A Day Saved and Other Modern Stories: Ten Unsimplified Tales for Advanced Students of English, Edited by Peter Taylor
How does a man become successful although he is unable to read or write? How does a woman get her final revenge on her husband? What happens when a man invites friends to a party at which he himself does not appear, but watches from a distance? What happens to a boy who feels fated to be a genius?
Editor: Peter Taylor
Title: A Day Saved and Other Modern Stories (1979)
Format: English paperback (Cambridge University Press), 144 pages
Scope: Anthology of ten modern short stories for advanced learners of English
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/0521225949 (ASIN 0521225949)
Ten Stories, Ten Questions
These are some of the questions dealt with in the ten stories of this collection. Each one is short enough to read in a sitting, and each turns on a small, sharply observed situation: ambition, revenge, loneliness, pride.
Real Literature, Not Simplified
The stories, by important modern authors, have been specially selected for advanced students of English. They are not simplified: readers meet the authors’ own words. Vocabulary explanations and notes are provided to help comprehension, so that the step from graded readers to real literature is less steep.
Who Is It For?
It is ideal for upper-intermediate and advanced learners who want to read authentic fiction without constantly reaching for a dictionary, and for teachers looking for short texts to discuss in class. It is also simply a good anthology of twentieth-century short fiction.
What You Will Find Inside
The stories come from twentieth-century writers in English, and they vary a great deal in tone: some are comic, some quietly sad, some end with a sting. Among them is H. E. Bates’s "Time", a short, gentle piece about very old men passing the hours together, which shows how much a good writer can do with almost no plot. That variety is the real strength of the selection: each story teaches you something different about how fiction works.
How the Notes Help
Reading authentic literature in a foreign language is hard mainly because of idioms, slang and cultural references that a dictionary does not explain well. The notes here deal with exactly those problems, so that you can keep going without losing the thread. A good way to use the book is to read a story once for pleasure, ignoring the notes, and then a second time with them, paying attention to the expressions you missed.
From Graded Readers to the Real Thing
Many learners spend years on graded readers and then find the jump to ordinary novels discouraging. A short-story anthology like this one is a sensible bridge: the texts are real, but they are short, and finishing a complete story in one evening is motivating. Once you are comfortable here, the next natural step is to read full collections by the authors you liked best.
A Note on the Edition
This is an older Cambridge University Press title, first published in 1979, so second-hand copies are the easiest way to find it. Check the condition before buying: classroom copies often carry pencil notes, which some readers find helpful and others find distracting.
Talking About the Stories
The questions on the back cover make good discussion prompts even before you open the book. Ask yourself, or your class, how you think each situation will end, then compare your guesses with what the author actually wrote. Short fiction thrives on surprise, and the difference between what we expect and what happens is often where the meaning lies.
Why Read It
Short stories are one of the best ways to build reading confidence in a foreign language: each one is complete in itself, and the questions they raise are good material for conversation. This collection is an old classroom favourite that has aged well.
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