Help identifying two short stories
April 20, 2013 4:28 PM Subscribe
I'm in search of two half-remembered short stories, both probably from European authors in the early-to-mid-twentieth century. One involves a parade and a recurring motif of linden trees. The other was a tale of a young aristocratic man who is seduced by a con woman while on holiday.
(1) This story I am almost certain I read in an anthology sometime in the summer of 2006. At the time I actually found it rather boring, but I felt bad because it was by a "classic" author. I don't think it had a particularly complex plot. It was narrated by a man (who might be a war veteran?) watching a parade when he caught a glimpse of his ex-lover (or possibly just a beautiful woman) standing under a linden tree. As the story progressed, he continued to think about the linden tree to the point where it became a definite symbol (of what I am not quite sure). I feel like it had a somewhat bleak ending.
(2) This one I read much more recently, most likely online. (Possibly on Project Gutenberg?) I'm afraid I am even more unclear about this one than the other! It concerned a young man, very well-off, who was holidaying in Vienna(?) when he met a woman who invited him to her chalet in Switzerland. They spent a fortnight or so together having all kinds of sexy adventures, but it rapidly became clear that she was using him in some kind of criminal matter. This part of the plot ended when he took ill or was injured somehow (possibly involving hypothermia?) and returned home, not ever speaking about these events -- until some years later, when ... the woman and/or his child by the woman? came to visit him there. The story was, I think, titled after the name of her chalet, and I am fairly sure it was classified as erotica (although of course by modern standards it was not particularly lewd).
I apologize for how vague this all is, but I'm hoping these few details might jog someone's memory! Thanks.
(1) This story I am almost certain I read in an anthology sometime in the summer of 2006. At the time I actually found it rather boring, but I felt bad because it was by a "classic" author. I don't think it had a particularly complex plot. It was narrated by a man (who might be a war veteran?) watching a parade when he caught a glimpse of his ex-lover (or possibly just a beautiful woman) standing under a linden tree. As the story progressed, he continued to think about the linden tree to the point where it became a definite symbol (of what I am not quite sure). I feel like it had a somewhat bleak ending.
(2) This one I read much more recently, most likely online. (Possibly on Project Gutenberg?) I'm afraid I am even more unclear about this one than the other! It concerned a young man, very well-off, who was holidaying in Vienna(?) when he met a woman who invited him to her chalet in Switzerland. They spent a fortnight or so together having all kinds of sexy adventures, but it rapidly became clear that she was using him in some kind of criminal matter. This part of the plot ended when he took ill or was injured somehow (possibly involving hypothermia?) and returned home, not ever speaking about these events -- until some years later, when ... the woman and/or his child by the woman? came to visit him there. The story was, I think, titled after the name of her chalet, and I am fairly sure it was classified as erotica (although of course by modern standards it was not particularly lewd).
I apologize for how vague this all is, but I'm hoping these few details might jog someone's memory! Thanks.
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posted by silverstatue at 6:55 PM on May 28, 2013