Memory and Nostalgia

The author uses this theme to explore how memories can endure in a person over extended periods of time and affect their behavior, thoughts, and emotions many years later. In some cases, the narrator of the story is unsure why a particular memory has stuck with them for so long and what it means. The narrator of “On a Stone Pillow,” for instance, is preoccupied by a night he spent with a woman long ago and the collection of poetry she sent him soon after. He barely knew the woman and never saw her again, but the memory remains firmly situated in his mind. At the end of the story, he finds himself hoping that the woman is both still alive and also still writing poetry, then wonders, “Why? Why do I take the trouble to think about something like that? There's not one...