Morley Callaghan's Stories
CRITIQUE | QUOTES
First editionFirst publication
1959
Literature form
Stories
Genres
Literary
Writing language
English
Author's country
Canada
Length
58 stories, approx. 133,000 words
• Greatest Stories list (for "All the Years of Her Life", "A Sick Call", Two Fishermen")
Notable lines
They were closing the drugstore, and Alfred Higgins, who had just taken off his white jacket, was putting on his coat and getting ready to go home.
— First line, "All the Years of Her Life"
Holding out her small, gloved hand in his palm, he patted it with his other hand, and they both laughed as though he had done something foolish but charming. The whole city was quieter now, the streets flowed away from them without direction, but there was always the hum underneath the silence like something restless and stirring and really touching them, as the soft, spring night air of the streets touched them, and at a store door he pulled her into the shadow and kissed her warmly, and when she didn't resist he kept on kissing her.
"One Spring Night"
As he went down the stairs, puffing and sighing, he pondered the question of whether he had played fair with the young man. But by the time he reached the street he was rejoicing amiably to think he had so successfully ministered to one who had strayed from the faith and had called out to him at the last moment. Walking along with the rolling motion as if his feet hurt him, he muttered, "Of course they were happy as they were...in a worldly way. I wonder if I did come between them?"
He shuffled along, feeling very tired, but he couldn't help thinking, "What beauty there was to his staunch love for her!" Then he added quickly, "But it was just a pagan beauty, of course.
— Last line, "A Sick Call"
Smitty had his hands over his head, to shield his face as the crowd pelted him, yelling "Sock the little rat. Throw the runt in the lake." The sheriff pulled him into the automobile. The car shot forward in a cloud of dust.
— Last line, "Two Fishermen"
Sitting alone at his table in the cool evening, his overcoat wrapped around him, and the black hat on, he did not look the same at all. It was the first time he had worn the hat in France.
— Last line, "Now That April's Here"
CRITIQUE | QUOTES
