Summaries | Lecturia

Gabriel García Márquez: Tuesday Siesta. Summary and analysis

Tuesday Siesta, a short story by Gabriel García Márquez published in 1962 as part of the collection The Funeral of Big Mama, narrates the journey of a mother and her daughter to a small town in intense heat. Dressed in mourning and with a serene attitude, they look for the priest to ask for the keys to the cemetery. In an atmosphere marked by the drowsiness of the siesta, the story shows how both women face the weight of social prejudice with dignity.

Ernest Hemingway: The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. Summary and analysis

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, written by Ernest Hemingway and published in 1936, is a short story that narrates the intense experience of a wealthy man on a safari in Africa with his wife and a professional hunter. During the expedition, the big game hunt becomes a test of character that exposes his deepest fears and alters the balance of power in his marriage. Between the tension of the hunt and personal conflicts, Macomber faces a decisive moment that will change his life.

Ted Chiang: The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate. Summary and analysis

“The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang is a short story published in 2007 that combines fantasy with a philosophical exploration of time and destiny. Set in medieval Baghdad, it follows Fuwaad ibn Abbas, a merchant who discovers the shop of an alchemist named Bashaarat, who has created a gate capable of taking people twenty years into the past or future. Through intertwined stories, the story raises questions about free will, the inevitability of destiny, and the true meaning of repentance and redemption.

Ray Bradbury: The Small Assassin. Summary and analysis

The Small Assassin, a short story by Ray Bradbury published in 1946, is a disturbing psychological horror story that explores fear and paranoia in motherhood. Alice Leiber, after a complicated delivery, develops an irrational rejection of her baby, convinced that there is something strange about him. Her husband, David, tries to help her, while Dr. Jeffers attributes her fear to an emotional disorder. However, as unexplained events occur, the sense of threat grows, and what seems like a simple obsession becomes terrifyingly real.

Ray Bradbury: All Summer in a Day. Summary and analysis

All Summer in a Day is a science fiction story written by Ray Bradbury and published in 1954 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The story is set in a future in which humanity has colonized Venus, a planet where it rains incessantly and the sun only rises for one hour every seven years. In this gloomy world, a group of children eagerly await the moment they see the sunlight. Among them is Margot, a girl who clearly remembers the warmth and brightness of the sun because she lived on Earth, which makes her the object of envy and rejection by the other children.

Stephen King: Jerusalem’s Lot. Summary and analysis

Jerusalem’s Lot, a short story by Stephen King published in the collection Night Shift (1978), is a gothic horror story set in 1850. We follow Charles Boone, a man who inherits the Chapelwaite mansion on a remote cliff in Maine, through letters and diaries. Accompanied by his servant, Calvin McCann, Charles discovers that the house and the nearby abandoned village, Jerusalem’s Lot, hide a dark past linked to his family. As they explore the history of the place, they become embroiled in an increasingly disturbing mystery, where ancient superstitions and strange manifestations threaten to reveal a terrifying truth.