Novellas

Introduction Different Seasons (1982) by Stephen King is a collection of four novellas that are tied together by a connection to the four seasons. Three of the four stories (“Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”, “Apt Pupil”, and “The Body”) have been made into films, and the fourth (“The Breathing Method”) is under consideration for adaptation.This guide refers to the 1983 Signet edition.Content Warning: This book contains references to death by suicide, sexual assault, racism... Read Different Seasons Summary

“Editha,” by American realist writer William Dean Howells, is a short story first published in 1905. Realism refers to a mode of late 19th-century literature in which authors shunned romanticism and idealization in favor of realistic portrayals of everyday life. Realist literature contains the complex characterization and examination of social mores, often of the middle class. “Editha” is an example of realist literature in that it criticizes the romanticizing of life experiences, specifically of war... Read Editha Summary

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Nigerian author Teju Cole’s Every Day Is for the Thief is a work of autofiction originally published in Nigeria in 2007 and published in the US in 2014. The novel unfolds in picaresque style from the first-person perspective, as a narrator who closely resembles the author returns to Nigeria after 15 years in the US to reckon with Nigerian national identity and his own legacy. Surprised to find that he feels less comfortable in his... Read Every Day Is for the Thief Summary

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Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by author and pilot Richard Bach, is a fable and novella that was originally presented in serialized form in Flying magazine. Bach initially struggled to find a publisher for the full work, but when the book was finally published in 1970, it enjoyed immense popular success; according to Publisher’s Weekly, it was the top-selling book of both 1972 and 1973. Bach went on to also write Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant... Read Jonathan Livingston Seagull Summary

Hermann Hesse's 1932 short novel The Journey to the East reads much like a trial run for what would be his final novel, The Glass Bead Game, published in 1943. Journey explores themes of service, leadership, the contemplative life, and the difficult tasks historians face—set against the backdrop of a mystic journey whose destination becomes increasingly unclear. The narrator is a man known only as H.H. It is believed that H.H. stands for “Hermann Hesse”... Read Journey to the East Summary

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The narrative follows the exploits of Lady Susan, a beautiful and charming widow whose husband has recently died. Lady Susan is an excellent conversationalist who manipulates men into falling in love with her; they forget her socially unacceptable behavior and incorrigible flirtations after merely speaking with her. At the outset of the novella, Lady Susan has sold off her late husband’s family estate instead of giving it to his younger brother, Charles Vernon, as is... Read Lady Susan Summary

First published as a play in 2001, the novella Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran is part of Franco-Belgian author Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s Cycle of the Invisible series consisting of unrelated stories on the themes of human connection, the transition from childhood to adulthood, and spirituality. Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran has been performed on the stage and was adapted for the screen in 2003. This study guide refers to Marjolijn... Read Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran Summary

Montana 1948 is set in a small town on the very northeastern edge of the state of Montana. The events described are experienced through the eyes of David Hayden, a twelve-year-old boy. In a prologue, he describes several images he remembers vividly from forty years ago. Years later, after both of his parents are dead, David decides to tell the whole story of the tragedy he witnessed as a boy. At the time of David’s narrative, he lives... Read Montana 1948 Summary

Mothering Sunday is a 2016 novella written by British author Graham Swift. Like much of Swift’s writing, it has a psychological bent, exploring the relationship between history and memory. Swift won the Booker Prize for his 2006 novel Last Orders and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. This guide uses the 2016 Scribner edition of the text.Plot SummaryIt is March 30, 1924 in the upper-middle-class house of Beechwood in Berkshire, Southern England... Read Mothering Sunday Summary

Opening withits titular novella, No One Writes to the Colonel is a collection of short stories by Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1961. The novella and the other eight stories all take place in small Colombian villages, and Macondo, a Colombian town invented by Márquez. The stories take place during La Violencia, a time of political instability, extreme violence, and civil war between the Conservative and Liberal Parties in Colombia, which spanned from... Read No One Writes To The Colonel Summary

American author John Steinbeck published his novella Of Mice and Men in 1937. Despite its place in the classical canon, the novella is one of the most challenged books of the 21st century due to its depiction of violence and use of profane, racist language. The novella’s title is an allusion to Scottish poet Robert Burns’s 1785 poem “To a Mouse,” in which a farmer unwittingly and regrettably kills a mouse while plowing. Of Mice... Read Of Mice and Men Summary

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Written in 1823 by Claire de Duras, Ourika is a French novella based on real events about a Senegalese woman taken as a slave from her native country and raised in French high society. Ourika is one of the first European texts to feature a black protagonist, the psychological depth of whom promotes empathy with the racial “Other” and highlights the importance of nurture (versus nature) in human psychological development. In the Introduction, a young doctor is summoned to an... Read Ourika Summary

Pale Horse, Pale Rider is a novella written by Katherine Anne Porter. It was published in 1939, along with two other short novellas, Old Mortality and Noon Wine, under the collective title Pale Horse, Pale Rider. The story portrays two young lovers who are tragically affected by the 1918 influenza epidemic, or Spanish Flu.Other works by this author include The Jilting of Granny Weatherall and Flowering Judas.This guide uses an eBook version of the 2008... Read Pale Horse, Pale Rider Summary

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