Audio: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Listen to an audio version of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” James Thurber’s classic short story, read aloud by Mattie Overall. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (1939) is a short story by...
Tagged: short story
Short Story Analysis – NDLA
How to Analyze a Short Story What is a Short Story? A short story is a work of short, narrative prose that is usually centered around one single event. It is limited in scope...
Eveline by James Joyce
Eveline: This short story by James Joyce is from Dubliners, Joyce’s 1914 collection of short stories. Eveline She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window...
Edith Wharton Biography
Edith Wharton: Pulitzer-Prize winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer. Wharton combined her insider’s view of America’s privileged classes with a brilliant, natural wit to write humorous, incisive novels and short stories of...
The Reticence of Lady Anne by Saki
The Reticence of Lady Anne By Saki (aka H. H. Munro) Egbert came into the large, dimly lit drawing-room with the air of a man who is not certain whether he is entering a...
Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf
Kew Gardens (1921) by Virginia Woolf FROM THE OVAL-SHAPED flower-bed there rose perhaps a hundred stalks spreading into heart-shaped or tongue-shaped leaves half way up and unfurling at the tip red or blue or...
The Other Side of the Hedge
In “The Other Side of the Hedge,” English author E. M. Forster seems to take a critical look at the modern quest to make progress without bothering to experience life. The Other Side of...
Sarah Orne Jewett Biography
Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) was an American regional author best known for short stories and color sketches that reflected her roots in Maine. EIL 1.1.
Hearts and Hands by O. Henry
Hearts and Hands A short story by O. Henry At Denver there was an influx of passengers into the coaches on the eastbound B & M express. In one coach there sat a very...
O. Henry Biography
In this 1922 O. Henry bio, you’ll learn about a surprising twist in the life of author William Sydney Porter, known for short stories with surprise endings.
The Mice in Council: A Medieval Fable
Although “The Mice in Council” is sometimes attributed to Aesop, it dates from the Middle Ages, and has been retold in many ways by many different writers. The version below is written in the style of an...
The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde
The Happy Prince is the title story in a collection of short stories by Oscar Wilde. The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of...
Bulfinch’s Mythology Tales
Bulfinch and Mythology Thomas Bulfinch was an American writer born on July 15, 1796 in Newton, Massachusetts. Bulfinch belonged to a well-educated merchant family, and he himself had an extensive classical education at such...
A Worn Path by Eudora Welty
A Worn Path by Eudora Welty It was December—a bright frozen day in the early morning. Far out in the country there was an old Negro woman with her head tied red rag, coming...
Edgar Allan Poe Resources
Many writers in the American canon have written both poetry and prose; few, however, are equally known for both. Edgar Allan Poe was one such writer. Indeed, it is almost as difficult to find...
Babette’s Feast & The Beatific Vision
Babette’s Feast & The Beatific Vision by Joshua Gibbs Feb. 9, 2014 Several months ago, Babette’s Feast received a Criterion release accompanied by a fat little book of essays about the film, as well...
“The Ransom of Red Chief” Dramatized
“The Ransom of Red Chief” Dramatized O. Henry is the pseudonym of American author William Sydney Porter, who is best known for his funny, warm, short stories with surprise endings. In the video below, Shep O’Neal...
The Purloined Letter Dramatized
Although suspenseful music accompanies this 1952 dramatization, “The Purloined Letter” by American author Edgar Allan Poe lacks the element of horror found in most of Poe’s other short stories. Instead, this is one of...
“The Diamond Necklace” Audio
“The Diamond Necklace” (La Parure) is a short story by French author Guy de Maupassant, considered a master of the form. A 19th-century Naturalist author, de Maupassant was a protégé of Gustave Flaubert and...
Three Questions by Leo Tolstoy
“The Three Questions” by Russian author Leo Tolstoy is a short story in the form of a parable. In it, a king seeks answers to what he considers the three most important questions in life....
Sir Agravaine by P G Wodehouse
Sir Agravaine by P G Wodehouse A Tale of King Arthur’s Round Table Some time ago, when spending a delightful week-end at the ancestral castle of my dear old friend, the Duke of Weatherstonhope...
The Gold Bug by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Gold-Bug” is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Hero William Legrand is bitten by a gold bug which leads to an adventure and buried treasure.
In the Year 2889 by Jules Verne
In the Year 2889 By Jules Verne Edited by Blake Linton Editor’s Notes by Blake Linton In 1885, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., owner of the New York Herald (the same man who sent Stanley...
The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe
The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe NOTE: If you would like to view a dramatized version of the story, a 1952 video version of “The Purloined Letter” can be found here, courtesy of...
The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry
The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry remains one of the funniest short stories I’ve read. You will study it in Introduction to Literature, Module 1.
The Diamond Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
The Diamond Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, a classic short story with a surprise twist at the end. It is studied in module 1 of Introduction to Literature.
A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett
A White Heron A short story by Sarah Orne Jewett. NOTE: If you would like to listen to an audio version of the story, you will find a recording here, courtesy of EIL. I....
