Selected Shorts (radio program)

[jbuck919]

I don't know if anyone else is aware of this program, which features readings of short stories, but it is broadcast on WAMC from Albany from 11:00 to 12:00 on Sunday, meaning it is the only program I can listen to on the way home from church. I do not find it wonderful, but it did prompt this post.

Today the last segment was Saki's (H.H. Munro's) famous short story "The Open Window." I call it famous because I remember it by title from a high school anthology, though as it turns out I remembered not a word or turn of the story itself. It was praised by the moderator to the skies for its wit and especially for its clinching last line. It was read beautifully (as all stories are on this program) by an actress whose name I cannot remember, but bless me if I can figure out what recommends it or why it was anthologized in high school textbooks 40 years ago.

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/366/

(In case you are familiar with the program, which is usually from some famous stage, a couple of months ago they featured a reading which took place at the Crandall Library in Glens Falls, NY, which is the big deal public library around here and which I frequent. I was so surprised it was all I could do to stay on my side of the road.)

[John F]

Goodness, I haven't heard or thought about the name Saki for decades. Nor O. Henry, come to think of it, whose stories also have unexpected endings; I get the two of them mixed up. Maybe I read "The Open Window" in school, maybe not, but I don't think much of it now, and especially the last line, which is both needless as far as it goes, and inadequate for not going further. I suppose it used to be assigned in schools because it's very short and easy to discuss.

[jbuck919]

Goodness, I haven't heard or thought about the name Saki for decades. Nor O. Henry, come to think of it, whose stories also have unexpected endings; I get the two of them mixed up. Maybe I read "The Open Window" in school, maybe not, but I don't think much of it now, and especially the last line, which is both needless as far as it goes, and inadequate for not going further. I suppose it used to be assigned in schools because it's very short and easy to discuss.

In the mind of someone who is good at quiz games with literate content, remembering Saki's real name as well as O. Henry's (William Sidney Porter, and that's also after more than 40 years and without looking it up) is a more solid bet than remembering anything they wrote, thought I do think that O. Henry's justly famous story "The Gift of the Magi," which I also read in the same high school anthology, has enduring value.