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The Terrible Old Man' by H. P. Lovecraft
Introduced by Jekwu Anyaegbuna The first reaction that comes with being asked to recommend a classic short story is befuddlement because...
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Mar 18, 202313 min read
'An Encounter' by James Joyce
Introduced by Elizabeth Baines When I reread Dubliners recently, I was struck by how strongly my own writing has been influenced by this...
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Mar 11, 202318 min read
'An Unwritten Novel' by Virginia Woolf
Introduced by Wiz Wharton Beyond the physical act of getting words on a page, a writer’s process is a nebulous thing. I suspect most of...
116 views0 comments
Mar 2, 202314 min read
'The Happy Prince' by Oscar Wilde
Introduced by Rosemary Jenkinson 'The Happy Prince' is in many ways a prophecy of Oscar Wilde’s own life; a glittering golden son of...
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Feb 25, 20232 min read
'The Wrong House' by Katherine Mansfield
Introduced by Laurence Miall In the 1990s and early 2000’s, as an English literature professor at the University of Alberta in western...
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Feb 16, 202310 min read
'The Boarding House' by James Joyce
Introduced by Mandira Pattnaik I can’t really pinpoint why I’m attracted to Dubliners and Joyce so much. It could be the way the city...
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Feb 11, 20234 min read
'The Autopsy' by Georg Heym
Translated and introduced by Vijay Khurana Introduction The body is too often neglected in fiction, with writers eliding not only its...
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Feb 4, 20238 min read
'Eveline’ by James Joyce
Introduction by Kate Ellis I chose this story because The Dubliners was one of few books on my short story shelf whose author died before...
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Jan 28, 202313 min read
'The Mark on the Wall’ by Virginia Woolf
Introduction by Judith Wilson ‘The Mark on The Wall’ was Virginia Woolf’s first published short story, appearing alongside one of Leonard...
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Jan 20, 202319 min read
‘The Tarn’ by Hugh Walpole
Introduction by Sonia Overall On the surface, ‘The Tarn’ is a tale of literary rivalry and revenge. The protagonist, Fenwick, is bitter...
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Jan 14, 202329 min read
‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’ by D.H. Lawrence
Introduction by Jim Toal I come from north-east England; an area once dominated by the coal mining industry. Like Lawrence, my father was...
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Dec 17, 202214 min read
'The New Dress' by Virginia Woolf
Introduced by Kerry Hood It was always going to be Woolf. Despite our tricky relationship (especially around her depiction of...
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Dec 10, 202223 min read
‘The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Introduction by Katie Oliver When asked to introduce a classic short story, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an...
104 views0 comments
Dec 3, 202218 min read
‘The Mezzotint' by M.R. James
Introduction by Dan Coxon That Montague Rhodes James was one of the finest writers of supernatural fiction we’ve ever had is surely now...
217 views0 comments
Nov 26, 202210 min read
'Araby' by James Joyce
Introduction by Melissa Llanes Brownlee When I first read “Araby” over twenty years ago, I was shocked that it had been published in 1914....
233 views2 comments
Nov 19, 20225 min read
‘A Haunted House' by Virginia Woolf
Introduction by Emma Timpany The inspiration for ‘A Haunted House’ came from Asheham, the house near the South Downs where Virginia and...
112 views0 comments
Nov 12, 20228 min read
'The Student' by Anton Chekhov
Introduction by Lucie Elven The elements of ‘The Student’ – short for Chekhov, and his favourite of his own stories – are simple: three...
403 views0 comments
Nov 5, 202210 min read
'Solid Objects' by Virginia Woolf
Introduction by Sheila Armstrong I love markets. Picking through the debris of other people’s lives. Finding a trinket that burns with...
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Oct 28, 202255 min read
'The Altar of the Dead' by Henry James
Introduction by Toby Litt Perhaps Henry James’ moment is gone – because it is a long moment. If you’re going to enter a story like ‘The...
131 views0 comments
Oct 21, 202221 min read
‘The Rocking-Horse Winner' by D.H. Lawrence
Introduction by Giselle Leeb I discovered this story in ‘Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature (Ed. Alberto Manguel)’, which...
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