The Stories

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See "Lessons with James" for details.

--PROGRESS STATUS--

The stories listed here are in various stages of completion.

• Titles without bullets are complete.
• Bulleted titles marked (In Progress) have been partially completed.
• Bulleted titles marked (Plain) have been posted without editing, formatting, or annotations.
• Bulleted titles marked (plain) have not been posted yet.

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--THE STORIES--

"Acoma" from Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather (1927)
Cather's great "novel" is actually a series of discrete episodes featuring Bishop Jean-Marie Latour, a fictionalized version of the historical Jean-Baptiste Lamy, the first Catholic Archbishop of Santa Fe, who built the cathedral there. In Part 1, he travels with his Indian guide to the dilapidated church in a pueblo called Acoma, located high on a mesa. In Part 2, as he travels home, another priest tells him how the church at Acoma fell from its former glory.

• "Araby" by James Joyce (1914) (plain)
  In this selection from Joyce's Dubliners, the unnamed narrator is infatuated with a neighbor girl, known only as "Mangan's sister." He promises to bring her something from "a splendid bazaar" called Araby--which turns out to be not quite as romantic as it sounds.
• "Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville (1853) (plain)
  Melville introduces a modern man, a law clerk who rests in the position that he "would prefer not to" do any of the things he's asked.
• "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1920) (plain)
  Bernice, a socially-awkward mixed-race Native American girl, visits a sophisticated cousin in "the big city," leading to an escalating rivalry.
• "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" by Stephen Crane (1898) (plain)
  A small-town sheriff in the Old West brings home his new bride and faces down a desperado.

"The Caballero's Way" by O. Henry (1914)
This story introduces the Cisco Kid, who was much more of a mal muchacho (a "bad boy") than the carefree do-gooder we see operating on the edge of the law (and sometimes crossing the line) in films and television through much of the 20th century.

"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe (1846)
The famous story in which a madman takes revenge on a "friend" for an imagined slight, playing on his vanity to lure him into--well, read the story!

• "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain (1865) (plain)
  This is the story that made Twain famous nationwide. Jim Smiley's gambling addiction leads him to bet on anything, including how far his frog--named Dan'l Webster--can jump. Then a stranger comes along.

"Childe Rowland" an English Fairy Tale as told by Joseph Jacobs (1890, but much older)
A story that deserves to be better known, in which a third brother rescues his sister (and elder brothers) who are being held by the King of Elfland.

• "The Door in the Wall" by H. G. Wells (1906) (in progress: notes and characters list added)
  A boy finds a green door in a white wall and enters a wondrous garden, but on his return no one believes him. He discovers the door several more times, but is always intent on his duties and never enters it again. In the end, the question is left to the reader whether he has finally entered the door or not.
  
• "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Andersen (1837) (plain)
  Two con men convince the emperor that they can weave him magnificent clothes, ones that can't be seen by anyone who is incompetent or stupid. They steal the silk and gold provided, and make nothing. The emperor's advisors all claim the work is of the highest quality, and the people agree, until a little child enters the story.
• "The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde (1888) (plain)
  A statue of the late once-happy Prince of a city learns to his dismay that all is not well among his people, and commissions a Swallow to take jewels and gold from his statue to alleviate the people's suffering. In the end, both Prince and bird are rewarded.
• "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway (1927) (plain)
  The entire story is a conversation between an American and a girl while they wait at a train station in Spain. At issue is whether she will have an unspecified "operation"--perhaps an abortion--and what effect the choice will have on their relationship.
• "Iron Hans" from Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812) (plain)
  Widely known through Robert Bly's book Iron John, the story tells of an encounter between a boy and a wildman, and how their relationship benefits them both.
• "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton (1882) (plain)
  A "semi-barbaric" king has set up a perfect system of justice: the accused is placed in an arena, where he must choose between two doors. Behind one is a desirable lady, whom he must marry. Behind the other is a ferocious tiger who will rip him to shreds. Enter the illicit lover of the king's daughter, and a new wrinkle: the daughter knows which door is which! Will she allow her lover to marry a rival, or see him killed instead?
• "Landing in Luck" by William Faulkner (1919) (plain)
  Faulkner's first published short story tells the story of the first solo flight of an underprepared pilot, and the trainer who takes credit for his success.
• "The Lottery Ticket" by Anton Chekhov (1887) (plain)
  A husband and wife seem to have a chance at winning the lottery, and begin to dream--and argue--about how to spend the money.
• "The Man who Never Laughed During the Rest of His Days" from The 1,001 Nights (1882) (plain)
  A young man down on his luck is given a good situation with light duties caring for some old men who cry constantly--but he must never ask why they cry. He buries them as they die one by one, until only one is left. He asks that one why they cried, and is told that he must not open a certain door in the house. Then the last old man dies. After a long wait, the young man can't help himself: he opens the door and learns the truth.
• "Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka (1915) (plain)
  In Kafka's famous tale, Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to discover that he has become a giant insect.
• "Momotaro" a Japanese Fairy Tale as told by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908) (plain)
  An elderly couple is blessed with a wondrous boy who brings them good fortune.
• "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs (1902) (plain)
  An old couple uses a magic object to try to restore their fortunes, with disastrous results.
• "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant (1884) (plain)
  Bad luck strikes young social climber Mathilde Loisel when she borrows--and loses--her friend's expensive necklace.
• "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce (1890) (plain)
  A soldier in the American Civil War is to be hanged, but miraculously escapes.

"Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad," by M. R. James (1904)
Montague Rhodes James, a medievalist at Cambridge, wrote some of the scariest ghost stories I've ever read, and the scariest of all in my book is this tale of a "rationalist" professor scared out of his wits by--someone in a bed sheet?

• "The Open Window" by Saki (1911) (plain)
  An unwell man is visiting his country neighbors for his health, and hears the tale of a family tragedy--or so he believes.
• "Oshidori (The Mandarin Ducks)" by Lafcadio Hearne (1904) (plain)
  A hunter shoots and kills the male partner in a pair of ducks, with tragic results.
• "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" by Bret Harte (1869) (plain)
  Four "improper" people--a gambler, two women of ill repute, and the town drunk (and possible robber)--are banished from the California mining camp of Poker Flat. On their road out of town they meet a pair of runaway lovers. The six spend the night together when a blizzard snows them in (well, most of them). In the ensuing trials, the line between "improper" and noble is blurred.
• "A Pair of Silk Stockings" by Kate Chopin (1897) (plain)
  "Little Mrs. Sommers" finds an extra fifteen dollars and sets out to buy some nice things for her four children, but gets distracted.
• "The Pardoner's Tale" by Geoffrey Chaucer (1400/1904) (plain)
  Three young men of loose morals set out to "kill Death," but things do not go as planned.
• "The Penance of Magdalena" by J. Smeaton Chase (1915) (plain)
  A story of the old mission days in California, when Teófilo, a young artisan, loves Magdalena, the proud daughter of the mission mayordomo. But will their love be sanctioned by the church?
• "The Pied Piper" by Robert Browning (1842) (plain)
  An amusing narrative poem in which an itinerant musician rids a town of rats, but turns the tables when the town fathers refuse to pay him.
• "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling (1894) (plain)
  A British family in India adopts a pet mongoose named Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. We see his relationship grow with both the family and the other creatures in the garden as he protects his new home.
• "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving (1819) (plain)
  A lazy villager in Dutch America falls asleep in the mountains after drinking with a group of strangely-dressed men. What will happen when he wakes up?
• "The Rocking Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence (1923) (plain)
  A young boy uses his magical ability to pick winning horses to try to turn around his family's luck.
• "The Soul of a Regiment" by Talbot Mundy (1912) (plain)
  Good ol' Billy Grogram maintains the regimental colors no matter the sacrifice required.
• "The Speckled Band" by Arthur Conan Doyle (1892) (plain)
  In Doyle's personal favorite of all his stories, Sherlock Holms must solve a classic locked-room mystery that threatens to be repeated.
• "Susanna and the Elders" from The Bible (2nd century BCE, translation 1611, revised) (plain)
  In a story from the Book of Daniel--one that's not included in the Protestant Bible--a wise young man must defend a chaste wife against the accusations of two wicked judges.
• "The Three Hermits" by Leo Tolstoy (1884) (plain)
  A bishop learns that there is more than one way to pray.
• "A White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett (1886) (plain)
  Sylvia leaves the city to live with her grandmother and rapidly becomes a proper country girl. When she meets a hunter trying to find a fabled white heron, she sets out to help him, but has a revelation along the way.
• "The Wooing of Olwen" from The Mabinogion (c 1100; trans c 1840) (plain)
  In this story is from a collection of ancient Welsh tales, Culhwch is told he must not marry any woman but Olwen, daughter of a dangerous giant. With the aid of the supernatural powers of King Arthur's knights, he undertakes a series of tests to win the lady's hand.
• "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892) (plain)
  A physician's wife descends into madness as she fixates on the wallpaper in the room to which she has been confined.
• "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1835) (plain)
  A decent young man ventures into the woods at night and discovers deep dark secrets involving his neighbors and a family member; as in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne once again exposes the dark underbelly of Puritanism.

Did you know you can discuss these stories with me in a live chat?

See "Lessons with James" for details.

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