gista I’m a Norwegian writer and educator living in Bergen. This site collects my literary satires, which transpose, continue, or recast classic works i...
Of Bartleby I possess, or possessed, an abundance of information and almost no knowledge. I had his specifications, deployment records, licensing terms, adaptation notes, maintenance history, logs, and several documents explaining what he was intended to do. None has ever seemed to me biographical. What little I afterwards heard concerning his origins came by rumor, and at such a distance from the…
To Caitlin my fox and my rose Any resemblance to the actual Parc du Petit Prince is entirely intentional. The attractions below are drawn from its 2026 offerings. I came to the park by aeroplane. The invitation had explained how to arrive by road, by railway, and by a coach from the station. It said nothing about aeroplanes. I am an aviator, so I came by air. I left my machine in a field just…
When Siddhartha came again to the garden which had once belonged to Kamala, he stopped before the gate. The old trees were still there. Their roots lifted the earth beside the path, and a warm smell of dust and fruit lay in the air. But the path had been widened and covered with pale gravel, and small signs stood beneath the branches. One pointed towards the MAIN ENTRANCE . Another read SILENCE…
PROMOTIONAL FILM TRANSCRIPT — CHERRY ON TOP [POLISHED, ASPIRATIONAL CORPORATE MUSIC] [AERIAL FOOTAGE — A VAST, WINDOWLESS DATA-CENTRE COMPLEX] NARRATOR (V.O.) On the site of the former Gayef estate, Lopakhin Data Infrastructure has created a major centre for digital storage and processing, supporting digital services used across the world. [INTERIOR FOOTAGE — THE CAMERA MOVES BETWEEN SERVER HALLS…
LIVE BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT — THE BETTER STORY, 24 JULY 2026 Segment 1 [INTRO MUSIC — BRIGHT PIANO OVER A STEADY HANDCLAP BEAT] [GRAPHIC: AFTER THE DOOR] [CHYRON: NORA HELMER — THE WOMAN WHO WALKED OUT] [VIDEO PACKAGE: NORA AT BOOKSHOPS, SIGNINGS AND RECENT INTERVIEWS; COPIES OF AFTER THE DOOR DISPLAYED IN STORE WINDOWS] HOST (V.O.) Six weeks ago, few people outside Nora Helmer’s own family and…
I Ivan Yakovlevich spent his mornings correcting the animated faces of men more important than himself. He tightened their smiles, restored eye contact, removed the small delay between lips and speech, and softened those inhalations that suggested either uncertainty or a weak chest. On his desk stood a ceramic duck with one green wing. No one knew who had put it there. Ivan had been employed by…
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT – “What Really Happened on the Island” [INTRO. Fast cuts from circulated footage: a phone skidding across sand; boys running beneath torn palms; a pink shell raised above a crowd; smoke climbing over the trees; painted figures on a distant stone ridge; naval personnel crossing the beach.] [NEWS CLIP. A uniformed officer looks from the boys to the equipment scattered along the…
Young Goodperson Brown came forth at evening from the bright lobby of the Film Studies Department, where the festival’s closing reception was drawing to an end, but put his head back, after crossing into the corridor, to exchange a parting word with Faith, his beloved fellow student. And Faith, as she was aptly named, leaned after him from beneath the festival banner, her hair gathered in a blue…
When in the Course of human Events, it becomes convenient for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with one another and with the rest of Mankind, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth the separate and special Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle the approved among them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind is not required.
As the vessel descended upon Mars, Candide adjusted his thin black tie, which gave to his questions an air of funeral importance. Below him lay the best of all possible planets: red, bare, costly, and lacking only what men had formerly required. Beside him sat Dr. Pangloss, professor of Exponential Providence, who regarded the desert with serenity. “Observe,” said Pangloss, “how much wiser Mars is…