One great short story to read today: Oğuz Atay’s “The Forgotten”
According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, for the third year in a row, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, free* to read online, every (work) day of the month. Why not read along with us? Today, we recommend:
Oğuz Atay, “The Forgotten”
This story is from last year’s excellent Waiting for the Fear, a collection of stories full of Atay’s dreamy and sardonic humor. His characters tend to be on the fringes or out on a limb, and are often caught between the absurd and the real—it can be hard to tell how much of what they’re narrating is in their head, or not.
In “The Forgotten,” a woman climbs into a dark attic searching for a box of books and makes a startling discovery—I won’t spoil it for you. It’s a horrible sight, but she meets it with relative calm, and even as the story continues to delve deeper into the strange and macabre, Atay writes the woman’s introspection with a surreal detachment. It’s a funny story woven out of a grisly situation, and we’re left wondering about her odd reactions that oscillate between expected and selfish: what is going on in this attic and what, if anything, has she done?
The story begins:
“I’m in the attic, dear!” she called down through the scuttle hole. “Old books are worth a lot of money these days, I wanted to take a look.” Did he hear what I just said? “It’s dark up there; wait, I’ll get you a flashlight.” Good then; it’ll be a calm day. Someone used to tell me that I constantly needed attention. What I need now is a mirror that shows me smiling back; not to mention some light. “You’re going to hurt yourself in the dark.” A hand rose up through the hole, holding a flashlight. The beam strayed towards an empty corner and lit it up. She touched the hand; it disappeared. I wonder what he thinks. She smiled—so, he’s thinking again, is he?
*If you hit a paywall, we recommend trying with a different/private/incognito browser (but listen, you didn’t hear it from us).
