Shows
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: The Open WindowRead by Saba Sadeghi, The Open Window written by Saki is a short story about Framton Nuttel, who is frightened by the fanciful lies of his new neighbors' niece, Vera. While visiting his neighbors, Framton meets Vera, who explains that her uncle and his brothers-in-law drowned in a moor three years ago on a hunting trip. 2021-05-1909 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: The Mark on the WallRead by Saba Sadeghi, The Mark on the Wall is written by Virginia Woolf. The narrator notices a mark on the wall, and muses on the workings of the mind, reminisces about the development of thought patterns, beginning in childhood. 2021-05-1920 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: The Little GovernessWritten by Katherine Mansfield. Read by Reyhaneh Goudarzi, this short story is about a naive young girl who gets tricked by an old man in a foreign country. The young lady has travelled from England to Germany for a position as a governess for children. She meets an old man on the way and he offers to give her a tour of the city. Then he takes her back to his apartment and tries to take advantage of her.2021-05-1933 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: The Horse Dealer's DaughterWritten by D.H. Lawrence and read by Fatemeh Shirazian, the story follows a young woman named Mabel, who discovers that after the death of her parents, her family has lost all of its money. With no help from her brothers, Mabel is left to fend for herself. Only after meeting Jack Ferguson, a local doctor, does she finally regain a sense of self-worth.2021-05-1944 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: The Haunted HouseWritten by Virginia Woolf and read by Negarin Hooshmandnia, ‘A Haunted House’ both is and is not a ghost story. In less than two pages of prose, Woolf explores, summons, and subverts the conventions of the ghost story, offering a modernist take on the genre. The narrator claims to be able to hear this ghostly couple talking to each other. It is clear they are looking for something. This story first appeared in Woolf’s 1921 short-story collection Monday or Tuesday. 2021-05-1907 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: The Demon LoverWritten by Elizabeth Bowen, read by Reyhaneh Goudarzi. "The Demon Lover and Other Stories by Elizabeth Bowen" was first published in Britain in 1945. In “The Demon Lover” the main character, Mrs. Drover, confuses World War II with World War I. Returning home to collect some personal belongings during the aftermath of a recent bombing, she thinks of her long-dead fiancé to the point where the reader does not know if this is a ghost story or simply a story of one character’s neurotic mental state.2021-05-1917 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: The Daughters of the Late ColonelThe Daughters of the Late Colonel by Katherine Mansfield. Read by Zeynab Amanipour. This story was published in the London Mercury in May 1921. It follows the story of two sisters, Constantia and Josephine, arranging their tasks after the death of their father, while talking about the decisions they should make for the funeral, thinking of their past and their future.2021-05-1958 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: Ten IndiansTen Indians by Earnest Hemingway, read by Seyedeh Fatemeh Fathi. A part of the saga of Nick Adams's development, the story was published in 1927. The title refers to the children's song of 1864, "Ten Little Indians". It is a simple story which explores deep feelings of a young boy, Nick, who feels hope, love, rejection and heartbreak. 2021-05-1912 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: Miss BrillWritten by Katherine Mansfield and read by Reyhaneh Goudarzi, Miss Brill is the story of a middle-aged woman who spends her days as a teacher for children and as a reader for an old man who hardly recognizes her existence. Every Sunday she wears her shabby fur coat to the French public park called Jardins Publiques, until one day...2021-05-1912 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: Kew GardensRead by Fatemeh Shirazian, Kew Gardens is a short story written by Virginia Woolf and originally published in 1919. The story describes four pairs of people-a married couple, an elderly man with a young man, two elderly women, and a young couple-as they pass a flower bed in a botanical garden in London.2021-05-1918 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: Hills Like White ElephantsRead by Seyedeh Fatemeh Fathi, this short story written by Earnest Hemingway happens through the conversation between a man simply, known as American and his girlfriend, who are waiting in a train station surrounded by hills, fields, and tress, in a valley in Spain. The conversation begins with the girl remarking that the nearby hills look like white elephants. The conversation goes on. But do they mean the words they say or something more? Will she stay with him or leave him?2021-05-1911 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: HandsWritten by Sherwood Anderson and read by Zahra Jazayeri, The story of Wing Biddlebaum, the main character, is a story of hands. But how can that be? Sherwood Anderson's 'Hands' tells the story of Wing Biddlebaum and it is, indeed, a story of hands. We are introduced to Wing's hands in the same sentence wherein we are told his name. His hands and their nervous flitting remain central as we learn of the derision the people of Winesburg, Ohio, have for this neighbor of theirs. The name 'Wing' was actually given to him in mockery of the way...2021-05-1914 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: EvelineEveline, read by Reyhaneh Goudarzi, is written by James Joyce. Eveline Hill, a 19-year-old woman who works in a Dublin shop, sits inside her family's house recalling childhood, including some happy memories as well as her father's drunken brutality to her and her siblings. Eveline thinks about people she has known who have either left Ireland (a priest who has traveled to Melbourne, for example) or died (her mother and her brother Ernest), and of her own plans to leave the country with a man named Farnk. She recalls meeting Frank, an Irish sailor now living in Argentina...2021-05-1910 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: ClayClay, read by Zeynab Amanipour, is written by James Joyce. It describes a Halloween night. After work in the kitchen of an industrial laundry mainly staffed by recovering alcoholics and ex-prostitutes, an older unmarried woman named Maria attends a party at the home of a man named Joe. Maria served as his nurse when Joe was a baby. While playing traditional Irish Halloween games, a blindfolded Maria chooses clay rather than water, a ring, or a prayerbook, signifying (at least according to Irish superstition) that she will die soon.2021-05-1913 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: ChrysanthemumsChrysanthemums by John Steinbeck, read by Fatemeh Shirazian. This story is a part of Steinbeck's short story collection, The Long Valley. It is about a strong woman, Elisa Allen, who feels frustrated with the present state of her life. It revolves around the theme of oppression of women, and how Elisa is struggling to have some more agency in her life2021-05-1931 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: Cat in the RainCat in the Rain by Ernest Hemingway, read by Fateme Sadhezari. This story is a part of the short story collection, In Our Time. It recounts a couple's trip to Italy, where they are stuck in the hotel due to heavy rain surrounding the themes of isolation and lack of intimacy. It also pays tribute to Hemingway's wife, Hadley.2021-05-1908 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: ArabyRead by Zeynab Amanipour, this short story by James Joyce tells the tale of a young boy living in Dublin who is obsessed with his friend's sister who lives in the neighborhood. The story continues through the eyes of the boy and his magical days of childhood and early adolescence. Finally, for her sake, he gets to go to an exotic Araby bazaar which is not exactly what he expects to be.2021-05-1915 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: AdaRead by Saba Sadeghi, Ada is Gertrude Stein's word-portrait of Alice B Toklas. It's a story of love and finding love – of escaping into the life you want to live. It uses Stein's trademark repetition.2021-05-1906 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: A Rose for EmilyRead by Saba Sadeghi, "A Rose for Emily" is a short story by William Faulkner that exemplifies the Southern gothic genre. Miss Emily Grierson's funeral is attended by everyone in town. She was a relic of the Southern gentry and spent her life isolated from the community. Emily's father prevented her from socializing when she was young.2021-05-1923 min
LiteraTone20 Modernist Short Stories: A Clean Well-lighted PlaceRead by Seyedeh Fatemeh Fathi, "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway in which two waiters must wait for their last customer to leave before they can close up. A young waiter is impatient to get home to his wife.2021-05-1910 min