“But you and me will have to settle for somethin that will stay round for a hundred years. Maybe even a thousand. You think you gon like that? You think you gon like that many years?”
1. “A Jury of her peers” by Susan Glaspell: Probably one of the first whydunnit stories? Loved this one a lot.
2. “The Heart Fails Without Warning” by Hilary Mantel
3. “The Twins” by Muriel Spark: I read this one every day for a week, and every day I changed my interpretation. It was like solving a Rubik’s cube that was fighting back.
4. “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story” by Russell Banks: I found the way the narrator kept changing between first-person and third-person narration very interesting.
5. Claire Keegan’s “Foster” and “So Late in the Day”: Loved both.
6. “Nothing Ruins a Good Story Like an Eyewitness” by Matt Cashion
7. “The Wall” by Meron Hadero: The ending was quite moving.
8. “Death of a Bachelor” by Arthur Schnitzler
9. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker: The way she used the names was cool.
10. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri
11. “Prophecy” by Kanak Kapur: POV was interesting.
12. And last but not the least, “The First Day” by Edward P. Jones: This was my first Jones story. What a coincidence that you shared one from the same author! At first, this one seemed like a simple story. But when I read it a few times, I realized what a great little story it was.
Thanks for sharing “Tapestry.” I’ll read it this month.
Great!! Almost all the stories are available online. Keegan’s “Foster” is also available as a beautiful little book. I made a note to myself to read more of Keegan’s works, actually.
Rachel, thank you so much for sharing this. I find it so moving that Anne is trying to integrate snow into her tapestry when she has never seen it. Yet the circumstances that lead her to see snow are the same circumstances that means she abandons the tapestry. Still working out what it all means, but I appreciate your insights on the nature of fiction, and fiction in fiction.
Lately I have been reading Jessi Jezewska Stevens’ collection ‘Ghost Pains’. Sometimes I (we?) think of short stories as a brutal, miserly medium, but her story ‘Rumpel’ really shows how big the boundaries can be/what room for play there is in short fiction.
I’ve also been reading César Aira. I find myself constantly asking of his stories ‘at what point did this piece (which seem often to be just a person musing or physics embodied in a situation) become a story?’ which is a very happy challenge.
Thank you for writing this, and for being here. The snow thing really moves me too; it feels like it captures writing/life better than I can articulate it.
A friend just told me about Ghost Pains! I'll need to check it out now, especially "Rumpel." In a weird coincidence, I've been reading César Aira too (The Musical Brain). And I've been wondering the same thing. Some stories start out almost like nonfiction accounts?? They're upending my expectations for sure
I have read some more Aira this week (also in the musical brain) and am dwelling on what’s the line between a non-fiction recount and a story? Between an idea and a story? And can these questions help me listen to what Aira’s saying?
So swell you’re reading through it too - Do you have a favourite from what you’ve read?
I know, the Aira has me puzzled at times. I'm finding myself most enjoying the stories with really bizarre images: "A Thousand Drops," "A Musical Brain," "The Topiary Bears"... that are more about impressions and absurdity, maybe. When he's blurring the line between nonfiction/story... I'm still trying to make out what it all means. It adds some intrigue in the way autofiction does, but sometimes it also exasperates me? A teacher of mine always used to quote Donald Barthelme: "What must wacky modes do? Break the heart." I don't know if these are heartbreak stories exactly, nor that that should be everyone's priority (but maybe it's my inclination).
Thanks for your thoughtful reply and the Barthelme quote, sorry I've been so late in replying. I can't work out what is more strange, the imagery/situations, or the insistence on digression. It does suggest something about the world, that the bizarre might happen/is happening and yet our exhaustion/outrage is directed at the discourse about it. But still, I long for the piece of context that will make these stories move me (or break my heart!). I suppose there is that line in 'A Thousand Drops': "There was no context, just pure irradiation."
I look forward to next month's (as in April's, even though this is a comment on February's!) newsletter : )
TJ, I was just reading this conversation between Kelly Link and Kevin Brockmeier and it reminded me of our Aira back-and-forth: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/2023/12/15/kelly-link-kevin-brockmeier/ They talk about daytime logic, nighttime logic, and dream logic... So interesting, with lots of incredible reading recommendations. It makes a lot of sense for me to consider Aira in that dream logic camp. Link says: "Dreams are vivid, fragmentary, and have a kind of uncanny weight that is entirely personal. So how does a writer translate that deeply personal and inexplicable sensation into narrative? It seems easier in poetry than in short stories or novels."
Hi, what a swell conversation, thanks for sharing : )
Yeah i definitely agree about Aira. The stories feel ripe for interpretation and yet there is so little within the story that provides a rule for reading or navigating interpretation, which i think is the distinction Link was making between nighttime and dream logic. You feel the measure being out of grasp, and yet it leaves some impression/weight, i guess kind of like when trying to make sense of a dream: does anything cause anything, does it even matter?
Very freeing though, just to hear writers have ways of talking about writing being successful without the narrative necessarily being clear how it’s working (to the reader or writer), or even without it making sense!
Thanks again, i felt refreshed seeing your comment/reading the interview!
I just snagged a copy of Tolstoy’s the Kreutzer Sonata and Other Short Stories. It’s my first Tolstoy experience and I’m shocked that a. I’m so entertained by something written in 1886 and b. The stories still feel so relevant.
Dissecting Tapestry now and taking note of your read list :) thank you!
Thanks for sharing. I’m a day dreamer myself, so I just loved the way Anne imagined the “maybe,” down to the detail of the number of steps and who she would see along the way (human AND animal). I am also so inspired by the male author writing a female character. It’s a nice change from my typical reading - fictional characters that are loosely based on the author’s own lived experiences.
I was also shocked and pleasantly surprised by the steps and humans and animals... she's a true tapestry-maker, to be so detail oriented!! And I think that Jones's writing a female character especially reminds the reader that this is art, all of the details about her were chosen specifically to paint this picture and evoke this life... which makes so much sense in this particular story.
Stories I read last month:
1. “A Jury of her peers” by Susan Glaspell: Probably one of the first whydunnit stories? Loved this one a lot.
2. “The Heart Fails Without Warning” by Hilary Mantel
3. “The Twins” by Muriel Spark: I read this one every day for a week, and every day I changed my interpretation. It was like solving a Rubik’s cube that was fighting back.
4. “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story” by Russell Banks: I found the way the narrator kept changing between first-person and third-person narration very interesting.
5. Claire Keegan’s “Foster” and “So Late in the Day”: Loved both.
6. “Nothing Ruins a Good Story Like an Eyewitness” by Matt Cashion
7. “The Wall” by Meron Hadero: The ending was quite moving.
8. “Death of a Bachelor” by Arthur Schnitzler
9. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker: The way she used the names was cool.
10. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri
11. “Prophecy” by Kanak Kapur: POV was interesting.
12. And last but not the least, “The First Day” by Edward P. Jones: This was my first Jones story. What a coincidence that you shared one from the same author! At first, this one seemed like a simple story. But when I read it a few times, I realized what a great little story it was.
Thanks for sharing “Tapestry.” I’ll read it this month.
wow I love this list!!! I am definitely going to read some of these this month... (I have been meaning to read Claire Keegan!)
Great!! Almost all the stories are available online. Keegan’s “Foster” is also available as a beautiful little book. I made a note to myself to read more of Keegan’s works, actually.
Plus one-ing Foster! Reread it last week and I just have no idea how her language is so natural and beautiful.
Rachel, thank you so much for sharing this. I find it so moving that Anne is trying to integrate snow into her tapestry when she has never seen it. Yet the circumstances that lead her to see snow are the same circumstances that means she abandons the tapestry. Still working out what it all means, but I appreciate your insights on the nature of fiction, and fiction in fiction.
Lately I have been reading Jessi Jezewska Stevens’ collection ‘Ghost Pains’. Sometimes I (we?) think of short stories as a brutal, miserly medium, but her story ‘Rumpel’ really shows how big the boundaries can be/what room for play there is in short fiction.
I’ve also been reading César Aira. I find myself constantly asking of his stories ‘at what point did this piece (which seem often to be just a person musing or physics embodied in a situation) become a story?’ which is a very happy challenge.
Thanks again for this newsletter : )
Thank you for writing this, and for being here. The snow thing really moves me too; it feels like it captures writing/life better than I can articulate it.
A friend just told me about Ghost Pains! I'll need to check it out now, especially "Rumpel." In a weird coincidence, I've been reading César Aira too (The Musical Brain). And I've been wondering the same thing. Some stories start out almost like nonfiction accounts?? They're upending my expectations for sure
I have read some more Aira this week (also in the musical brain) and am dwelling on what’s the line between a non-fiction recount and a story? Between an idea and a story? And can these questions help me listen to what Aira’s saying?
So swell you’re reading through it too - Do you have a favourite from what you’ve read?
I know, the Aira has me puzzled at times. I'm finding myself most enjoying the stories with really bizarre images: "A Thousand Drops," "A Musical Brain," "The Topiary Bears"... that are more about impressions and absurdity, maybe. When he's blurring the line between nonfiction/story... I'm still trying to make out what it all means. It adds some intrigue in the way autofiction does, but sometimes it also exasperates me? A teacher of mine always used to quote Donald Barthelme: "What must wacky modes do? Break the heart." I don't know if these are heartbreak stories exactly, nor that that should be everyone's priority (but maybe it's my inclination).
Thanks for your thoughtful reply and the Barthelme quote, sorry I've been so late in replying. I can't work out what is more strange, the imagery/situations, or the insistence on digression. It does suggest something about the world, that the bizarre might happen/is happening and yet our exhaustion/outrage is directed at the discourse about it. But still, I long for the piece of context that will make these stories move me (or break my heart!). I suppose there is that line in 'A Thousand Drops': "There was no context, just pure irradiation."
I look forward to next month's (as in April's, even though this is a comment on February's!) newsletter : )
TJ, I was just reading this conversation between Kelly Link and Kevin Brockmeier and it reminded me of our Aira back-and-forth: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/2023/12/15/kelly-link-kevin-brockmeier/ They talk about daytime logic, nighttime logic, and dream logic... So interesting, with lots of incredible reading recommendations. It makes a lot of sense for me to consider Aira in that dream logic camp. Link says: "Dreams are vivid, fragmentary, and have a kind of uncanny weight that is entirely personal. So how does a writer translate that deeply personal and inexplicable sensation into narrative? It seems easier in poetry than in short stories or novels."
Hi, what a swell conversation, thanks for sharing : )
Yeah i definitely agree about Aira. The stories feel ripe for interpretation and yet there is so little within the story that provides a rule for reading or navigating interpretation, which i think is the distinction Link was making between nighttime and dream logic. You feel the measure being out of grasp, and yet it leaves some impression/weight, i guess kind of like when trying to make sense of a dream: does anything cause anything, does it even matter?
Very freeing though, just to hear writers have ways of talking about writing being successful without the narrative necessarily being clear how it’s working (to the reader or writer), or even without it making sense!
Thanks again, i felt refreshed seeing your comment/reading the interview!
I just snagged a copy of Tolstoy’s the Kreutzer Sonata and Other Short Stories. It’s my first Tolstoy experience and I’m shocked that a. I’m so entertained by something written in 1886 and b. The stories still feel so relevant.
Dissecting Tapestry now and taking note of your read list :) thank you!
Ooh let me know if you recommend anything in particular! I haven't read enough of his stories, just War & Peace...
Thanks for sharing. I’m a day dreamer myself, so I just loved the way Anne imagined the “maybe,” down to the detail of the number of steps and who she would see along the way (human AND animal). I am also so inspired by the male author writing a female character. It’s a nice change from my typical reading - fictional characters that are loosely based on the author’s own lived experiences.
I was also shocked and pleasantly surprised by the steps and humans and animals... she's a true tapestry-maker, to be so detail oriented!! And I think that Jones's writing a female character especially reminds the reader that this is art, all of the details about her were chosen specifically to paint this picture and evoke this life... which makes so much sense in this particular story.
Thank you for sharing this story, and for this lovely essay. What a calming salve, amidst continued chaos everywhere.