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Hills Like White Elephants: A Short Story by Ernest Hemingway
The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings… Read more
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Rushdie and Pakistan: By 2021 Nobel Laureate in Literature
In 1983 Salman Rushdie published Shame, about which the novel’s narrator, at times unmistakably the novelist himself, has this to say: ‘I tell myself this will be a novel of leavetaking, my last words on the East from which, many years ago, I began to come loose.’ It turned out to be a mistaken prediction,… Read more
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The Use of Force: A Short Story by William Carlos Williams
They were new patients to me, all I had was the name, Olson. Please come down as soon as you can, my daughter is very sick. When I arrived I was met by the mother, a big startled looking woman, very clean and apologetic who merely said, Is this the doctor? and let me in.… Read more
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How to Face the Question of Death?
In Mahabharata, the major Sanskrit epic of ancient India, there is a famous episode in which the hero Yudhishthira, who is very thirsty, wants to drink from a pool which is owned by an invisible spirit. The spirit asks him many riddles before allowing him to drink, and one of the most penetrating is: “What… Read more
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The Story of an Hour: A Short Story by Kate Chopin
The Story of an Hour is a short story written by the American author and novelist Kate Chopin in the year 1894. Below is the full text. *** Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s… Read more
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The Zen Philosophy of Tea
The drinking of tea has always been associated with Zen, and from the earliest times the monks have used it to keep themselves awake during long periods of meditation. There is a gruesome legend as to its origin which tells that Bodhidharma once fell asleep during his meditations and was so furious that he cut… Read more
