Three Deaths on the Lot and Other Stories

No Thumbnail Available

Date

2003-05-01

Journal Title

Series/Report No.

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

This collection of 10 short stories attempts a variety of styles, structures and sizes. Stories range from short shorts (such as "Souvenir," an exercise in exactly 100 words) to a novella-length triptych ("Three Deaths on the Lot"); from first-person narration ("Pictures of an Afternoon") to third-person close ("Here for You") to third-person omniscient ("Everyone Talks about the Weather"); and from fairy tale ("The Blanketing Snow") to murder mystery ("Murder on the Orient Express") to memoir ("Pointing the Finger") to more experimental forms ("Mrs. Marple and the Hit & Run"). The collection further recognizes various anxieties of influence, specifically in "Episodes from the Story of Evgeniy von Diderit," based on Anton Chekhov?s "The Lady with the Dog." While striving for variety, the collection also seeks some thematic continuity, whether through persistent ruminations on faith or love or betrayal, or through examinations of various degrees of guilt, or through explorations of the pleasures and perils of the imagination -- the imagination too often in conflict with itself.

Description

Keywords

Short story collection

Citation

Degree

MA

Discipline

English

Collections