The New Yorker: "Naima" by Hisham Matar

This story has the feel of a novel excerpt. Hisham Matar has a new novel coming out in August and I wouldn’t be surprised if this story is extracted from it. It’s interesting anyway, although it seems overwritten to me.

The author was born of Libyan parents who lived in Tripoli and Cairo. The narrator’s parents live in Cairo, but are from elsewhere—a country the narrator doesn’t name. But since it’s a two-day drive from Cairo, Libya seems to fit. The parents are in exile—the father was a government minister and advisor to the king who fell in a revolution. 

In the story, the mother dies—of what we don’t know. But then the narrator learns the timeline of how the maid, Naima, came to live with them, and the timing of his birth and first months of life when they were exiled in Paris. The suggestion is that Naima is actually the mother, I suppose, although that is only hinted.

I suppose I should read the story again, but I hate the online version of the magazine and once again my issue has failed to show up—now nearly 10 days late. So I’ll leave it at that.

January 24, 2011: “Naima” by Hisham Matar (not online) 

AWP is coming

I'm not sure I've ever gone a whole wee without posting before. I apologize! I've been awfully busy this week as I prepare for next week's 2011 AWP Conference in DC.

When I tell people, even many writers, that I'm going to AWP, they often stare at me blankly and I have to explain. AWP is the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (so it should be AWWP, right?) and every year they hold an amazing conference in late winter or early spring. (Last year's was in Denver in April, so it seems early to be doing this again. Next year it's in Chicago at the end of February into early March.))

The conference this year runs from Thursday, Feb. 3 through Saturday Feb. 5 and it is non-stop. Check out the schedule. There are hundreds of panels, readings, discussions, receptions, and parties. This year there are over 6,000 people registered for the conference. It's a blast.

But I'll be busy, and that's why I've already been busy getting ready. I'm on two panels. The first is about how small, independent presses are helping to keep short story collections going (since it's difficult to get a story collection published by a big house). The second is about linked story collections. I figure both of these will be appealing topics to people, but they're at terrible times--one is first thing on Saturday morning and the other is at the end of the day on Saturday, when everyone is sick of panels. We'll see how it goes. That part of it is out of my control.

The highlight of the conference for me, though, is the bookfair. That runs the whole three days an includes 500 or so exhibitors--small presses and literary magazines, mostly, and other organizations or service providers that are related. Press 53 will have a table (D17) at the bookfair--my book will be available there and on Saturday morning I'll be on hand to sign copies--and I'll also be at the table to talk about Prime Number Magazine, the journal I edit that is published by Press 53. Come by for free stuff.

Submissions, Acceptances, and the other things

For much of 2010 I wasn't doing a lot of submitting to magazines. I was working on a novel so not producing any new stories. And for some reason I stopped sending out some older pieces that haven't yet found a home. Plus I was busy with Prime Number Magazine, and . . . you see I had lots of excuses.

But the novel is done, for now. While its fate is being determined, I'm back to writing stories. So far I'm cleaning up some unfinished pieces and dusting off a few others--like the unpublished stories from my second linked story collection. And I've begun to send them out.

And just to underscore the reason I really enjoy writing and submitting stories, one short piece (from yet another collection of linked shorts) has landed at Northville Review, an online journal. It's called "In Hoan Kiem Lake" and I think it will be up in March.

I'll be sending more pieces out soon . . .

New Issue of Prime Number Magazine

I'm excited to release today the new issue (No. 5) of Prime Number Magazine. This issue is packed! We've got 6 short stories, 3 essays, 6 groups of poems, a review and an interview. Not to mention a beautiful cover drawing done just for us! Be sure to check it out. And remember, we're now reading for Issue 7, so send us some terrific work!

The New Yorker: "The King of Norway" by Amos Oz

On a kibbutz in Israel, Zvi Provizor is known as the Angel of Death because he is always delivering news of some disaster or other that he hears reported on the radio. Ironically, though, he’s the kibbutz’s gardener and is lauded for his work in caring for the flowers and other plants. He’s also a bachelor who shows no interest in women and in fact doesn’t care to be touched by anyone. But he meets a young teacher, Luna Blank (Empty Moon?), and she grows interested in him. They spend a great deal of time together until she touches him, and that drives him away.

His rejection affects her, and eventually she leaves the kibbutz amidst rumors and allegations, and the gardener goes back to being the bearer of disastrous news (including the death of the King of Norway, which is where the title comes from).

Not only does all the bad news he hears suggest that he can’t bear the thought of bringing a child into the world, perhaps explaining his intimacy issues, it seems that the time of the story is not long removed from World War II, and Ben-Gurion is still Prime Minister. (He says, “I read in the newspaper that in Hiroshima, ten years after the bomb, there are still no birds.”) Perhaps his experience in his native Poland shaped his fascination with the horrors he reports to his fellow kibbutz residents.

It’s a readable story (sorry if you don't have a subscription because it's not online), but it seems to just stop rather than end.

January 17, 2011: “The King of Norway” by Amos Oz

American Shakespeare Center: The Comedy of Errors

I saw The Comedy of Errors at the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse last night and was reminded of what I love about that place: high-energy performances, great actors, terrific music, appreciative audiences. You’ve got to see it.

I was in the first row—not where I usually sit—so I didn’t get a great look at the rest of the audience, but I got a very good look at the actors. (The audience was pretty interesting, from what I could see, though: a lot of people in Elizabethan costumes, plus a number of visitors who looked like they might have been from India and Africa.)

"Comedy" isn’t a brilliant play, but it is hilarious, with lots of jokes and slapstick opportunities, which the actors exploit fully. In fact, it’s a pretty silly story: twin boys, boys, both named Antipholus, served by twin boys, both named Dromio, are separated from their parents. Now, many years later, they all wind up in Ephesus—dressed exactly alike, somehow—and the opportunities for mistaken identity are nearly endless.

This production is part of the Actors’ Renaissance Season, in which the resident company, without directors, puts on five shows in repertory, mounting each in a very short rehearsal period. It’s amazing, and I think that’s one thing that contributes to the high energy. The whole experience is breathtaking. Last night, everyone was excellent. The Antipholuses—straight men, for the most part—were played by Patrick Midgley and John Harrell and the comic Dromios by Gregory Jon Phelps and Tyler Moss. (Harrell is an ASC fixture and Midgley just completed the Summer/Fall season; it’s great to have Phelps and Moss back in town, as both are audience favorites.) Adriana, the wife of Antipholus of Ephesus, is played perfectly by Sarah Fallon and her perky sister, Luciana, is Miriam Donald.

Favorite moments:

·      * Phelps as Dromio of Syracuse describing Nell:

“she's the kitchen wench and all grease;

and I know not what use to put her to but to make a

lamp of her and run from her by her own light. I

warrant, her rags and the tallow in them will burn a

Poland winter: if she lives till doomsday,

she'll burn a week longer than the whole world.”

·       * Harrell as Antipholus of Ephesus telling the Duke all the crazy things that have happened

·       * The appearance of Chris Johnston as the Courtesan, but made up as a Geisha

·       * Allison Glenzer’s onstage costume change near the end of the play (but I won’t say more about that so I don’t spoil it for anyone)

ASC did Comedy not long ago, when the touring company took it on the road and then brought it back to Blackfriars. Here’s what I had to say about that production: 2009 Comedy of Errors 

You won't want to miss this one.

The New Yorker: "The Years of My Birth" by Louise Erdrich

The ending here feels rushed to me. In fact, there is an interesting but slightly tedious long first act, where Linda is born, abandoned, and grows up. (The fact that she has birth defects needing attention along the way.)  Then there’s a second act that’s about the same length in which Linda at age 50 hears from her mother. This brings back some painful details, and Linda is a woman who does not like pain. Nonetheless, she has to recall that she had a fraternal twin, that her defects are the result of being crushed in the womb by her twin, and that her parents gave her up. She meets with the mother and it goes okay until the mother reveals that the twin, Linden, needs a kidney transplant and Linda is their only hope. Linda is appropriately disgusted—this is clearly all the mother had wanted. Act III: Linda actually plans to go through with it because the guy is her twin, right? So she goes for blood tests and meets this guy Linden and he’s a bigger piece of shit than the mother. And then it’s over, and that’s why I say the ending feels rushed.

Apart from that minor complaint about the ending, though, I thought this was a terrific story, with excellent complications. Linda is misshapen, but she doesn’t worry about it. She has a job. A dog. She believes the reason she never married is because she doesn’t like pain. Also, though, she’s white, and was adopted into a family on an Indian reservation. Her brothers and sisters, not adoptees, all left. She didn’t. And the description of the mother when they first meet in the diner is outstanding.

It’s a little early to be talking about Story of the Year, but this could be a contender.

This Week in Fiction: Louise Erdrich 

January 10, 2011: “The Years of My Birth” by Louise Erdrich

Guest Post: David Philip Mullins

As a member of a global community preoccupied with screens and buttons--with brisk communication and facile modes of entertainment--I was happy to see the special section on criticism in last week’s New York Times Book Review, titled “Why Criticism Matters.”  (It might have been titled “Why Books Matter.”)  Six critics--Stephen Burn, Katie Roiphe, Pankaj Mishra, Adam Kirsch, Sam Anderson, and Elif Batuman--explore the topic at length.  Worth checking out!

David Philip Mullins is the author of Greetings from Below (Sarabande), a collection of linked short stories.  He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and his work has appeared in The Yale Review, The Massachusetts Review, Fiction, and elsewhere.  He has won the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction and has received awards from Yaddo and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.  He lives in Omaha, Nebraska, where he is an assistant professor of creative writing at Creighton University.

The New Yorker: "Getting Closer" by Steven Millhauser

I like Millhauser’s work, and this is well done as far as it goes, but it doesn’t make for much of a story. Not to mention that it seems geared toward much younger readers than the usual New Yorker Story.

The point of view character, Jimmy, is nine. His older sister is thirteen. The family has gone on a day-long adventure to a sandy beach on a river, which for Jimmy is heaven: floating on an inner tube, eating a hot dog, lying in the sun. It marks both the real beginning of summer and its highpoint. But the real pleasure in the day is in the anticipation, and Millhauser drags this out for as long as possible. Everything is about Jimmy getting closer and closer to the beginning of this glorious day, which is the moment when he gets in the river. Now, as it happens, he’s also somewhat afraid. He can’t swim, and so the fact that his older sister is swimming in the river is something of an embarrassment. But he’s just a kid, and he’s growing up, and so he “begins his day” by entering the river.

Okay. It’s interesting to think about what’s going on in Jimmy’s head. Or maybe to speculate about the symbolism represented by the river. But beyond that, I don’t think this one is terribly memorable.

January 3, 2011: “Getting Closer” by Steven Millhauser

SWAG WriterDay for January

SWAG Writers (that's Staunton, Waynesboro, Augusta Group of Writers) is once again holding a happy hour for area writers. We get together on the second Wednesday each month at Mockingbird in Staunton from 6-8pm. Join us next Wednesday, January 12 to mingle with other local writers, share tips, etc., and help plan future SWAG events.

Happy New Year and Happy Blogiversary

That's Happy New Year in Chinese (which I get to say again on February 4 when we celebrate the Chinese New Year). 2010 wasn't a bad year in writing for me, although it wasn't a great year in publishing. One story appeared in print, another online. Mostly I've been engrossed in revisions to my novel--which are just about done. I had hoped that my novel in stories would have sold to a publisher by now, but it hasn't. Maybe 2011 will bring better news on that front. 2010 did see the debut of the magazine I edit, though: Prime Number Magazine. That's been both fun and gratifying, and I think we've published some fine work.

Besides being the New Year, January 1 marks the anniversary of the beginning of this blog. That's right, Perpetual Folly is now six years old. I continue to get a steady stream of readers, so I think it's worth it. I don't have any major plans for changes to the blog, although I'd like to invite more authors to do guest spots here to promote their books. If you've got a book coming out in 2011, please get in touch with me.

This being the New Year, I've made the usual resolutions. I don't think I'll share them all, but the main resolution is simple and one that I recommend: Live in the moment.

And the moment, if I've timed this right, is 1.11.11 11:11AM

2010 New Yorker Story of the Year: "Foster" by Claire Keegan

Congratulations to Claire Keegan, whose brilliant short story "Foster" has been chosen as the 2010 New Yorker Story of the Year! Thank you to everyone who voted this year.

Here is the discussion we had about this story when it appeared in February: "Foster" by Claire Keegan.

Runner-up was "Costello" by Jim Gavin. Third place goes to "Boys Town" by Jim Shepard. Both of those were also wonderful stories.