Short Story of the Month
Can a city hold a home? - Shagufta Sharmeen Tania’s short story, “What Men Live By”
“What Men Live By” opens like a children’s story—the way Matilda or most Roald Dahl books would start out—with simple, everyday events and straightforward descriptions. Eventually, though, one line caught my attention and I couldn’t help but smile:
An ordinary day, with monsters in our jungles
Even the Bangladeshi protagonist—merely referred to as Agontok (a stranger)—is established as an anti-hero, in contrast with the traditionally heroic Hercules, which I thought was an exciting change.
Can a city hold a home? - Shagufta Sharmeen Tania’s short story, “What Men Live By”
“What Men Live By” opens like a children’s story—the way Matilda or most Roald Dahl books would start out—with simple, everyday events and straightforward descriptions. Eventually, though, one line caught my attention and I couldn’t help but smile:
No country for honest men in Shahidul Zahir’s “Woodcutter and Crows”
Zahir uses crows as a symbol of magic realism, as found in local folklore, where animals serve as omens of luck both good and bad. The crows seem to bring bad luck to the couple, and wherever they go, the birds follow.