10 Short Stories to Make You Think About Life
Reading a short story is a perfect solution for when we desperately want to read something but we just don’t have enough time to read a whole novel, or when we just don’t want to read a 400 pages long novel in order to be moved or entertained, when we want something short but just as effective. Neil Gaiman said: “A short story is the ultimate close-up magic trick — a couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart.” And the following stories are guaranteed to do just that.
10. Ernest Hemingway — The Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber
Ernest Hemingway is best known for his novels The Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms and especially The Old Man and the Sea, a story that directly contributed to him winning the Nobel Prize Award in 1954. Aside from the novels, he wrote a decent amount of short stories and this one is widely considered as one of his best. It was even made into a movie in 1947 called The Macomber Affair staring Gregory Peck.
Synopsis: Francis Macomber and his wife Margo are on a safari trip in Africa, led by a professional hunter Robert Wilson. Their marriage is far from perfect, which is quite clear from the following quote: “He wouldn’t divorce her because she was too beautiful, and she wouldn’t leave him because he was too rich.” In the face of danger, which came in a form of a wounded lion charging from high grass, Macomber panicked and ran like a little girl. That was obviously good enough reason for Margo to cheat on him with Wilson. Macomber finds out and confronts her, but she is unaffected by his accusations and just goes to sleep. The next day they go buffalo hunting. Macomber, angry and humiliated finally finds his courage during the hunt, and for the first time in his life he is completely free of fear. Ambiguous characters, exotic location, brilliant use of literary devices such as flashback and ‘In medias res’ and on top of that one of the best anticlimactic endings ever written are the main reasons to read this story.
9. Fyodor Dostoevsky — The Dream Of A Ridiculous Man
“I looked up at the sky. I noticed a little star and began gazing at it intently. Because this little star gave me an idea: I resolved to kill myself that night.” But he didn’t. He fell asleep with a loaded gun on his desk and dreamed that he had killed himself and that some unknown being took him into space and landed him on a place much like Earth. This doesn’t sound much like Dostoevsky, does it? It sounds more like a premise to a weird sci-fi story. Except for the suicide part, of course, as suicide is a common theme in many of Dostoevsky’s writings.
Synopsis: The planet he landed on was similar to ours, with one big difference — it was a utopia. The planet represents humankind before the fall. People there lived in unity and peace; they conversed with trees, animals and stars. Grief and sorrow were unknown concepts to them. Unfortunately, the saying “One bad seed spoils the whole bunch“ perfectly describes what followed. The protagonist of the story corrupted them all. It all started from lying and soon jealousy and cruelty followed. Not long after, first blood was shed. It’s heart-breaking to read the unstoppable domino effect that ensued and brought them to the, well, to the place we’re in now. The greatest reason to read this awe-inspiring story is because it shows how one of the greatest writers of all time imagined a utopia. And who isn’t puzzled by that?
The story was made into an animated movie by Aleksandr Petrov (Who also adapted ‘The Old Man And the Sea’).
8. Hermann Hesse — The European
A short story by a Nobel laureate Hermann Hesse, known mostly for his novels such as Siddharta, Steppenwolf, Demian and The Glass Bead Game. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946, a year in which Winston Churchill was also one of the nominees.
Synopsis: God flooded the earth putting a stop to the World War. The European was the last one saved and he was taken aboard the ark. A new game was made up in which everyone showed some kind of a skill or ability. This marvelous game went for days and everyone was happy and cheerful. Only the European was arrogant and all he did was ridicule everyone else and belittle their efforts. Yet, when it was his turn to show some special feat he wrapped himself up in excuses. Finally, pressured by Noah himself, The European said that his intellect is what makes him special. But, when asked to show some kind of sign of his intellect or put it in a good use he failed miserably. Although only a few pages long, the story delivers a strong message and in a very humorous and amusing way. “The European” along with two other stories, “If the War Continues” and “Strange News From Another Planet” were inspired by WW1 and show Hesse’s strong pacifistic view.
7. Maxim Gorky — Danko’s Burning Heart
Anyone who loves fairytales and tales of true heroes should be prepared for goose bumps as they set to read this 1895 story from Maxim Gorky.
Synopsis: Peaceful life of courageous and merry people came to an end when other tribes came and pushed them further back into the menacing and unwelcoming woods. They had but two choices — either surrender their freedom to the enemy or go through the forest that was described as a foul blend of Mirkwood and the Dead Marshes. Desperation took hold over their minds and they were ready to forsake their freedom, when one young man stepped up. He sparked a fire in their hearts and led them through the wicked forest. The story ends in a vivid and overwhelming act of selfless sacrifice. This book inspired the theme for Elvi Sinervo’s book William the Changeling. And as odd as it may sound it also inspired some modern candle makers to create a candle in the shape of a heart.
6. Leonid Andreyev — Eleazar (Lazarus)
Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer. He was one of the most talented representatives of the Silver Age period in Russian history. Lazarus is mentioned in the Bible as a person who is resurrected by Jesus after being dead for three days. This story is Leonid’s take on the life of Lazarus after he was resurrected. Maxim Gorky considered this work as: “The best that has been written about death in all the world’s literature” and praised the story for its style and insight.
Synopsis: It didn’t take long for people to realize that Lazarus is not the same as he was. While once he was jolly and cheerful, now he was serious and almost mute. And soon they became aware of one more thing, of his devastating gaze. Whoever looked into his eyes fell into despair and never recovered. He was abandoned by all his friends and even his family. But word spread around, and people from faraway lands came to test themselves and to see if they would be the ones who would endure his fatal stare. A horrifying story that teaches us that we need not be physically dead in order not to be alive, we need only be indifferent to everything.
5. Honore de Balzac — Elixir Of Life
An interesting short story by one of the founders of realism in European literature and the man who influenced a multitude of great authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens.
It’s included in Italo Calvino’s posthumously published anthology Fantastic Tales: Visionary and Everyday. Other authors in the collection include Nikolai Gogol, Edgar Allan Poe and Guy de Moupassant.
Synopsis: This is Balzac’s take on the story of Don Juan. During one of the many feasts Don Juan threw in his voluptuous life he was summoned to his father’s quarters. His father, Bartholomew was on his deathbed. He showed his son the elixir and told him to rub it over his body once he’s dead and that he’ll come back to life. Naturally, Don Juan thought that his father went mad, but when old Bart died, curiosity got the best of him. He rubbed the elixir over just one eye… And the eye opened! After careful consideration he decided to gauge his father’s eye, and keep the elixir for himself. Is it really true that everything that goes around comes back around?
4. Rudyard Kipling — The Finest Story in the World
Synopsis: Charlie Mears is a twenty year old clerk with literary aspirations. He “rhymes love with dove and moon with June and devoutly believes that they had never been rhymed so before.” Although not the greatest literary talent he has something that makes him special - he remembers his past lives. He doesn’t realize this as he considers his recollections nothing more than imagination. His mentor, the narrator of the story, figures out that Charlie’s stories about a Greek slave and a Viking sea-rover are much more than just figments of his imagination. He decides to get more information from the clueless Charlie in order to write the finest story in the world. The thing is, Charlie is not too keen on cooperating as he is enamored by great poets and doesn’t care much for his own story.
The story inspired some verses of T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land, which is regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century.
3. Ivo Andric — The story of the Vizier’s Elephant
This is a story from the only Serbian author who won the Nobel Prize in literature. The award came in 1961, a year in which J.R.R. Tolkien was of the nominees.
Synopsis: The story is set in a small town of Travnik (Bosnia) during the first decades of the 19th century. The people of Travnik are full of anguish as a new Vizier is appointed. Their fear is soon proven justified as the first act of the Vizier is a gruesome massacre of 27 out of 40 beys (governors of a district or province in Ottoman Empire). The thirteen that survived did so only because they didn’t show up when summoned. Soon after that the Vizier brings himself an elephant from Africa. The townsfolk name the elephant Fil, which is a Turkish word for elephant. Fil is restless and playful but his games create trouble for the people of Travnik. And when the people look at him, they don’t see an animal, they see the evil Vizier. So they devise a plot to kill the poor animal.
Story is full of wry humor, and insight about the ways of people from the Balkans, their characters and how they deal with misfortune.
2. Edward Page Mitchell — The Tachypomp
This story is included in Fantasia Mathematica, Clifton Fadiman’s classic collection of mathematical stories. Aldous Huxley, H.G. Wells and Arthur C. Clarke are among other authors in the collection.
Synopsis: The things we do for love. People have done some crazy things for love, and literature is full of those stories. Heroes have slayed dragons and traveled half way around the world for their loved ones, but the main character of this story had to go even further than that. He had to face something that even today instills horror in people. He had to learn math. Hopelessly in love with the daughter of his math professor and being by far the worst of his class he was in a dire position. When he finally finds the courage to ask for her hand in marriage the professor accepts but under one condition- that he discovers the principle of infinite speed.
What is interesting about this story is that it is one of the first pieces of fiction that uses the word ‘Android’.
- Fyodor Dostoevsky — The Crocodile
Although quite different from the first one, these two stories have one thing in common — they’re not what you would expect from Dostoevsky. This is a humorous story that satirizes the social, political and economic conditions of Russia and Europe in the 1860s.
This story is included in Jose Luis Borges’ anthology of favorite short stories in the volume 29 — ‘Russian tales’
Synopsis: The story starts of as Ivan Matveich, his wife Elena Ivanovna, and their friend (the narrator) visit the Arcade to see a crocodile that has been put on display by a German entrepreneur. After teasing the crocodile Ivan Matveich gets swallowed alive. It’s then when absurdity comes into play. The German doesn’t want to cut open the crocodile as it’s his way to earn money, and Ivan Matveich is alive and well and he’s speaking from the inside of the crocodile. They can’t agree on buying or cutting open the animal so they leave the things for the night. The following day, when the narrator comes to visit his friend, he finds out that Ivan Matveich is quite comfortable inside the crocodile and that he’s even devising great plans for himself and his wife — “Truth and light will come forth now from the crocodile.”
The story was made into a play staring Simon Bird.
