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Grandparents in Art and Children’s Literature
Grandparents and children appear frequently together in children’s literature. How has the granny archetype changed over the years, and what does science say about the role grandparents play in the lives of children?
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Types of Rhetorical Questions
Rhetorical questions: Grammatical questions which are not meant to be answered. Not all rhetorical questions have the same function.
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An Ideal Family by Katherine Mansfield Short Story Analysis
“An Ideal Family” is a 1921 short story by modernist writer Katherine Mansfield. This is a young Mansfield writing about the tiredness of ageing as an elderly man who feels disconnected from his family.
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Cognitive Bias and Time Perception
We think older things are better than newer things. Old history is more interesting than recent history. If we’re already spent lots of time on it, we should spend more. If something took longer to produce, it’s worth more than something done quickly. If something endures, we should take it more seriously than something fleeting.
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Winter Wind by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“Winter Wind” is a coming-of-age short story by Canadian author Alice Munro. Find it in Something I’ve Been Meaning To Tell You (1974).
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What is humanism in simple terms?
If you’re wondering about the definition of ‘humanism’, you’re not alone. The word has many meanings.
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The Hitch-hiker by Roald Dahl Short Story Analysis
“The Hitch-hiker” is the second short story in Roald Dahl’s 1977 collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. This story was originally published in the July 1977 issue of the Atlantic Monthly. Find it also in Dahl’s Eight Further Tales of the Unexpected, a section of The Collected Short Stories of Roald…
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Where to start reading Alice Munro
If you’d like to read Alice Munro but are not sure where to start, I have some recommendations.
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Six Years After by Katherine Mansfield
“Six Years After” is a short story by Katherine Mansfield, first published in 1923 after the author’s death. Find it in The Doves’ Nest and Other Stories, alongside other works considered incomplete.
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How To Write Like Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson did not only write disturbing supernatural stories. Her most famous short story is “The Lottery”.
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The Found Boat by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
Short story “The Found Boat” by Alice Munro can be found in Munro’s 1974 collection Something I’ve Been Meaning To Tell You.
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Emotional Incest and Parentification
Sometimes fiction explores a character dynamic which psychologists now have a word for: Covert incest. You sometimes also hear the phrases ’emotional incest’, ’emotional enmeshment’ and ’emotional parentification’. Sometimes you will have to be more mature than your own parent. It will feel odd and unfair, like everything is off its place. It is not…
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Superheroes In Storytelling: Various Notes
Love it or loathe it, the superhero is an ambivalent archetype in storytelling, useful to either bolster the conservative status quo, or subvert it.
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Walking on Water by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
If you’re having a bit of trouble with “Walking On Water” (1974), know that Alice Munro herself considers this story not quite there. She’s not sure what to make of it herself.
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Writing Activity: Describe a Fairground, Showground or Carnival
Have you ever been to a carnival? What about a rural show? A fairground? Circus? For sure you’ll have seen depictions of fairgrounds on TV and movies. They have a very specific vibe, and storytellers love them.