I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 20, 2024] “The Things Eric Eats Before He Eats Himself”

This year my wife ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my seventh time reading the Calendar–it’s a holiday tradition!  Here’s what H&O says about the calendar this year.

Ten years of stories! Yikes, where does the time go?
When the first Short Story Advent Calendar launched, in 2015, we frankly had no clue we’d still be sitting here today, continuing to offer up batches of tasty stories fresh from the oven. To celebrate this milestone, we’ve packed the 10th SSAC with a mix of new and familiar names—ideal company for those chilly winter nights ahead.

The author of this story was Carmen Maria Machado.  Each day has an online component with the author with a brief interview.  This one begins with this blurb:

It’s December 20. Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House, doesn’t engage with Craigslist for this very reason.

This story’s odd title is in fact very literal.

It even begins with two paragraphs of the things that Eric ate.  I was concerned it was just going to be a list of the things Eric ate, and it more or less is.  But there is some degree of plat in the story.

It seems that Eric has been cursed, cursed to always be hungry.  So he eats and eats.  He eventually sells his wife on Craigslist to get money to buy more food.  And, as the title states, he eventually eats himself.

I assume this story is an allegory, but i just found it kind of flat and a little endless (despite its brevity).

The author says the story is a retelling of the Greek myth of Erysichthon … A man who commits a terrible deed is punished with an appropriate and horrifying curse. (If only it worked that way in real life!)

I do agree with that parenthetical sentence!