Stories from Stories
In this section I have chosen some of my favorite short stories to adapt into tales to tell. This section is small now, but I am confident it will be growing soon!
Story
Source Summary Cultural Origins Audience Adaptation Ideas |
Karintha
Toomer, Jean. Cane: A Norton Critical Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1988. “Karintha” is the story of a girl who grows into a woman far too quickly. Men have always been obsessed with her. Even as a small child, they would dote on her and long to be in her presence. Her beauty is exquisite and cannot be denied or ignored. Because of her singular beauty, she is allowed to get away with many things growing up from stoning cows to fighting with other children. She lives in close quarters with her parents and is aware of their lovemaking at an early age, and because of this becomes aware of her sexuality and how she can use it at an early age. By the age of 20, men, both old and young, are constantly chasing her, earning money to earn her love, and they have no idea of Karintha’s secret. The secret of a child, born from her womb, and burnt in the woods, so no one would find out. Karintha, a woman far too early, holds these desperate men in contempt, but she uses them all the same to get the things she cannot get for herself. Toomer’s collection of poems and short stories entitled Cane was originally published in 1923, during the period called the Harlem Renaissance (my favorite period of United States artistic creation and expression). Toomer put his all into his work, and creating this collection of poems and short stories of African American life in the deep south exhausted him. In the autobiographical section of the Norton Critical Edition, from which I found this tale, Toomer writes, “I began feeling dangerously drained of energy. I had used so much in my own work…Each morning I was up before nine. I”d try to work, and just simply couldn’t. The little force I had gathered during sleep was soon spent” (140-141). Knowing this I want my adaptation to be rich with meaning and feeling, since he put his all into his work. I want to be exhausted at the end of the telling, I want to put so much concentration and effort into delivering this story that he worked so hard to craft. I want to do this out of respect and reverence for this great author. This is a story for a mature audience. I am not sure where or when I could tell this story, but I definitely want it in my future file. I took a class on African American literature as an undergrad, and I wrote a paper about the women in Jean Toomer’s Cane. If there was a class like this or one that was focusing on African American literature in the school where I’m teaching, I could offer up my services as a storyteller, but I would have to warn the teacher that the subject matter is very heavy. I’m not sure where I would perform this outside of an academic setting, since it is so dark and depressing. This is one of the most heartbreaking, gut-wrenching stories I know. This story popped into my head at once when thinking about additions to this Future File. I want my telling of this to be pure, precise, and paced. I want to take my time saying the words and unraveling Karintha’s tale. The story is so rich and has such a heavy theme that I’m afraid I might try to rush through it, because I’m afraid of living in Karintha’s world for too long. Besides trying to keep a rather slow, meaningful pace, I would also add an introductory note before I begin my tale. I would add notes about the south in the 1920s, Toomer’s work about women in the south (he has several stories about women’s trials and triumphs during this period), and finally I would mention how Toomer’s work all but disappeared after the Harlem Renaissance and was re-discovered during the Civil Rights Movement. |
Story
Source Summary Cultural Origins Audience Adaptation Ideas |
A Drive in the Motor-Car
“A Drive in the Motor-Car.” Dahl, Roald. Boy: Tales of Childhood. New York: Puffin Books, 1986. This story takes place during Roald Dahl’s first holiday break from boarding school. He was nine, and not only did he get to finally return to his home after a grueling semester away, but he also got to take a ride in the family’s first car! His oldest sister, aged 21, was driving, and when they came to a curve in the road, the sister didn’t know what to do, slammed on the breaks, and luckily no one was hurt…much. Dahl went flying through the windshield, and his nose was sliced almost clean off his face. It was dangling by a small thread of skin, but the village doctor managed to sew it back on. Roald Dahl was raised in Wales and was the son of Norwegian immigrants. This story takes place in 1925, and having a car was a big deal for a family back in those days. Because of this, I will be adding a lot of excited tones and gestures to my telling to try to get the audience to sense what it must have been like to drive in a car when it was a big deal. I would tell this to 5th and 6th graders who are just being introduced to narrative structure. In fact, that’s what I did for eight of my ten years teaching writing, and this story always did a fabulous job at introducing narrative structure. The kids also loved hearing about the nose almost being cut off. I would tell this person in first person, as Roald Dahl, so before doing that I would give the students a brief introduction. I’d tell them I’d be telling the story as Roald Dahl, author of some of their favorite books. The day I would tell, I would wear a boy-like get up: rolled up khaki pants, suspenders, button-down striped shirt, maybe a cardigan to go with it (since the story takes place in Wales during Christmas time, where good mums knit their children new cardys for a holiday treat). I would circle the room “talking” to the kids about this experience in my youth, and when I got to the nose being cut off, I would slow down, dangle my arm when the nose is dangling by the thin thread of skin. It would be awesome and gross…I hope! |