Save Our Short Story II
Having now made contact with various writers abroad, via the short story competition, I (Brian Lister) asked some of them to read the précis written by Jo Fagan and provide their own comments and views from their side of the oceans. I was particularly interested in testing the commonly held perception in the UK that the “demise” of the short story is peculiar to the UK. Short extracts from the following also appear in the foreword to the 2004 anthology The Nude in Miss Mae’s Bedroom. Here are the full texts of the replies:
WILLIAM LITTLE, of Christchurch, New Zealand, wrote:
“My immediate impression is that the short story market in NZ is in better shape. There are several annual competitions and Radio NZ are currently running a competition for new writers, where their work will be broadcast. However, I think the comment about newspapers and magazines no longer carrying short fiction holds true here too. (As regards books published and the style, I will email you tomorrow with brief details of books of short stories published here in the last 12 months, which allowing for our population of four million, may give you some yardstick for comparison.)
“After some research I find that, according to the book sellers, short story collections are still popular, particularly with students. NZ's largest book seller Whitcoulls do not list any short story collection among their current best sellers, and say that short stories seem to be slipping slowly in popularity, and sell in relatively small quantities. They mention Janet Frame and Katherine Mansfield still popular through to Owen Marshall, William Brandt, Peter Wells, Sue McCauley, and recently Emily Perkins. All are represented in the 1999 Oxford Book of NZ Short Stories. Sue McCauley has published ten collections. Lamentably, I am unable to comment on contemporary style epitomised in Emily Perkins' writing, but her new book Not Her Real Name has placed her in the Observer's top 21 writers of the 21st century.
“This year Owen Marshall received the Creative NZ Writers Fellowship $100,000 Award. The Christchurch Public Library say they have not noticed any trend away from lending short stories, it depends on what has been published recently, they say. The 2004 Montana Award finalists did not include any book of short stories, but the non-fiction winner Anne Salmond is now writing a collection of short stories. Owen Marshall’s short stories When Gravity Snaps was a runner up in 2003.”
Leela McDougal, Melbourne, Australia, wrote:
“The demise of the short story is also of concern to the Australian literary community. Despite having several good short story competitions, the short story market here is also pretty much decimated. There are very few outlets left for publishing them - one or two literary magazines. As near as I can tell, there aren't any newspapers that publish them, and as far as magazines - well, unless you write Romance (not that there is anything wrong with that!) most mainstream publications are closed to you.
“It seems that the problem is fairly world-wide. Which seems odd. One would think that, given the on-the-go, instant gratification, microwave meal society that we live in, Short Story Anthologies would be snapped up. I know there is a group in Melbourne who publish an ultra-short story anthology, aimed at commuters. I think that's a BRILLIANT idea. Perhaps it is more a question of time. I have friends who have commented that they would rather read a novel (and further, they would rather read a series) - because they feel that if they are going to invest the time in reading, then they believe they will get a fuller experience from a novel than from an anthology.”
DOMINY CLEMENTS, ex-pat living in The Hague, Netherlands, wrote:
“I no longer read in the Dutch language, although I started out with the best of intentions, lapping up the well-known retired TV personality and writer Kees van Koten's autobiographical tales and satirical observations. I do however want reading to be something recreational and stimulating, so, while the Dutch short story scene may (or may not) be rampantly successful, I have abandoned it. I will be scolded for being cynical, and advised to read this or that book to re-educate my errant ways, but most of the Dutch books I have read are infused with the kind of low-cloud-and-rain-on-the-way-all-day misery which is reflected in the low-cloud-and-rain-on-the-way-all-day weather we often have here. There are a number of recognisable categories which I am sure are all still going strong. Dripping with sentimentality, the 'I still love my mother and am sure that deep down she really loves me even though she is stuck in a wheelchair and hates the world' is ever present, a category which ruins many a cabaret act in song form. Just when you were starting to enjoy yourself, the lights dim, and memories of a deceased family member are hauled out as a ballad ad nauseam. It's all supposed to be very moving - a kind of 'reverse Shakespeare' technique of making everyone tearful so that the comedy seems that much more funny.
Another (sub)category is the momentary glance from the girl in a train, leading to trains of thought involving frustration and longing, and the resurrection of memories of a deceased family member's suffering during the tyranny of occupation during WWII, and how I know she still loved me even though she railed at the world from her wheelchair.... I could go on, but you wouldn't thank me for doing so. Basically, what it all boils down to is the favourite Dutch pastime of 'navelstaarderij' - navel gazing - they just love that over here. If it's not about yourself, it should be enough like you or your situation for you to be able to see yourself in it. You can then nod sagely and feel you have experienced life - after all, someone is writing about it, so it must be important. I can't really comment on the UK short story scene either, not having been in it for more than a few weeks at time of writing. The few anthologies I have seen are a mixed bag - which is what it should be about. I've seen 'Nemonymous part four' which is largely a class act. Otherwise theming books into 'Horror' or 'Fantasy' seems to be playing as safely as possible to the market, and doing little to renew or broaden an interest in the short story as a truly literary art form. I suppose we just 'keep on buggering on' as the great Churchill put it, more than once.”
Jay Boyer, USA (Prof. of Writing at Arizona State University), explains why the short story is so robust in his country and how it finds its readership.
“You've asked why the short story is as robust in my country as it is, how it finds its readership. Why? Begin by considering how much time is devoted in our university writing programs to short fiction, both its making and its study.
“The short story is probably the most difficult form of prose fiction to write well; it takes such mastery of the craft. But it is the easiest form to put before writing students as a means of discussing point of view, dramatic structure, the ins and outs of dialogue, and so on. A short story is mercifully short, to begin with. You can put so many approaches before students in the sparest possible time. From the students' perspective, not much of one's life is sacrificed in writing one poorly, clumsily, beginningly, certainly less than might be required to master the periodic tables in chemistry or declensions in Latin; attempting one requires less emotional risk than bungi jumping, or riskier yet emotionally, sleeping with someone you love; and from the teacher's, several student writing assignments can be put before a class in one sitting, thereby ensuring that everyone gets several hearings before the course is over.
“Still, to suggest that the short story thrives in my country because its writing is so plentifully taught in universities and secondary schools only answers the matter by half, since it would not be taught if learning its writing was not in demand--and much in demand it is. This is because so many readers - particularly young ones - want to learn to write, and for the simplest reasons, no doubt. There is at the moment, as there has always been, the very human desire to tell one's story. It's been with us, this desire, since cave men scratched pictograms of hunts on the walls of caves at least, and probably well before that. What could be more indelibly human?
“The short story thrives then not because of the short story per se but rather because we all have stories we want to tell. We feel the need to tell them. And the "short" story happens to be the form we Americans have put before us first of all as we struggle to speak to the world about who we are, and why. One of the foremost practitioners of this form in my country, Ron Carlson, has a stock answer which I've always admired. When asked if one of his stories is autobiographical he replies that everything he writes comes out of his own life, whether it actually happened to him or not, and I suspect that's true for most of us, we're all writing about ourselves, even when we think we are writing of others. We have some ancient, inexplicable desire to scratch something of our own on the walls around us, to take comfort in the scratchings of others, to announce to time our presence, to fly stubbornly in the face of time and go on forever--which is something, at the moment, I refuse categorically to do.”
So – there you go. They are at least some of the views of the short story situation as seen in and from other countries across the world. Now then – is the short story dying or is it alive and well. I’m gradually forming an altogether different view now from my original one. I’ll write about that later.
We also had interest shown in the SOSS campaign from international writers’organisations, who have browsed the Biscuit website; thus:
“Dear Editor,
We have an ezine which we circulate to writers in NZ and would be interested in including the article from your website on Save the Short Story.
Kind regards,
Liz Allen, Executive Director, NZSA (PEN NZ Inc)
PO Box 67013 MOUNT EDEN 1003 AUCKLAND
Tel/Fax 09 356 8332.
www.authors.org.nz
The NZ Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc). Principal advocate for the professional interests of writers. Protecting basic rights to freedom of expression, working to improve income and conditions, promoting New Zealand writing and literary culture.”
“Greetings from Auckland. I've been reading your web site report on SOSS and I request permission to share it (with acknowledgement) with our writing students in New Zealand. RSVP.
Brian Morris, Principal.
We teach writing, especially short stories. Hence the interest. FYI www.nzibs.co.nz”
Judging from all of this interest being shown in the SOSS campaign around the world; what now are your own views? Send them in please.
Read the Biscuit Conference SOSS Debate
