Summary

Can’t and Won’t

The title story for the book, this short story shares that the writers was told many years prior that she was a lazy writer because she used contractions. In a sarcastic and playful mood, she restrains herself and purposely refuses from that point on to use contractions at all…which makes the language stilted and ultimately hilarious.

Pouchet’s Wife

This is another letter from Falubert that has been included in the collection. This is a letter detailing the death of an acquaintance’s wife. She had been riding with her husband through the streets when she had a stroke and fell from her horse. She died instantly. Flaubert relates how their neighbor, a friend of his, watched them bring the body back into the house. Just...