Realism | Lecturia

Vladimir Nabokov: Signs and Symbols

“Signs and Symbols” is a short story by Vladimir Nabokov, published on May 15, 1948, in The New Yorker. It recounts a particularly difficult day in the life of an elderly immigrant couple visiting their son, who is confined to a sanatorium due to a severe mental illness. They face everyday setbacks, painful memories, and the weight of a life marked by loss and resignation. The narrative unfolds with a tense calm, amid seemingly trivial details that gradually reveal an atmosphere charged with anguish, while the signs of the outside world seem to take on a disturbing hidden meaning.

Alphonse Daudet: Aged Folk

“Aged Folk” (Les vieux) is a short story by the French writer Alphonse Daudet, published in Le Figaro on October 23, 1868, and later included in the collection Lettres de mon moulin (1869). A miller from Provence receives a letter from a friend in Paris asking him to do something unusual: to travel to the village of Eyguières to visit his grandparents, whom he hasn’t seen in over ten years. Reluctantly, the miller sets out on the journey to a humble house next to a convent, where he finds two elderly people who welcome him with overwhelming emotion and heartfelt hospitality.

Anton Chekhov: Sleepy

“Sleepy” (Спать хочется) is a short story by Anton Chekhov published in 1888 in the Peterburgskaya Gazeta. It tells the story of Varka, a young girl who works as a maid and is tasked with caring for a child who cries incessantly at night. One night, when she is utterly exhausted, as she struggles to fight off the overwhelming drowsiness, Varka experiences a series of visions and memories that intertwine with her reality, reflecting her deep fatigue and her desire to sleep. After two sleepless nights, Varka is at the end of her strength, and her body desperately begs her to do something to find peace and rest.

Edgar Allan Poe: The Purloined Letter

“The Purloined Letter” is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, published in September 1844 in The Gift for 1845. In Paris, the police prefect visits detective C. Auguste Dupin to consult him on a case that has him baffled: a letter of enormous political importance has been stolen right under its owner’s nose by Minister D…, who is using it to blackmail her. Although the police have thoroughly searched the alleged thief’s mansion, the letter remains missing. Faced with the failure of conventional methods, the prefect turns to Dupin’s ingenuity, who will use his unique analytical skills to solve the mystery.

Juan Rulfo: Anacleto Morones

“Anacleto Morones” is a short story by the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo, published in 1953 in the book El llano en llamas. Lucas Lucatero is at his ranch when, in the midst of heat and dust, he sees a group of devout women arriving from Amula. The unwelcome visitors come with the purpose of convincing him to return with them to the town to give testimony about the life and deeds of Anacleto Morones, whom they regard as a saint capable of performing miracles. However, they run up against Lucatero’s reluctance, for he holds a very different opinion of the man who was once his father-in-law.

Nathaniel Hawthorne: Wakefield

“Wakefield” is a short story by the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in The New-England Magazine in May 1835. Under the pretext of taking a brief trip, a man abandons his home and his wife and secretly installs himself in a room on the street next to his own. For no apparent reason, he observes from a distance the life he has left behind, becoming an invisible spectator of his own absence. What was meant to be a getaway of only a few days gradually stretches on, as Wakefield sinks into anonymity and indefinitely postpones his return.