Enchantment by Thaisa Frank Short Story Discussion
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Welcome to today's discussion of "The Mapmaker" from Thaisa Frank's collection of short stories in Enchantment.
I selected "The Mapmaker" because its one of the longer stories in the collection and follows the passage of a "map" throughout the hands of a family. The story is broken down into different parts:
"Ninevah" "Dime Store" "Sandra Greenaway" "A Hidden City" "The Journey of the Map" "My Father's Study" "The Antique Writing Chest" "A Walk in the Snow" "Eating" "A Visit to Ninevah" "The Post Box" "The Magician's Eye" "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" "Mildred" "Ashes" "The Map"
I hope everyone has had a chance to read all of the sections for today's discussion. I wanted to start everyone off with a few things to talk about. Please be aware there could be spoilers.
1. There seems to be a line drawn in this story between myth and reality, where the enchantment of the "fairy tale" is cracked or shattered.
2. At the same time that the masks are taken down and reality reveals itself, the narrator sometimes continues to believe in a better place, a shining world where dreams are reality.
3. Do you think that families are like countries, in that each person has their own boundaries and their own cultures that can sometimes clash and more?
OK, that's enough from me. Let's get this discussion started...
Also, if you want to discuss another short story in October, let's pick a date that we're all available and see what story we all want to discuss.