By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘A Canary for One’ is a short story by Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). He began writing ‘A Canary for One’ in 1926 and it was first published the following year. It contains a number of the most characteristic features of Hemingway’s writing: clear, unadorned prose, and a focus on ordinary, unremarkable ‘events’ whose symbolism is allowed to come quietly and unobtrusively to the surface.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The myth of Eros and Psyche has exercised writers’ and artists’ imaginations for several millennia, but what are the details of the myth? Below, we summarise the story of these unlucky lovers, and provide an analysis of the myth’s meaning and symbolism.
Surprisingly, although the myth is usually referred to as ‘Eros and Psyche’, with the Greek god Eros being namechecked in the title, the first detailed narrative from antiquity involving these lovers was not written until the second century AD, and it was a Roman rather than a Greek author who was responsible for the story.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Adversity and hardship have been common themes in poetry, because they are, of course, common experiences for many people. Poets seeking to raise awareness of the suffering people have undergone, or their financial dire straits, have often drawn attention to the hardships suffered by particular groups of people: refugees in a new country, people who belong to a minority ethnic group, or people who simply don’t have much money to pay the bills or feed their families.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The Outcasts of Poker Flat’ is a short story by the American writer Bret Harte (1836-1902), published in 1869 in the Overland Monthly magazine. The story helped to confirm Harte’s reputation as an exciting new talent, and by 1871 he was the highest-paid writer in the country.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The Last Night of the World’ is a short story by the American writer Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), published in Esquire magazine in February 1951 before being reprinted in his 1952 collection The Illustrated Man. In this story of just a few pages, a husband tells his wife that the world will end later that night.