Introduction to The Literary Studio
Posted in Fiction on Feb 17th, 2019
Throughout “Behind the Blue Curtain” by Steven Millhauser, the reader, along with the unnamed main character, feels as though they are seeing things better left unseen. Speaking in the past tense, the narrator describes a Saturday in his childhood when he was first allowed to go to the movies alone. His first description of the […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 13th, 2019
In Jeanette Winterson’s “The Green Man,” it is at first unclear who is telling the story. For the first page, the author writes in a poetic way that makes it seem as if it is from the perspective of the daughter. These round bellied glint-eyed horses are Trojan horses. Truant, feckless, anarchic, unsaddled and munching […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 13th, 2019
The short story”Are These Actual Miles”by Raymon Carver is told in the third person; it’s about a man named Leo and a woman named Toni. In this story, Leo and Toni are selling an automobile and Leo is afraid that Toni will not be successful when making the sale. She, however, is successful in making the sale. […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 11th, 2019
“In the Cemetery Where Al Johnson is Buried” by Amy Hempel is definitely a story about fear. Of course, the overall theme is a fear of death, but then there is an underlying theme of the fear of running out of time to do something important. An important piece of this story that you shouldn’t miss is that […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 11th, 2019
In the short story “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried,” Amy Hempel explores the last moments with a loved one who is dying. Indeed, the narrator is visiting her best friend at the hospital while she is sick and about to die. We understand that she comes late to visit her and that she […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 11th, 2019
In Tobias Wolff’s “The Night in Question,” we gain a close look at the bonds formed in terrible circumstances and how they effect different characters’ lives. The story follows Frances when she goes to visit her younger brother Frank and delves into how their abusive childhood has shaped the course of their lives. The story […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 11th, 2019
“In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” by Amy Hempel is a heartbreaking story that deals with guilt and grief and loss. This was the first story we’ve read that made me cry. We never learn the main character’s name; to us, she is the “Best Friend” of her dying friend, who is […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 10th, 2019
“Are These Actual Miles?” is a short story written in the third person about a man and a woman trying to sell a car. The man, Leo, “sends” the woman, Toni, out on a date to see if her charm and good looks could hook a buyer for their automobile. Leo downed drink after […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 6th, 2019
In “Burning Bright,” Ron Rash gives subtle signs about the relationship between Marcie and Carl that are a delight to unravel and see throughout the story. Ron Rash is excellent at paying close attention to detail through this story and makes sure we have enough information to follow what is happening. Rash shows this relationship between Marcie […]
Humans are social creatures and long for connection with others. This fact is examined closely in Ron Rash’s “Burning Bright,” a short story about a woman named Marcie who lives in a small town dealing with drought and arsonist fires. The story follows Marcie around as she runs errands, cares for her home, and thinks of […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 5th, 2019
A main theme of Ron Rash’s “Chemistry” is the exploration of the dichotomy between modern science and the mysticism of religion. The story, which follows the aftermath of a man’s institutionalization for depression and subsequent release, is told through the eyes of the man’s son, Joel. Joel’s father is given pills to take to treat […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 4th, 2019
The story “Everything in this Country Must” is set in Nothern Ireland during the English occupation. We follow the story through Katie’s point of view, who is in the river with her father trying to save their horse from drowning. Then the soldiers arrive and we understand that they are patrolling and decide to help them […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 4th, 2019
“Everything in This Country Must” is a short story written by Colum McCann. The story is told through the eyes of a woman named Katie reflecting on a past event that occurred when she was fifteen. It begins with Katie helping her father trying to save the family draft horse from a flood. She tells of her […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 3rd, 2019
“Everything in This Country Must” is a coming of age story, about a fifteen year old girl. In the story this young lady and her father tried to save their beloved draft horse from drowning. In the heat of their trial, three men from the army showed up on the scene to offer help. That […]
Posted in Fiction on Feb 2nd, 2019
In “Talking Dog” the narrator’s sister deals with death by speaking to animals. My sister told our family this when she came back to the dinner table from which my mother and I had watched her kneeling in the snowy garden, crouched beside the large shaggy white dog, her ear against its mouth.” After that […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 31st, 2019
Robert Olen Butler’s “Mr. Green” tackles many issues between families of different religions and cultures. While the ethnicity of the whole family is Vietnamese, the old generation, specifically the grandfather, subscribes to Confucianism and the younger generation is Catholic. This puts the female narrator in the middle of a horrible battle between her parents and grandparents, […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 30th, 2019
Carrie Brown’s “Miniature Man” has some parts in the story that are great moments. She has a way of explaining the main characters like Gregorio and Dr. Xavia that I throughly enjoyed. I enjoyed seeing the relationships that already exist and felt like I had a connection to each of the characters. I was impressed with […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 30th, 2019
In “Mr. Green” religion was a problematic thing. It caused a sort of rift between the main character’s parents and her grandfather. Her grandfather was strongly against her mother’s Catholicism, and he tried to change his granddaughter’s views. The fact that he went behind his daughters back to try and carry his belief onto his […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 30th, 2019
In “Miniature Man,” Carrie Brown writes the story of Gregorio, a young man who lives in Spain and who is dedicated to the creation of his own museum. The story is kind of long for a short story but is detailed and complex. There are multiple characters, and they are all characterized very differently: Carlos […]
The first sentence of “Mr. Green” serves to establish some of the protagonist’s background, as do the majority of first sentences in literature. Right away, it tells us that she follows the religion of her parents, but that her parents are a recent deviation from their ancestors’ traditions. While it can be argued that the […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 30th, 2019
“Mr.Green” by Robert Olen Buttler has a lot of detailed description that beautifully illustrates his purpose about how people have moral influences. The story’s theme explores the patriarchal influence on the narrator’s (a little girl’s ) sense of self through the use of the grandfather’s perspective on a woman’s role in a family (society). ” My grandfather explained […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 30th, 2019
When Carrie Brown wrote the first sentence of “Miniature Man,” she included many details of the story in which readers soon become engrossed. “For fifteen years, Gregorio Aruña worked among us, building his museum of miniatures here in our village of Monterojo, high in the Sierras de las Marinas, and in all that time, no […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 29th, 2019
One of the most beautiful elements of “Mr. Green” by Robert Olen Butler is the many instances of detailed description, where Butler was able to perfectly capture a feeling or scene using figurative language. For example, Butler wrote, “I felt a strange thing inside me, a recoiling, like I’d stepped barefoot on a slug, but […]
“Yours” by Mary Robison is a short story about a couple, Clark and Allison. Clark, seventy eight, and his wife Allison, thirty five, were a very close couple despite their significant age difference. They were both tall and looked similar to each other, but it seemed as though the area that they differed most was […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 28th, 2019
“Yours” is a short story written by Mary Robison about a 35-year-old named Allison and her husband, Clark, who is 78; they live in Virginia. They spend their time together carving pumpkins. Clark compliments Allison on her carving skills, she doesn’t believe his compliment, telling Clark that his lantern will look the same once lit. Later that same night, […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 21st, 2019
The Lifeguard, by Mary Morris, was clearly written from the perspective of someone who knows all about teenage boys and girls. This work was a rather comical piece and kept me laughing. Yet, giving the piece a bittersweet touch, Morris skillfully mingled rather sobering moments in with the comedy. Morris set the scene on a […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 21st, 2019
In the short story “The Girl Who Left Her Sock on the Floor,” Deborah Eisenberg writes from Francie’s point of view. This young college girl lives a regular life: she fights with her roommate; she goes to classes and smokes behind the buildings. Then one day, she discovers that her mother has died at the hospital. […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 20th, 2019
In “The Lifeguard” by Mary Morris, we learn about a pivotal moment for a lifeguard at Pirate Point Beach named Josh Michaels through his own point of view but many years after the date of the incident. In his youth Josh sees himself as young and desirable, and he sees himself as the best — […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 19th, 2019
In “The Lifeguard,” Mary Morris writes in past tense from the perspective of an older man, Josh Michaels, who details the year he was head lifeguard at his local beach. One of the main elements of the story is the dichotomy of past and present, shown in where each of the characters seems to focus. […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 19th, 2019
In an otherwise unremarkable September morning, long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother, she takes my hand and we set off down New Jersey Avenue to begin my very first day of school. The first day of school is always nervewracking for anyone. Will you make friends? Are the teachers kind or […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 18th, 2019
In these two stories, we can have different levels of reading. Indeed, if we only focus on what happens, the stories are really simple and we don’t have a lot of action. In “Rara Avis,” this is the story of a twelve-year-old guy who lives in a little town where a bird is the center […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 17th, 2019
“The First Day” is a story written by Edward P. Jones about a woman narrating her own childhood memory of her mother taking her to the first day of kindergarten. It is evident that over time her perspective about this memory has changed, which has caused her to be ashamed of her own mother. She tells […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 17th, 2019
“Rara Avis” captures one of the feelings most definitive of small town living: the quiet, aching need for something to be different. To the townspeople, the bird is not just a bird, but a change of pace. Many people who live in these sorts of quiet burgs will tell you that the stability they provide is the […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 16th, 2019
In “The First Day” by Edward P. Jones, a child experiences her first day of school. From the very beginning, it is obvious how in-tune to the world this five-year-old is. The story starts off with simple details: how the girl’s scalp still tingles, how she’s wearing her favorite shoes, how she knows she whined enough to be allowed to […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 16th, 2019
“The First Day” is a short story by Edward P. Jones first published in 2003 in the book Lost in the City, which is a collection of Jones’s work. The narrator recounts the events of the beginning of her first day of kindergarten. The story is mainly written in first-person present tense with a few exceptions […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 16th, 2019
T.C. Boyle wrote “Rara Avis” about the loss of innocence from the point of view of a twelve-year-old boy. In the story, there is a bird on the roof of a furniture store in their town. Many of the town’s citizens come to gawk at the animal. The bird is used to symbolize a woman. The last sentence of […]
Posted in Fiction on Jan 16th, 2019
“The First Day,” a short story by Edward P. Jones, was first published in 2003 in Lost in the City, a larger collection of Jones’s work. The story of a young girl’s first day of kindergarten is told in first-person present tense, despite the fact that the position of the narrator is that of the […]