Hugh Coverly’s Reviews > The Collected Stories > Status Update

Finished stories dated 1894.

The Black Monk is a very good story. Andrew is a scholar with bright future ahead of him, but he is pursued by a Black Monk who is the embodiment of his mental illness and a harbinger of his approaching death.

The Two Volodyas is confusing, but the translation by P&V is clearer and the fullness of the story comes out.

Completed Volume Two.

The tale of An Anonymous Man is very good. The translator does a great job. The story tales starts out telling of a young boy who is put into service and who eventually takes on a baby girl after her mother, whom he runs away with to western Europe, dies. It is a sad story written with depth and feeling.

Terror is also a very good story.

Read the story entitled Neighbours. A very good story, surprising as it about a woman who goes to live a man who is already married. A sad story that shows that one’s future is controlled by the past; breaking free is certainly a challenge that must be made.

Came across a word I had never seen or heard before: tintinnabulation. It simply means the ringing of bells, but it is a word. (Vol 2, pg. 194)

I thought I had read The Duel before. I never have done so. It’s a good story filled with many interesting characters. The fact that the duelists come out essentially unscathed physically does not mean that they mentally able to face the larger world however.

Finished the last story in volume 1 of a 4 volume set. I’m not sure why the story is entitled Peasant Women. A sad tale it is for certain nonetheless.