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

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

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

Last time, I threatened to write again about Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca , focusing on the Epilogue. An epilogue is defined as “ a...

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...

One of the key features of fiction is the transformation of the protagonist. By this, I am not referring to a certain genre of fiction...

It has been said by the wise that music resides between the notes. In fact, I actually quote this on the main page of this site. Today,...

Last time, I announced I’d be talking about Daphne Du Maurier’s 1938 novel Rebecca , and many people stopped me on the street to say “...

We’re back. At the end of Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo , the brothers, Peter and Ivan, reconcile, and Margaret plays a prominent role...

More housekeeping to begin: I received a notice from Google (although it could have been someone pretending to be Google) that certain...

To begin today, some housekeeping. It has come to my attention that the New York Times  ran an article last week on the Performative...

“Begin at the beginning," the King said , very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” This quote from Lewis Carroll in...

This week, for your consideration, a discussion of Sally Rooney’s 2024 novel I ntermezzo . Long time readers of this blog will recall...

Good day. We have been exploring Frederick’s Busch’s short story Domicile , and last time, I stated that I was putting off discussing a...

Frederick Busch’s short story  Domicile  was published in 2000. It is written in first person and simple past tense; the tone (as in much...

Good day. We ended up last time in our exploration of Frederick Busch’s short story Are We Pleasing You Tonight?  with a question as we...

Frederick Busch’s short story Are We Pleasing You Tonight? concerns the owner or manager (it’s never clear which) of an upscale...

Last time, I stopped in the midst of discussing Frederick Busch’s short story Ralph the Duck , writing in particular about how Busch...

This week, I want to look at three short stories by Frederick Busch: Ralph the Duck, Are We Pleasing You Tonight, and Domicile . Busch, a...

As I wrote last time, we’ve been looking at largely content and meaning issues in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis,  and last time, we...