second story I’d like to discuss in Samanta Schweblin’s collection Good and Evil and Other Stories is called Eye in the Throat. It’s long, forty pages, a size that pushes it into novella range. Yes, please note the use of the present tense combined with first person narration. It begins: “My father picks up the phone.” What follows is a description of how the narrator’s father, in 1990s Argentina, received phone calls during the night in which no one spoke. “The silence
Alan Bray
Nov 144 min read
Good and Evil
Hello to all. Today, I want to write about Samanta Schweblin’s brand new collection of long short stories, translated as Good and Evil from the Spanish El Buen Mal . I will discuss two of the stories, first William in the Window and then An Eye in the Throat . Samanta Schweblin has published two novels and, counting Good and Evil , three short story collections. She is originally from Argentina. The Spanish speakers among us might say, “Hold up! Good and Evil is not a lit
Alan Bray
Nov 74 min read
Boo?
Last time, I wrote about the ambiguity of certain elements in Daphne Du Maurier’s Don’t Look Now , and I’d like to continue—especially since we’re dealing with scary scenes, and it’s a week closer to Halloween! I gave away the ending last time, so there’s no use pretending I didn’t. John, the narrator, pursues a figure he thinks is a child in peril who turns out to be an adult murderer (a dwarf) who kills John. The last thing he remembers is the vision he had of his wife Laur
Alan Bray
Oct 314 min read
Halloween
Last time, we talked about several different ways to look at the supernatural features of Daphne Du Maurier’s short story, Don’t Look Now . In part to recover from the death of their young daughter, a British couple are vacationing in Venice where they encounter a mysterious pair of sisters who tell them their daughter is present and concerned that something bad will happen to them. Their son, at a boarding school in England, falls ill, and the boy’s mother, Laura, returns to
Alan Bray
Oct 243 min read
Don't Look Now
Daphne Du Maurier’s Don’t Look Now is a long short story (some 60 pages), originally published in 1970, thirty-two years after the publication of our previous selection, Rebecca, which speaks to Ms. Du Maurier’s long career. It was first published in Great Britain under a different title, Not After Midnight . The edition I’m reading is a short story collection of Ms. Du Maurier’s work entitled Don’t Look Now , published by The New York Review of Books. A famous film version
Alan Bray
Oct 175 min read
The Epilogue
Last time, I threatened to write again about Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca , focusing on the Epilogue. An epilogue is defined as “ a...
Alan Bray
Oct 103 min read
In Search Of Lost Time?
A major feature of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca is the way that time is presented. What stands out is the sense of present events always...
Alan Bray
Oct 34 min read
