“A Matter of Chance”
The entire story is cornucopia of irony surrounding the last day in the life of a Russian émigré who works on a train, has lost his wife and intends to commit suicide. The trek toward that suicide is a series of near misses in which he fails to learn that his wife is on the train with the intention of reuniting in Paris, failing to remember the name of a Princess, a lost wedding ring, a disconnected dining car and the ultimate slap in the man’s face: death comes not at his own hands.
“The Busy Man”
Grafitski is the title character. He has managed to somehow convince himself that a prediction of his approaching death is on the level. So ingrained is this belief that he spends a great deal of time taking every safeguard to make sure the prediction doesn’t come true. He locks himself in a room far away from any danger as he waits out the prediction. The day comes and goes and Grifitski is still alive. Or is he? Has he, in fact, carried out an existence that might be termed a living death while waiting to see if literal death arrives?
“The Aurelian”
The ironic ending here is kind of the opposite of that of the busy man. Paul Pilgram wants nothing more than to escape is dull life and to travel to all the great habitats on earth of his obsession: butterflies. He finally gets the chance after stealing enough money and sets off on his long-delayed journey. Then he drops dead.
“Music”
This story offers a more lighthearted kind of irony for its conclusion. A man named Victor is attending a party (at which a bunch of non-ironic stuff happens) is approached by another partygoer who tells him he is amazed that he seemed to have no emotional reaction to the music which had been playing and which seemed to have an almost hypnotic effect. Everybody else responded to the music with powerful sensations, such was the brilliance with which it was played. Victor asks the other man what the title of the music being played was. The answer reveals the ironic disconnect between emotional involvement and intellectual involvement: either a difficult piece by Beethoven or a notably easy work by a much lesser known composer.
“The Doorbell”
This story moves insistently and inexorably to his cruelly ironic end. First it tears apart a mother and son the Russian civil war. Then it separates them for seven years. Then it introduces the now-grown son who has been desperately searching for his beloved mother. Then when he finds her, she is a pathetic prostitute who seems to have little care for his unexpected arrival. Which leads him to question whether his memories of a caring mother are real or just a wish.
