Fantasy | Lecturia

Rudyard Kipling: The Mark of the Beast

“The Mark of the Beast,” a short story by Rudyard Kipling published in 1890, plunges into the depths of mysticism and cultural tensions in colonial India. The story recounts the experience of Fleete, an Englishman newly arrived in India, who, while under the influence of alcohol during a New Year’s Eve celebration, desecrates a temple of Hanuman, the monkey god. His disrespectful and mocking action towards the sacred provokes supernatural revenge when he is branded on the chest by a mysterious leper known as the Silver Man. As the mark on Fleete’s chest transforms, he changes alarmingly, displaying animalistic behaviors and appetites. His friends are then embroiled in a desperate attempt to understand and remedy his condition, facing the clash between Western rationality and the inexplicable forces of an ancient local faith.

Jorge Luis Borges: The Immortal

“The Immortal,” a story by Jorge Luis Borges from the short story collection ‘El Aleph’ (1949), narrates the intense odyssey of a Roman soldier, Marcus Flaminius Rufus, to find a mythical river that grants immortality. In his quest, the protagonist embarks on an expedition full of dangers and extraordinary discoveries, where he will test his courage and fortitude. After a long journey, he arrives at a remote place inhabited by a tribe of troglodytes, where he receives a terrible revelation about the immortals and their river.

Jack London: A Thousand Deaths

I HAD been in the water about an hour, and cold, exhausted, with a terrible cramp in my right calf, it seemed as though my hour had come. Fruitlessly struggling against the strong ebb tide, I had beheld the maddening procession of the water-front lights slip by, but now I gave up attempting to breast … Read more

Katherine Mansfield: The Wind Blows

SUDDENLY — dreadfully — she wakes up. What has happened? Something dreadful has happened. No — nothing has happened. It is only the wind shaking the house, rattling the windows, banging a piece of iron on the roof and making her bed tremble. Leaves flutter past the window, up and away; down in the avenue … Read more

Amelia Edwards: The Story of Salome

A FEW YEARS AGO, no matter how many, I, Harcourt Blunt, was travelling with my friend Coventry Turnour, and it was on the steps of our hotel that I received from him the announcement that he was again in love. ‘I tell you, Blunt,’ said my fellow-traveller, ‘she’s the loveliest creature I ever beheld in … Read more

Ambrose Bierce: Beyond the Wall

Many years ago, on my way from Hongkong to New York, I assed a week in San Francisco. A long time had gone by since I had been in that city, during which my ventures in the Orient had prospered beyond my hope; I was rich and could afford to revisit my own country to renew … Read more