Showing results for "alligator" in Anthologies & Short Stories

John Updike reads six stories he has selected from the 100-odd he has published. Mr. Updike, when asked to described his method of reading aloud, said "I try to picture the things describes, and to speak the words distinctly, and to let the emotion come through on its own." The method works beautifully.

The award-winning stories in Dima Alzayat's collection, Alligator and Other Stories, are luminous and tender, whether dealing with a woman preforming burial rites for her brother in "Ghusl", or the great-aunt struggling to explain cultural identity to her niece in "Once We Were Syrians". Alzayat's stories are rich and relatable, chronicling a sense of displacement through everyday scenarios. There is the intern in pre-#MeToo Hollywood of "Only Those Who Struggle Succeed", or the "dangerous" women of "The Daughters of Manāt" who struggle to assert their independence.

The Alligator and the Jackal is the story of a jackal who narrowly escapes being eaten by an alligator on the banks of a river. Following this incident, the alligator is determined to catch the cunning jackal. The Jackal is equally determined not to be eaten. A series of close escapes escalates the feud until the dramatic finale.