The Darling and Other Stories

The Darling.” Olenka, the protagonist, seems a singularly empty person, her identity existing only to the extent that she can identify with and act as a conduit for the opinions of other people; there is no real Olenka “there” at all, and therefore she immediately identifies with and “loves” people almost indiscriminately, fading almost to nothingness during the late period of her life when she lacks such an intimate companion. And others seem to perceive her as a “darling” because of her submergence of herself into the lives of those around her, perhaps seeing her only as the image of their own projections.