Clay (short story) Clay (short story) "Clay" is a short story by James Joyce published in his 1914 collection "Dubliners." It is important to note that due to this short story being left intentionally vague by its author, there can be numerous interpretations on what occurs in the story and the analysis of it. Maria, an elderly woman with a job in a rescue mission for wayward women, is looking forward to a holiday evening at the house of Joe, whom she nursed when he was a boy and of whom she is still very fond. She departs for Joe's after attending a
The Wall (short story collection) The Wall (short story collection) The Wall () by Jean-Paul Sartre, a collection of short stories published in 1939 containing the eponymous story "The Wall," is considered one of the author's greatest existentialist works of fiction. Sartre dedicated the book to his companion Olga Kosakiewicz, a former student of Simone de Beauvoir. The eponymous story coldly depicts a situation in which prisoners are condemned to death. Written in 1939, the story is set in the Spanish Civil War, which began July 18, 1936, and ended April 1, 1939, when the Nationalists (known in Spanish as the "Nacionalistas"), led by General