a plan

[asakiyume]

I have this plan to read fiction in the New Yorker for a year to see what things I can learn about literary short fiction. I'm already reading a lot of genre short fiction, and my time with longer fiction is totally spoken for (between things I want to read for myself, things I want to read to support other people, and things I end up reading for my book group)

I thought I'd keep a running commentary--it's going to be VERY superficial, because otherwise I won't find the time to do it. I may make a note to come back and try to think about and discuss some of the other stories in more depth, but I probably won't end up doing that--I have fiction of my own I want to write. I'm also locking this as I don't want to tick off any literary luminaries with my ignorant opinions.

Here are the ones I've read so far, with some important-to-me demographic facts, plus my comments. Plus signs mean I liked it; minus signs mean I didn't.

5 May "The Naturals," Sam Lipsyte [a man writing about a male main character]. I found the writing engaging and funny in places, and I liked one supporting character a lot (a pro wrestler the main character meets on a plane), but the main character was self-pitying and entitled, and the narrative dismissed the people around the main character as foolish, fussy, or mean-spirited in a way that showed either the narrative's (and author's?) lack of self-awareness, or maybe just the main character's. I sort of imagine the author telling me, "Oh but that's the point--the MC totally doesn't see that he's blind and entitled." But that elicits my but-for-crying-out-loud-what's-the-point response. And actually, I think the author wants us to feel sorry for his main character, and I don't. But in spite of all these complaints, I did enjoy reading it--for the wrestler, and for some of the MC's observations.

12 May "The Fugitive," Lyudmila Ulitskaya [a woman writing about a male main character; story translated from Russian]. This story of a dissident artist shaded into boring for me, except for one wildly unpleasant scene where the main character ends up seeing three old crones undressing for a bath. He marvels at their aged hideousness. One has a prolapsed uterus that she pops back into her. It was such female body horror that I had to check to see if it was written by a man--nope. Maybe it's an indictment of our fear of aging? Maybe it's just straight-up expression of fear of aging? Maybe OTOH it's showing the vigor of age? (The women are portrayed as vigorous and healthy.) It lost me. I think this is a case where I failed as a reader. The bio tells me she's a renowned writer.

19 May "The Waitress," Robert Coover [man writing about a female main character]. A three-wishes-gone awry story. Found it a tediously arch approach to the three-wishes theme, but my negative reaction comes in part from sour grapes/bitterness, as I wrote a three-wishes story that failed to please a number of editors. Mine is a winter story, so I may share it here in the winter.

26 May "Camilo," Alejandro Zambra [man writing about a male main character; translated from Spanish; author is Chilean]. Loved this story, which explored the importance of friendship across two generations, and how the second generation ends up helping to heal the rift in the friendship in the first. The titular character is wonderful. Politics features, but obliquely. I'd like to come back to this one and talk about it more.

2 June, "Ba-Baboon" Thomas Pierce [a man writing about a male main character] Story opens with the narrator and his sister trapped in a pantry by guard dogs. I was prepared for this to be dystopian YA spec fic, but it wasn't. The narrator is in his 40s and has suffered traumatic brain injury. The story was entertainingly surreal while at the same time being completely plausible. I enjoyed it.

Two pluses, two minuses, one on the fence. That's not bad. Two works by writers from outside the United States--that's good too. On the other hand, only one of the five is written by a woman and only one has a female main character. Wow.

I've just gotten the fiction issue, which may take me a while to work through, but I'll post posts like this one from time to time.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to your report. I read them every once in a while, but too many are postmodern, cherishing the detached narrator view that does not float my boat.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

As I was saying to Rachel, this *is* the report--that is to say, any subsequent reports aren't likely to be any more detailed than this--unless a particular story grabs my fancy, and then I might talk about it at more length. But not many people are interested in this kind of short story (and I quite understand; my interest is only recent, and I've still got a lot of resistance to a lot of what's on offer), and it's hard to work myself up to do more than brief notes when there's no one to talk about them with--but if I see a good story, I might urge people to read it, and then there'll maybe be some discussion.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

*nodding*

I meant, your continued report. These notes are really good exactly as they are.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll be interested to read the reviews.

I did enjoy a story involving a prolapsed uterus once, but it was James Herriot's books about being a veterinarian in Yorkshire, and the uterus belonged to a cow.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Haha, the "reviews" won't be any more detailed than what I've got here. Yeah, that one story… I guess one thing is true: I learned something about my own expectations, regarding stories, and how I react when faced with something I just don't get.

I really liked the story Camilo a lot; that one I'd recommend to anyone--but the problem is, most people reading me here aren't particularly interested in non-spec fic. The story that starts with the guy and his sister trapped in the pantry was interesting when I read it, and yet I had to stop and deliberately recall it to mind to remember the end--not a good sign. I wonder how many of these will stick with me after a year's time.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I know you're reading new stories, but "Commcomm" by George Saunders was in the New Yorker in 2005 and it is one of my favorite stories ever.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I was going to wait to get back to you until after I'd read it--but then I decided that might be longer than I wanted to wait. Thanks for the rec--I will read it at *some* point (sooner rather than later…)

[syomsong.livejournal.com]

I have read some novels by Lyudmila Ulitskaya, but I haven't liked her writing, though she is very polular here.

Have you ever read anything written by Andreï Makine http://www.enotes.com/topics/andrei-makine?

Or Danish Peter Hoeg - some quotes here of of his novel "Smilla's Sense of Snow": http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/369288.Peter_H_eg. I'd think you might like Hoeg...

Your idea is ambitious and takes lots of time! I keep rereading those writers I find good, like Marguerite Duras. Her sentences come very close to me.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I loved Smilla's Sense of Snow! I was reading it during my last pregnancy, and indeed, right through labor. I thought it was a cool story, and it really stuck with me.

(I haven't read anything by Makine; I will check out the link.)