02.06.09

Short Month, Short Stories

Posted in Life Betwixt Book Covers at 8:47 am by Miracle ♪♫

“Everybody’s life is full of stories.
Your life is full of stories; my life is full of stories.”
~ Gertrude Stein ~

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The Sunflower Seed and the revival of The Moth brought about this idea of devoting part of the shortest month of the year entirely for reading short stories. While I am also left with the shortest moments for reading nowadays, this turned out to be a good plan since I have this habit of picking only the titles that interest me and abandoning short story compilations for thicker tomes with the misconception that longer novels are a more worthwhile read. This venture certainly changed my attitude for the better, and now I understand that while a short story may be a different genus of story-telling, it is by no means inferior to the novel.

It was only right to begin this phase in my page-turning life with the patriarch of the short story, Anton Chekhov. The following is a recap of the books I unravelled with fresh determination, from cover to cover this time, during the course of my short reading adventure.

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Forty Stories by Anton Chekhov

This publication is truly praiseworthy. Not only do the selected forty stories reveal the different moods of Chekhov, but the translator’s introduction is also successful in portraying the real exuberant author far-fetched from the weary Joseph “Osip” Braz portrait we are accustomed with. Verily, we do not find a severe man in the stories, but we discover a playful man – playful with his words, with his themes, with his subjects, and even with his readers! Originally published under the title The Image of Chekhov, the reader is drawn into everyday scenes and the remarkable eyes and ipseity behind them. Of Chekhov Payne writes, “Everything excited him. He was fascinated by the shape of clouds, the colours of the sky, the texture of fields, and it amazed him that each person walking along a country path contained so many improbable miracles in his soul. The world abounded in miracles, and he rejoiced in all of them with an unself-conscious and devouring eagerness.”

Now I understand why they say one of the best writing tips is to read Chekhov. This might be for the reason that he subconsciously urges one to observe everything and write about anything, and anything at all. What I gathered from reading Chekhov is that while the rest of us are looking out for the most extraordinary things in life, we fail to notice the seemingly common things which are, in the end, the most miraculous.

(P. S. I think Chekhov is one of the handsomest authors that ever lived. =P)

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Her Wild American Self, Short Stories by M. Evelina Galang

It was by sheer fortuity that I came across this book at BookCity. It is a shame not to have heard of M. Evelina Galang before! She turns out to be a radical Filipina-American who has won literary acclaim overseas. I was moved by her stories but Our Fathers and The Look-Alike Women particularly touched me the most. She recurrently expresses the daily struggles of being a Filipino-American or just by simply being a woman. Here is an excerpt from The Look-Alike Women:

Because you know the finer arts. Because you are a dancer, a violinist, a pianist, a poet, a fabulous cook, a seamstress of fine needlework, a painter, a singer, a movie star, the center of attention. Because you are so well-behaved, never speaking out of turn. Never speaking up. Subservient. Obedient. Quiet. Because no one sees you hiding away in the library, surrounded by your stacks of books, or working late at the lab, or typing madly at your computer during all hours of the night and painting walls inside your house…They call you orchid, silk, rose, golden butterfly. Because no one bothers to look when you are standing up. When you’re speaking out. Because when they do, you are an anomaly. One of a kind. Wave maker. Because “different” is not looked upon endearingly… even you have come to believe that you are no different than the rest. The look-alike women, the beautiful women. The women of the orient.

I would really love to read her other books.

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Women & Fiction by Virginia Woolf, Doris Lessing, Colette, Gertrude Stein, Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, Kate Chopin, Tillie Olsen, Alice Walker, Etc.

What a marvellous literary garland this is! I must thank Franz for giving me this book a long time ago, and apologize for its belated reading. I have, however, regretted the delay duly.

I appreciate how the editor inserted brief introductions about each author before their stories. This enabled me to understand and be aware of the emotional and physical circumstances in which the stories were written. This book also introduced me to wonderful women writers whose names are new to me - among them is Kay Boyle, a violinist among other things, who writes musically and poignantly and whose Winter Night affects me still.

The book’s prologue mentions James Joyce’s - or Stephen Daedalus’ mother and her prayer that her son would someday learn: “What the heart is and what it feels,” and this book is appropriately a reflection of prodigious hearts.

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“In the end, our technique is sensitivity,”
writes Eudora Welty about the crafting of the short story.

“Everything contributes,”
adds Hortense Calisher.

These masters tell us in these short stories that it is not only the most magnificent people or incredible happenings that are worthy of our attention, we need to be sensitive towards the truths of little things, the truths of little people, the truths of little coincidences and destinies that comprise what we call our daily lives. Was it not Oliver Messiaen who drew the profoundest inspiration from a little bird?

Short stories remind me of Manuel de Falla’s Asturiana. Come to think of it, Asturiana is but a brief account about weeping near a pine tree, but see how it touches the depths of us! While a whole symphony or concerto might seem more powerful, each short work is a wonder of its own, illustrating the extraordinariness of the ordinary.

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