Short Stories: One Language - Many Voices
20th Century English Short Stories
Fertige Referate

Die Kurzgeschichten:

The stories on the Web:

An Outpost of Progress (text)

"Shooting an Elephant" (text)

Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies
Diesen Text erhalten Sie nur noch in einer Online-Version (als .doc) , wenn Sie bei Google den folgenden Suchbefehl eingeben: advice rubies dawn.bus rehana

Dead Men's Path" (PDF)

This web page is a work in progress. Remember:
"A tree that reaches past your embrace grows from one small seed. Astructure over nine stories high begins with a handful of earth."
Disclaimer.

Janet Ferko

Lots of other links to all authors and background

George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant (1936)

• George Orwell in der Wikipedia
• "Shooting an Elephant" in der Wikipedia
• "Shooting an Elephant" (text)
• George Orwell - biography
• Another biography
• "Shooting an Elephant" - Lesson Plan
• Worksheets (This 5-page document includes a graphic organizer and other activities related to "Shooting an Elephant." )
• Questions for discussions (Follow the links on this page!)
• An essay on "Shooting an Elephant"
• Another essay
• An essay from Studyworld
• An essay from AllFreeEssays
• An essay from FreeEssays.tv
• Essay: "Succumbing to Social Pressure"
• Beginning of an essay on "Shooting an Elephant"
• Shooting elephants, pigs and other animals: Orwell’s struggle for political emancipation
  António Lopes, Universidade do Algarve
• Und 19 weitere Anfänge von Essays (Suchbefehl shooting an elephant noch einmal eingeben)
• Orwell up close (TIME Europe)
• George Orwell Webring
• Very useful site with copyleft material on Orwell
• Orwell and colonialism
• wanduma said...Thanks for this!
  "A sahib has got to act like a sahib; he has got to appear resolute, to know his own mind and do definite things. To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing—no, that was impossible. The crowd would laugh at me. And my whole life, every white man’s life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at."
  Kinda reminds me of the run-up to the Iraq war. In DC and London, they 'had to act' lest rogues and rogue-states doubted their resolve and the consequences of falling afoul of UN resolutions. Ah how things change, yet stay the same!
  Mon Aug 15, 05:46:47 PM GMT
  MMK said...

  @wanduma - Isn't it a trip how farcical the pose of power is? So many decisions to 'do something' are just boyish attempts to not be laughed at by the crowd. I think that's what makes satire such a powerful critique of the powerful, it strikes at their deepest fear. Easy to battle with a grim faced person, impossible to keep up with someone who is laughing at you. (Blog Quelle)

• "Shooting an Elephant"

  1. What is Orwell's point here? Why does he not put it in a more normal or expected position in the essay, for example, right at the beginning or at the end? How is his point unusual or unique?
  2. We get several different views of the elephant; describe them and show how this changes our view of the elephant.
  3. Can you see a symbolic interpretation for this essay? If so, explain.
  4. Why would I have you read this essay? [you should actually ask this about every assignment] (Quelle)

• Structure
  12. What paragraphs make up the introduction of the essay? The body of the essay? The conclusion?
  13. With what sentence does the narrative proper begin?
  14. What is the thesis statement of the essay?

  Interpretation
  15. Why did the natives hate Orwell?
  16. Why did Orwell hate his job?
  17. Why did Orwell shoot the elephant? (Quelle)

• Grammar and vocabulary worksheet

On the eve of independence for the colony of South Yemen, the last British governor hosted a dinner party attended by Denis Healey, then the minister for defense. Over the final sundown cocktail, as the flag was about to be lowered over the capital of Aden, the governor turned to Healey and said, "You know, Minister, I believe that in the long view of history, the British Empire will be remembered only for two things." What, Healey was interested to know, were these imperishable aspects? "The game of soccer. And the expression 'fuck off.' " >>>

Doris Lessing, The Second Hut (1964)

• Doris Lessing präsentiert vom British Council
• Doris Lessing in der Wikipedia
• Picture of Doris Lessing (2004)
• SALON-Interview
• "In "The Second Hut", a Rhodesian farmer is torn with anxiety and guilt about employing a poor Boer assistant with nine children because of the hostility between Boer and native workers." (Quelle)
• African Studies: Zimbabwe (Columbia University)
• African Studies: Zimbabwe (University of Pennsylvania)
• Afrikaans
• Anglo-Boer War (annotated links, extensive list)
• Web resources about Africa (Michigan State University)
• A lean-to (pictures)
  
  

Chinua Achebe, Dead Men’s Path (1972)

• Chinua Achebe in der Wikipedia
• Achebe Links des Central Oregon Community College - sehr umfangreiche Sammlung, etliche Links allerdings kaputt
• Arbeitsblätter zu "Dead Men's Path" von TeachIt.co.uk (PDF)
• Picture of Chinua Achebe
• Noch mehr Arbeitsblätter (auch als Word Dokument)
• Text der Erzählung "Dead Men's Path" (PDF)
• Übungen zur Erzählung und mehr von EMC Paradigm
• A short biography
• Audio Interviews (BBC)
• Is story-telling a dying art?
• Questions and answers (adult class)
• A Study Guide / Part 2
• " * Achebe, growing up in a culture in which Christianity coexisted with native African life, explores the dichotomy between Western and African mores
  * story investigates tension between young African teacher and his wife who try to impose Western world view in a place where native culture still flourishes
  o juxtaposes tradition and progress
  o Obi, the teacher, believes that tradition should be sacrificed for progress
  o the priest, representing the traditional culture, seeks coexistence
  * Obi, who was dedicated to doing a good job and getting a good report from the "White supervisor" ironically causes a serious conflict between the school and its community" (Quelle)
• Web resources about Africa (Michigan State University)
• "Things Fall Apart" a Study Guide
• Worksheet
  

R. K. Narayan, A Horse and Two Goats (1965)

• Verfilmt im Original mit engl. Untertiteln
• R. K. Narayan in der Wikipedia
• Picture of the author
• Anmerkungen und Fragen zum Text
• "R K Narayan's A Horse and Two Goats is an exercise of linguistic pyrotechnics employed by one American tourist who desperately tries to communicate with a Tamil-speaking villager which may well be an example how pidgin English came to be evolved. But the story takes a tragic turn." (Quelle: www.calonline.com/bookreview/stories.html )
• "The Making of a Novelist" (extract from his memoir)
• Obituary (BBC)
• Brief analysis/questions
• Study Guide (useful fragments)

Ngugi wa Thiong’o, A Meeting in the Dark (1974)

• Ngugi wa Thiong’o in der Wikipedia
• Ngugi wa Thiong’o - Biography
• BBC Profile
• Picture of the author
• "...the tale of a coward..."?
• "Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s ‘A Meeting In the Dark ’ also examines culture clash. John is going to college, although he has doubts about the taking on of the lifestyle of the educated Kenyan which is quite remote from his village life. He is also in conflict with his father, a fanatically Puritan Christian who rules him with a rod of iron. His mother is a traditionally minded woman who tells him the story of the Imru, the beautiful young man who is really an evil spirit with a second mouth hidden beneath his hair. John himself is such a one, a young man with two mouths for his two cultures, driven to a most terrible crime by his inner conflict." (Quelle)
• ""A Meeting in the Dark" sees the central character caught in moral dilemma. Christian ideals and ancient tribal customs are shown in conflict, causing tragedy." (Quelle)
• More African Stories
• Decolonising the mind (Review)
• An extensive interview
• Biografische Angaben (Deutsch)
• Interview
• Annotated Kenya Links
• Web resources about Africa (Michigan State University)
• African Studies - Kenya (University of Pennsylvania)
• Female circumcision in Kenya
• Male circumcision in Kenya
• BBC: Kenyan girls flee circumcision
• Makerere University
• Caroline Elkins: Briatin's Gulag. The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya (Buchbesprechung)
• Worksheet
  

Muriel Spark, The Black Madonna (1963)

• Muriel Spark präsentiert vom British Council
• Muriel Spark in der Wikipedia
• Picture of Muriel Spark
• "''The Black Madonna'' is little more than a fancy illustration of that old maxim, you'd better be careful about what you pray for, because you might get what you want. In ''The Black Madonna,'' a statue of the Madonna carved out of dark wood appears to grant the wishes of devout parishioners; a similar sense of the otherworldly intrudes in many of these stories. Even when the context is not overtly religious, the implication remains that the supernatural exists, that commonplace lives are subject to mysteries that passeth man's understanding." (Quelle: NYT)
• "Anyone looking for a Spark short story as an appetiser to his or her
  reading or teaching of Jean Bro d i e would do well to choose ‘The Black
  Madonna’ (1967) . This story features one of Spark’s hallmark modes, tragifarce,
  as the woman of a white couple prays to the statue of the Black
  Madonna in search of an elusive fertility, the result being that she gives birth
  to a black baby. (Icons, female icons in particular, tend to play nasty tricks in
  Spark ’s fiction.) The point of the story is to attack those who, like the couple,
  package life into convenient, static symbols. The couple are trendily in
  favour of their black icon, but put their black baby up for adoption. Their
  theoretical regard for the ethnic is shown to be just that: theoretical. Their
  (anticipated) hypocrisy (for such is the extra-temporal knowledge of the
  Divinity) is rewarded by a literalism. Narrow outlook is rewarded by
  narrowly-answered prayer. Our Lady brings poetic justice to the situation." (Quelle)
• "Invoking the assistance of the Almighty is always a risky business in Mrs. Spark's fictional world, for your prayers may be answered. In ''The Black Madonna,'' for instance, a rather complacent English Catholic couple pray to a black statue of the Virgin Mary for offspring and are rewarded with a black baby - an embarrassing reminder of some ancestor's indiscretion." (Quelle)
• ""The "Black Madonna" seems at first to present a more hopeful view of marriage. Lou and Ray are so happily married in Whitney Clay that they can find very little to disagree about at all. The marriage that Muriel Spark portrays here is rather too perfect, the reader is ready for something catastrophic to happen and is not disappointed. By the divine intervention of the statue of the Madonna at their local church Lou conceives the longed for child, the couple hope will make their marriage complete. Unexpectedly the baby is born black and Lou rejects it. Trust in the relationship breaks down as Ray suspects Lou of an extra-marital relationship with Oxford St John, a coloured friend. After blood tests establish the baby isn't St John's the couple agree to start again in London. The relationship has survived, but we wonder at what cost and how much longer it will last." (Quelle)
• Black Madonna (Wikipedia)
• In Search of the Black Madonna (Guardian)
• Obituary (Guardian)

Salman Rushdie, Good Advice Is Rarer than Rubies (1994)

• Salman Rushdie präsentiert vom British Council
• Salman Rushdie - An Overview
• Salman Rushdie in der Wikipedia
• Picture of the author
• Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies (text)
• "The short story 'Good Advice is Rarer than Rubies' is set in Pakistan, whereas Rushdie was born and grew up in Bombay in India. India and Pakistan are neighbours, but they have not always been on good terms."
• "In the East section are three stories written almost as though R. K. Narayan wrote them. "Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies" is about a young Muslim woman seeking an immigrant visa to U.K. who deliberately botches up her interview with the consular officer for she prefers to stay home. The story has an O.Henry-ish ending." (Quelle)
• Suchbefehl Pakistan + history +India bei Britannica.com
• Director David Cronenberg interviews Salman Rushdie
• Glossary of Colloqialisms in Rushdie's Works
• Audio Interviews (BBC)
• S. Rushdie: The New Empire Within Britain
  
• Miss Rehana is supposedly going to live with a man in England that she doesn't know. The engagement was arranged when she was nine years old. How do you feel about arranged marriages? Do you think that it is completely out of question that this type of marriage is more lasting and rational/reasonable than love marriages? Consider the large number of divorces in Norway and the number of children involved. (Quelle)
  
• "In "Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies ," from Salman Rushdie's collection of short stories, East West, the very young and very beautiful Rehana is a character, who in spite of her credulity, emerges unharmed at the end of the story. The plot reveals a familiar tale to visa seekers : approaching the British Consulate in Islamabad, a self-styled expert in red-tape-ism offers up his services to the pretty girl, quite obviously at a loss because of the complexity of the visa-obtaining process.
  Rehana succeeds in escaping a devastating life, that is by coming very close to marrying a man a lot older than she is and moreover someone she has never laid eyes on because it is her parents who have arranged the marriage. This arrangement took place when Rehana Begum (madam in Urdu) was only nine years old and the groom to be, a certain Mustafa Dar, was aged thirty. The "strange, big-eyed, independent girl" (p.6) liberates herself from this forced marriage deal despite the "advisor," Muhammed Ali's attempts at encouraging her to leave for England to join her husband who lives there. Rehana is fully aware that she has emancipated herself by deciding to stay in Lahore and make a living in her chosen field, as a nanny or ayah (p.15) : "Her last smile...was the happiest thing (Muhammed) had ever seen"(p.16). Rehana like Dina Shroff in A Fine Balance, knows the real dangers of arranged marriage, where the girl very often has little choice concerning who she is about share the rest of her life with in wedlock. Dina is more than mindful of the perils involved : "families decide everything. Then the woman becomes the property of the husband's family, to be abused and bullied. It's a terrible system, turns the nicest girls into witches." (Quelle)
  
• In "Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies," a con man accosts a young Pakistani woman who is waiting outside a British consulate. She tells him that she is betrothed to a man in London, and he offers to sell her a phony British passport. He is later startled to learn that she has no desire to move to England, that she actually wants to sabotage her chances of emigration. (Quelle)
• Another summary of the story
• Dave: Now, the all-important question, supplied by a friend of mine, actually: boxers or briefs?
  Rushdie: Boxers, for preference, but I still have some old briefs lying around. (Quelle)
• Aus einem Forum:Question: "Habt ihr geschrieben, daß Rehana eigentlich gar nicht nach England will ? So war heut der Tenor um mich herum in Englisch, unsere Lehrerin hat auch ein bißchen was vom Erwartungshorizont (stand da auch so drin) vorgelesen, aber nicht viel, weil wir nicht wollten. :>

  Ich hab das nicht geschrieben, soll angeblich wegen dem Altersunterschied zu ihrem Verlobten sein"
  
  Answer:Genau das habe ich geschrieben. Schließlich lebt die ja in guten Verhältnissen dafür, dass sie eine indische Frau ist, die ja eigentlich immer noch so gut wie keine Rechte haben. Sie hat nen guten Job, der ihr Spaß macht, sie kann sich es erlauben dem Muhammad Ali son Döner da auszugeben, was zwar jetzt irgendwie überinterpretiert ist, aber doch schon irgendwie ein Zeichen ist, dass es ihr nicht soo schlecht geht um in Englang ein neues Leben mit einem Typen, der 21 Jahre älter ist und den sie nicht kennt und als "Stranger" bezeichnet anfangen zu müssen. Deswegen ist sie ja glücklich als sie nicht nach England "darf". Das Gespräch bzw. die dämlichen Ratschläge von dem Ali haben ihr quasi in gewisser Hinsicht die Augen geöffnet während Ali selber scheinbar keine Entwicklung während des Gesprächs durchmacht. Der fragt sich ja selbst gegen Ende als sie sagt, dass er nicht traurig sein muss, wieso die nicht nach England will. Vielleicht eine Art persönliches "Trauma" oder sowas weil er nie die Möglichkeit hatte nach England zu reisen um dort zu leben, deswegen trickst er seine "Kunden" wahrscheinlich auch normalerweise immer aus wie es in der Einleitung stand.

  /E: Mir fällt grade ein, dass ich den letzten Satz hier mit dem persönlichen Trauma gar nicht erwähnt habe. Verdammt."

• Bewertungsgrundlagen für eine Klausur (NRW)

  
  .

Qaisra Shahraz, A Pair of Jeans (1988)

• Biography
• "A Pair of Jeans" is about the rejection of Miriam by her prospective parents-in-law just because by a quirk of fate they catch her in a pair of Levi's jeans, a vest shrunk after a wash, and a skimpy leather jacket, the entire ensemble revealing ‘an inch of bare white flesh’ at the midrib. So what if the story is set in England. The writer analyses how just a pair of jeans and an inch of flesh, nothing unusual for a university student in the West, leads to Ayub, the boy's father, questioning Miriam's moral character. Begum, his wife, does put up a spirited defence but only to capitulate, because she had always wanted a ‘conventional daughter-in-law, the epitome of tradition’. (Quelle und andere pakistanische Autorinnen: One World South Asia/The Hindu)
• Muslim voices: Women's views (BBC)
• The Pakistani Community in Britain (BBC)
• 101Pakistanis.com
• Qaisra Shahraz: Self Portrait
• Zur Interpretation der Geschichte (aus einem deutschen Blog) (runterscrollen!)
• History of Jeans
• BBC Asian Network: reichlich Informationen, Musik und Sprechsendungen

UNITED KINGDOM MUSLIM POPULATION

Total population: 58.8 million

Muslim population: 1.6 million (2.8%)

Background: The UK has a long history of contact with Muslims, with links forged from the Middle Ages onwards. In the 19th Century Yemeni men came to work on ships, forming one of the country's first Muslim communities. In the 1960s, significant numbers of Muslims arrived as people in the former colonies took up offers of work. Some of the first were East African Asians, while many came from south Asia. Permanent communities formed and at least 50% of the current population was born in the UK. Significant communities with links to Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and the Balkans also exist. The 2001 Census showed one third of the Muslim population was under 16 - the highest proportion for any group. It also highlighted high levels of unemployment, low levels of qualifications and low home ownership. The UK favours multiculturalism, an idea shared by other countries which, in general terms, accepts all cultures as having equal value and has influence over how government engages with minorities.

Sources: Total population - Office for National Statistics, 2001 figures; Muslim population - Office for National Statistics, 2001 figures.
(Quelle: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4385768.stm#uk)

Hanif Kureishi, My Son the Fanatic (1994)

• Hanif Kureishi - offizielle Website
• Hanif Kureishi präsentiert vom British Council
• Photo von Hanif Kureishi
• Hanif Kureishi in der Wikipedia
• "Loose tongues and liberty" - A speech by Hanif Kureishi
• Verfilmung
• Film Review
• Gespräch mit dem Regisseur Prasad Udayan
• Inhaltsangabe und Bewertungen des Films bei Amazon.com
• Book Review: When Bombs speak Louder Than Words
• Kureishi in Dialogue
• Quest for the Ordinary (Interview-type newspaper article)
• "Parvez is a Punjabi in England, driving a cab, raising a son, and seeking a better life. When his son Ali rejects present comfort for past heritage and religious discipline, Parvez reaches blindly across the widening moat between them to pull him back, consulting his friends at the cabstand and a prostitute named Bettina for advice. In Parvez’s increasing consternation, Kureishi portrays the inherent friction of a transplanted culture." (Quelle)
• Suicide bombers and "My Son the Fanatic" (Blog)
• Young, Muslim and British (Guardian)
• Muslim Britain from islamicsupremecouncil.com
• Young Muslims and Muslim Media in Britain (.doc)
• Buchtipp: "Die Kinder des Dschihad"
• Vocabulary list
• Biography: Hanif Kureishi - Postcolonial Storyteller