notes on metaphor

or simile as the case may be

The big literary gossip item right now is that a short story published in Granta, “The Serpent in the Grove” by Jamir Nazir, seems to be written by an LLM. (The story is in Granta because it won a contest which I don’t think Granta itself administers, but the magazine is definitely taking most of the heat for its existence.)

“The Serpent in the Grove” is about a man who is unhappily married. He is ogling local beauty Zoongie when his wife sees him. She doesn’t say anything but he decides to murder her by making it easy for her to fall into a well. She divines his purpose but then falls into the well anyway. However, she is rescued by her neighbor and also her husband since he knows he’s been caught out. Their marriage gets better. Their child solemnly says, to nobody in particular: “People does change.… But grove does remember.” That’s the story.

I’m not supe…