Chorb, “The Return of Chorb”
A haunting and somewhat tragic tale of the title character whose mission is inform his in-laws that their daughter—his wife—has died in a freak accident on their honeymoon. The mission takes on almost dreamlike surreal quality that revolves around chance, randomness and Chorb’s overwhelming grief which, unfortunately, climaxes in a most unwelcome way.
Fred Dobson, “The Potato Elf”
In the words of a movie trailer announcer: Fred Dobson is the Potato Elf. Actually, he’s a dwarf in a circus who gets assaulted just for trying to kiss a woman. A conjuror named Shock and his wife Dora take pity on him and ultimately, the wife sleeps with him. For Fred, it’s love. Not so much for Dora.
Cynthia and Sybil Vane, “The Vane Sisters”
Cynthia is an occultist with a strong belief in the power of acrostics to send secret messages. Sybil is a student who commits suicide. A former professor of Cynthia’s identified only as “D.” with whom she had an affair he cruelly terminated. Cynthia also dies later and “D.” is suddenly terrified of being haunted by her ghost. The final line of the story contains a secret message that reflects back upon two previously mentioned objects.
Victor, “Music”
Still longing for his ex-wife, Victor finds himself at the same party she is attending where a man is playing the piano. The music seems to have an almost mesmerizing effect on all the partygoers. Except for Victor who feels like he is trapped in a dungeon as he reflects upon his past with his wife. When she leaves the party, Victor’s dungeon undergoes a remarkable transformation into utter bliss. A man sidles up to Victor and remarks upon the amazing fact that Victor appeared to absolutely invulnerable to the power and the passion of the music. The story ends on an ironic note when the man answers Victor’s inquiry as to what music was being played and he answers that it was Beethoven. Unless it was a composition by Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska. A composition that is notably much less difficult than Beethoven’s.
Aleksey Luzhin, “A Matter of Chance”
This may quite possibly the most irony-fueled short story ever written. Aleksey works on a train, is a cocaine addict, forced to flee his home after the Bolshevik Revolution, has lost his wife and plans to kill himself in a most gruesome way on the train. Turns out, however, that Aleksey has not necessarily lost his wife as—unknown to him—she has boarded the very train on which he works in a plan to meet in Paris. Then comes tsunami of irony as the opportunity for husband and wife to connect before he commits suicide is just barely averted by matters of chance. And as if all that weren’t enough, the last in this line of ironic circumstances doesn’t even allow him the dignity of killing himself.
