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Overview
“The Palace Thief,” a short story by Ethan Canin, first appeared in The Paris Review in 1993
. The story spans four decades in the life of Mr. Hundert, a history teacher at a prestigious boarding school. The story details various moments in Mr. Hundert’s teaching career and focuses specifically on his dealings with a challenging student named Sedgewick Bell. “The Palace Thief” appeared in a short story collection of the same name published in 1994 and was the inspiration for the 2002 film, The Emperor’s Club, starring Kevin Kline as Mr. Hundert.Read a full story summary, an in-depth character analysis of Mr. Hundert, and descriptions of the main ideas in "The Palace Thief."
