Schrödinger’s Cat (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
- First Published: 1974
- Type of Plot: Science fiction
- Time of Work: Probably the mid-twentieth century
- Setting: Unspecified
- Principal Characters: The narrator, Rover, A yellow cat
- Genres: Short fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: Twentieth century, Science or scientists, Cats, Postal service, Life, philosophy of, Joy or sorrow, Experiments, Physics or physicists
The Story
The narrator, a writer who is never identified by gender or name, lives in a world that is absurd: When a couple says they are breaking up, they mean it literally—the woman becomes a disassembled collection of body parts, hopping across the floor, then a tangled bundle of nerves, while the man is reduced to pieces trotting around, bouncing and cheeping like chicks. A tremendous grief parallels the absurdity of the action. The narrator admits to a struggle with writer's block and complains of “Adam's Disease,” a version of the Protestant work ethic curable only...
[The entire page is 1495 words long]
