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The Last Summer of Our Patriarch
USA
On the third day of vacation, we woke in our rental cabins by the ocean to find half our flip‐flops were gone. One of the baby’s potato‐sized sandals was missing as well. By the door, out...
The Last Summer of Our Patriarch
Idra Novey
10 min
The Man Who Moved the Western Wall
Israel
David Lugasi, I think, never knew how much he really loved the Western Wall until he saw it completely dismantled, stone by stone by stone, and piled onto the three trucks of his hauling and renovations...
The Man Who Moved the Western Wall
Uzi Weil
15 min
See You at the Pole
Israel
“Sir, I have something for you.”   Mr. Zoom stopped walking and looked around. Cars whizzed by, people strode past, but a deliveryman reached out and handed Mr. Zoom a package. “Why me?” said Mr. Zoom...
See You at the Pole
Nurit Zarchi
4 min
A Story About the Little Rabbits
USA
“FINE um whar you will en w’en you may,” remarked Uncle Remus with emphasis, “good chilluns allers gits tuck keer on. Dar wuz Brer Rabbit’s chilluns; dey minded der daddy en mammy fum day’s een’ ter day’s...
A Story About the Little Rabbits
Joel Chandler Harris
3 min
The Tell-Tale Heart
USA
True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I...
The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe
8 min
Down the Path
Colombia
Almost, almost there, but not quite. Something woke me up. A noise. I’m dripping wet, but I didn’t get there. I’m still half asleep. Nearly, but not quite. The wind is blowing through the coffee groves;...
Down the Path
Juan Cárdenas
9 min
Breasts
Israel
I remember when my breasts developed. I would hold them in my hands, squeeze them in front of the mirror, examining them from every angle. I inspected the color of the nipple, checked for the first...
Breasts
Yoav Katz
27 min
El Verdugo
France
To Martinez de la Rosa.   The clock of the little town of Menda had just struck midnight. At that moment a young French officer, leaning on the parapet of a long terrace which bordered the...
El Verdugo
Honoré de Balzac
11 min
Silver Pistols
Venezuela
How could Edgardo have hunted an animal if he didn’t even know how to love, much less kill. He’d become a useless idler, sitting all day in front of the television set or on the computer...
Silver Pistols
Liliana Lara
10 min
Interview With an Assassin
Netherlands
The low sun, the brass bands, the President’s face blazing with self-confidence. Everyone over thirty can still bring the images to mind. The President, who was on an official visit to Afrasia, a turbulent and largely...
Interview With an Assassin
Daan Heerma van Voss
9 min
Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear
USA
“ wuz one season” said Uncle Remus, pulling thoughtfully at his whiskers, “w’en Brer Fox say to hisse’f dat he speck he better whirl in en plant a goober-patch, en in dem days, mon, hit wuz tech...
Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear
Joel Chandler Harris
3 min
The Tales of Hoomit
Israel
Who is Hoomit? What happened to her, and how did it all come to be?   Here, listen. Every Friday, Zeevi and Father used to walk to the train station. And once, while they were on...
The Tales of Hoomit
S. Yizhar
11 min
The Signal-Man
UK
“Halloa! Below there!”   When he heard a voice thus calling to him, he was standing at the door of his box, with a flag in his hand, furled round its short pole. One would have...
The Signal-Man
Charles Dickens
20 min
Fungus
Mexico
When I was a little girl my mother had a fungus on one of her toenails. On her left pinkie toe to be exact. From the moment she discovered it she tried everything to get rid...
Fungus
Guadalupe Nettel
16 min
Bohemia
Russia
I – How to Survive with the Aid of Literature. Astride a Play to Tiflis.   If someone asked me what I deserve, I would say in all honesty before God that I deserve hard labor....
Bohemia
Mikhail Bulgakov
9 min
The Eternal Israeli
Israel
Dayton Ohio, 2006   The plane lands at the airport. It’s a connecting flight with a stopover in Zurich, and the final destination is The Dayton-Wright Brothers International Airport. A total flight time of 15 hours,...
The Eternal Israeli
Nissan Shor
26 min
August
Poland
In July, my father left to take the waters; he left me with my mother and older brother at the mercy of the summer days, white from the heat and stunning. Stupefied by the light, we...
August
Bruno Schulz
10 min
There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard
UK
This, you know, is the beginning of the story about sprites and goblins which Mamilius, the best child in Shakespeare, was telling to his mother the queen, and the court ladies, when the king came in...
There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard
M.R. James
5 min
Molly and the Red Hat
USA
Molly loved her red hat. It was full and round and bright. It was glorious and unadorned. That hat knew more than it was saying. It could have been a ladybug, it could have been a...
Molly and the Red Hat
Benjamin Rosenbaum
13 min
My Istanbul
Germany|Turkey
A Turkish philosopher from Istanbul once visited me in Berlin. He was only there for a few days. He looked at the street and said quietly, ‘I don’t think I could live here.’   Not the...
My Istanbul
Emine Sevgi Özdamar
10 min
Asylum
UK
Prison more like, said Madeleine.   Come now, said Mr Kramer. If I run away they bring me back, said Madeleine. Yes but, said Mr Kramer.   Mr Kramer often said, Yes but to Madeleine. Something...
Asylum
David Constantine
12 min
Diary of a Newspaper Reader
Argentina
Thursday, July 6   I’m sitting down to write because I finally have something to tell you. The boy from the newsstand didn’t bring me the paper today. I went to complain. On the way there...
Diary of a Newspaper Reader
Eduardo Berti
11 min
The Waldstein Sonata
Germany
Franz Liszt died on the 31st of July in the year 1886; he could not recall the finer details. Now, however, he found himself, in full possession of his senses and mental faculties, walking purposefully along a...
The Waldstein Sonata
Hartmut Lange
16 min
Blue Pill
Israel
When I think back on it, I feel like digging a hole in the ground and crawling right in. I want to crawl right in this minute, so I’m thinking back on it. Someone once gave...
Blue Pill
Orly Castel-Bloom
2 min
The Aspiring Idiot
USA
In March I received an invitation to appear at IdiotFest, the second most prestigious event on the entire Idiot circuit. I called my mother. ─IdiotFest? ─Don’t you remember, Mom? It was in San Diego last year....
The Aspiring Idiot
Todd Hasak-Lowy
17 min
The Elephant
Russia
A little girl was ill. Each day the doctor, Mikhail Petrovich, whom she had known for a very, very long time, came to see her. Sometimes, there were two other doctors with him whom she did...
The Elephant
Alexander Kuprin
14 min
John-Paul Finnegan, Paltry Realist
Ireland
When I think of Ireland, John-Paul Finnegan said as we stood on the deck of the ferry while it pulled out of Holyhead, I think of a limitless ignorance. And not just an ignorance, but a...
John-Paul Finnegan, Paltry Realist
Rob Doyle
15 min
Séance with the Stasi
USA
She was the lady in your neighborhood. You saw her at the supermarket, you saw her in line at the post office. She was like Monday, the day she brought her kid to school, Tuesday, the...
Séance with the Stasi
Sarah Khan
12 min
After Arbor Day
Israel
At the beginning of winter my father fell ill and took to his bed. He lay in bed for a long time with his bedroom door closed, and we would walk around the house on tiptoe...
After Arbor Day
Ruth Almog
5 min
It Would Be Better If Some Continents Had Never Been Discovered. Europe, For Instance, Has Never Been Anything But Trouble.
Germany
There often used to be two of us. Three of us. Four, five, or six. I had brothers, sisters, a tarantula. Parents, yes, them too. Plus there was my Uncle Nikolai and the guy from the...
It Would Be Better If Some Continents Had Never Been Discovered. Europe, For Instance, Has Never Been Anything But Trouble.
Michel Decar
8 min
Buy Two Get One Free
Israel
In my other life I lived in a suburb of Ohio or Michigan with Paul-Marc, my husband, and the child. The houses were planted on manicured lawns that stretched as far as the eye could see,...
Buy Two Get One Free
Tal Nitzán
4 min
The Book of Beasts
UK
He happened to be building a Palace when the news came, and he left all the bricks kicking about the floor for Nurse to clear up–but then the news was rather remarkable news. You see, there...
The Book of Beasts
Edith Nesbit
18 min
“Survivor”
Uruguay
My sister is going out with a guy who got famous for being on a reality show in the United States. She met him at the cafe where she works in L.A., where she’s lived since...
“Survivor”
Vera Giaconi
17 min
Children of God
Germany
It was the first Michael had heard of the girl. His housekeeper was telling him about her: she claimed— Mandy did—that there was no father. She lived in the neighboring village of W. The housekeeper laughed,...
Children of God
Peter Stamm
19 min
Coffee
Israel
My father died at six in the evening. After the doctor told us the news, we went home. Ariane drove, and I sat next to her. Neither of us spoke. The taste of the coffee from...
Coffee
Gadi Taub
7 min
Bear Ears
Colombia
I came across him the other day when I was looking for the snorkel fins in the storage space. I didn’t even remember that I’d left him there. He was covered in dust and had a...
Bear Ears
Carolina Vegas
8 min
Talitha Kumi
Israel
In September everyone’s looking for an apartment. Especially in Jerusalem. Especially students. This is the busy season for Yochanan Dvir, apartment renovator and owner of a few of them himself. Two small apartments which he renovated...
Talitha Kumi
Yitzhak Auerbach-Orpaz
22 min
Fortunatus Rex and co
UK
There was once a lady who found herself in middle life with but a slight income. Knowing herself to be insufficiently educated to be able to practise any other trade or calling, she of course decided,...
Fortunatus Rex and co
Edith Nesbit
20 min
The Carriage
Russia
The Death-Bed Notes of a Fool   My life is coming to an end. Soon Death will tap its boney finger on my door… soon! Suffering has so withered my chest that no maiden’s kisses can...
The Carriage
Nikolay Nekrasov
9 min
The Need to Be a Son
Chile
How could I serve myself from such distant plates, when the home had broken, when not even mother could be forced from the lips. How could I dine on nothing. César Vallejo   I was born...
The Need to Be a Son
Andrea Jeftanovic
10 min
The Thief
Israel
The last item on the shopping list was bread. Two o’clock in the afternoon. August. And the insistence to walk all the way to the bread shop. Specification is the sign of affluence and civilization; that...
The Thief
Sharron Hass
3 min
Nora, daughter of Marcus Beag
Ireland
You never saw such surprise as that of the people of Ros Dha Loch when they heard that Nora, daughter of Marcus Beag, was to go to England. A sister of hers was already over there,...
Nora, daughter of Marcus Beag
Pádraic Ó Conaire
18 min
Oxytocin
Spain
My sister always said that it was much better to have a niece or nephew than your own child. I suppose that my mother agreed with her. My sister said that with a nephew you got...
Oxytocin
Miguel Serrano Larraz
10 min
Apples in Honey
Israel
That summer, I’d go there sometimes, and this week, I went again. It was a hot day at the end of summer. A hot wind blew from time to time, stopped suddenly and returned suddenly, full...
Apples in Honey
Yehudit Hendel
11 min
Condensed Milk
Russia
Envy, like all our feelings, had been dulled and weakened by hunger. We lacked the strength to experience emotions, to seek easier work, to walk, to ask, to beg… We envied only our acquaintances, the ones...
Condensed Milk
Varlam Shalamov
6 min
The Corpse
Austria
When Markus Kellmer got home from work, he found a naked woman on his living-room carpet. Her dishevelled hair reminded him of the way he had drawn crows’ nests and tree tops as a child; her...
The Corpse
Clemens J. Setz
8 min
Second Residence
Spain
Miriam tells them that he built the house himself with his own hands. She tells them how he piled up the rocks on rainy days, so that they’d get good and soaked before he soldered them...
Second Residence
Margarita Leoz
10 min
A Wild Swan
USA
Here in the city lives a prince whose left arm is like any other man’s and whose right arm is a swan’s wing. He and his eleven brothers were turned into swans by their vituperative stepmother,...
A Wild Swan
Michael Cunningham
5 min
End Times
USA
Elli wouldn’t let me stop until we’d crossed the line into Utah. She was a nail in the passenger seat—rigid, sharp, her blue eyes darting back and forth between the speedometer and the double yellow lines....
End Times
Maxim Loskutoff
12 min
Haircut
USA
I got another barber that comes over from Carterville and helps me out Saturdays, but the rest of the time I can get along all right alone. You can see for yourself that this ain’t no...
Haircut
Ring Lardner
19 min
Cracks | Mainland
Slovenia
Cracks   Many stories have happened. This is one of them. You have a wife, you have kids, you have a job, you have a car, you have a house in the suburbs. It appears you’ll...
Cracks | Mainland
Andrej Blatnik
3 min
The Child
Germany
At home, in my flat, in the three neat and prettily decorated rooms belonging to me and nobody but me, lives a little child that torments me. We’re so attached by now that I can’t get...
The Child
Antonia Baum
14 min
The Invisible Man
UK
In the cool blue twilight of two steep streets in Camden Town, the shop at the corner, a confectioner’s, glowed like the butt of a cigar. One should rather say, perhaps, like the butt of a...
The Invisible Man
G.K. Chesterton
25 min
Harlamov
Israel
Mr. Harlamov was a big man. He was a fearless man too and when he sat himself down at the harmonium (which was a kind of piano played with a foot bellows, or a kind of...
Harlamov
S. Yizhar
9 min
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