2 . Family plays an important part in much fiction, of course, but sometimes the short story form has offered us an insight into family life that the longer novel does not. Here are some for you to taste.
Prelude, by Katherine Mansfield
Prelude is one of Katherine Mansfield's longest and finest short stories. Because Prelude is a modernist short story, the emphasis is on characters rather than plots. Mansfield is using the Burnells’ house-move, and the period when they are busy settling into their new home, as a situation to observe family, women and class.
He, by Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) wrote just one novel and fewer than thirty short stories, yet she is regarded as an important twentieth-century American writer, with He among her most celebrated and critically praised works. An important theme of Porter’s work is the search for meaning in a modern and increasingly materialist world.
Signs and Symbols, by Vladimir Nabokov
It is a short story by the Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), originally published in the New Yorker in 1948. The story centers on an elderly married Russian couple who move to the United States; their son is suffering from paranoid delusions (妄想症) and has been limited to a care center. Signs and Symbols focuses on the couple’s attempt to visit their son and its result.
Down at the Dinghy, by J. D. Salinger
This short story was originally published in 1949. It involves an adult speaking to a child. It is about a young boy who runs from home and goes down to the nearby lake, where he gets into a boat and refuses to speak to his mother. The story ends with the mother bonding with her son.
1. What is special about
Prelude?
| A．It’s about scientific observation. | B．It’s the longest of the four. |
| C．It involves moving to a new place. | D．It focuses more on figures than plots. |
2. What do we know about Katherine Anne Porter and Vladimir Nabokov?
| A．They are contemporary writers. | B．Their works center on critical thinking. |
| C．They both seek for meaning in modern life. | D．Their works were published in the New Yorker. |
3. Who are the target readers of the text?
| A．Science fiction fans. | B．Family-based short story lovers. |
| C．Those who plan to be writers. | D．People trying to have a family. |
