The Chaser

The Chaser is a very short story, just over a thousand words long. We learn little about the two central characters in the story; neither Alan Austen nor the unnamed proprietor of the shabby little store that acts as the story’s singular setting are fully realized characters. The products the older man sells have no name, and neither does his store. This is all just as well, as we, the readers, have entered Collier’s realm of the ironic parable, in which universal human truths are exchanged between people who could be anyone, speaking at any time, and in any place.

Despite the universalism of the story, Collier injects it with mystery and magic. It is uncanny, for instance, that the proprietor knows Alan Austen’s name before being proffered a card with the young man’s name on it. Furthermore, the animating object behind the story, a love potion, is an artifact that wouldn’t be out of place in a fairy tale. Yet the practical facts of business undercut the enigmatic magic: the love potion has a comprehensive and unambiguous physical effect, and within the story, there is no doubt that it works.