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The Lepers single work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1981... 1981 The Lepers
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The narrator and his wife, shop owners in the ancient times of the Middle East awaiting the Medes' invasion, realise that a group of lepers have entered their store to buy food. The lepers try to plead for mercy, saying that the Stewards have stopped leaving food outside the city; but the narrator's wife is enraged and calls down the guards. The people of the city gather to stone the lepers to death, and the narrator takes part. He tries to rationalise it by saying they only followed the law, but that night, he wakes up crying out for mercy.

Affiliation Notes

  • Writing Disability in Australia:

    Type of disability Leprosy.
    Type of character Primary.
    Point of view First person.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Meanjin vol. 40 no. 2 Winter 1981 Z588303 1981 periodical issue 1981 pg. 234-240
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Laughing Cry : An Anthology of Short Fiction Faye Davis (editor), Mary Dilworth (editor), Jennifer Kemp (editor), Kalamunda : Gooseberry Hill Press , 1984 Z262951 1984 anthology short story An anthology of Lyndall Hadow Award stories which includes winners, highly-commended and commended works. Kalamunda : Gooseberry Hill Press , 1984 pg. 58-62
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Christians Writing no. 14 1984 10952834 1984 periodical issue poetry 1984 pg. 14-17
Last amended 30 Apr 2018 09:43:41
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