"Silent Snow, Secret Snow" (1934) is

Conrad Aiken Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) was an American writer and poet, honored with a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and was United States Poet Laureate from 1950 to 1952. His published works include poetry, short st ...

's best-known

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

, often included in

anthologies In book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...

of classic American horror and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

short fiction. It appeared in ''The Collected Stories of Conrad Aiken'' in 1934, and since then has been widely anthologized.

Plot

The story tells of a boy named Paul Hasleman, who finds it increasingly difficult to pay attention to his classwork while growing more distant from his family. He is, instead, becoming more and more entranced by daydreaming about snow. This began when he was lying in bed one morning, awaiting the approach of the postman. Unable to hear the expected footfalls, the boy imagines that they have been muffled by newly fallen snow, and is surprised when he looks out the window and discovers that there is no snow on the ground. Paul's increasing distance and indifference to the world around him alarms his parents. He has to struggle to get dressed and converse with others, because of the allure of his daydream about snow. His parents eventually call in a physician, who makes a house call to examine Paul. After revealing that he likes to think about snow, Paul tears himself away from the meeting with the physician and retreats to his room. When his mother pursues him, he tells her "Go away ... I hate you!", and is lost in the dreamworld of the snow.

Interpretations

The story tells of a normal boy's descent into a dream world of snow that he finds preferable to the dirty and mundane world. The story can also be thought of as a

Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

rejection of reality.Ballew Graham, "''Silent Snow, Secret Snow'': The Short Story as Poem", ''

The English Journal ''English Journal'' (previously ''The English Journal'') is the official publication of the Secondary Education section of the American National Council of Teachers of English. The peer-reviewed journal has been published since 1912 and features c ...

'' 57, no. 5 (May 1968): 693. The progressive withdrawal from reality and social relationships, as well as preoccupation with idiosyncratically meaningful ideas could be interpreted as characteristic of schizophrenia.

Adaptations

In 1964 a 17-minute short film based on the story was produced by Gene Kearney. It was dramatized as an episode of

Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator/on-screen host, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series ' ...

's ''

Night Gallery ''Night Gallery'' is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC from December 16, 1970, to May 27, 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, ''The Twilight Zone'', ...

'', also directed by Kearney, starring

Radames Pera Radames Pera (born September 14, 1960) is an American actor best known for his role as "Grasshopper," the student Kwai Chang Caine in the 1972–1975 television series ''Kung Fu''. Early life and acting career Pera was born in New York City, ...

and narrated by

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

. The original broadcast date was October 20, 1971. The story was the inspiration for an instrumental song of the same name by guitarist

Jim Matheos Jim Matheos (born November 22, 1962) is an American guitarist and the primary songwriter for the progressive metal band Fates Warning, in which he has been the only consistent member since the group's beginning. Matheos also plays in OSI alongsi ...

on his first solo album, ''First Impressions''. The story inspired the song "Silent Snow" by musician Scott Appel on his album ''Nine of Swords''.

References

External links

* Horror short stories American short stories 1934 short stories {{1930s-horror-story-stub