AMERICAN SHORT FICTION
Best of 2003
SINCE its inception in 1915, the Best American Series have been annually bringing out delectable volumes of both fiction and non-fiction. The collection includes writings of celebrities and novices and present a profile of the outstanding American writings of lasting literary value. The stories are selected from renowned magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, Esquire, Zoetrope and lesser known ones from the U.S. and Canada. Selection is made from the several hundred stories published during the previous year by the Series editor and a renowned writer makes a choice of the best 20 from the shortlist.
This year, the stories were picked by Walter Mosley, who has several novels short story collections to his credit. He differentiates the two forms of fiction in geological terms: the novel is compared to a mountain and short stories are "far-flung islands that one comes upon in the limitless horizon of the sea". The short story writer dreams of the firmament that lies below the ocean and must be confident of that sub-oceanic mountain to place their tale in the world.
One finds writers in this volume that have figured in previous collections. Mary Yukari Waters, Edwidge Dandicat and E.L. Doctorow were featured in the previous volume. One also finds omissions like Alice Munro, who had featured continuously in several volumes. There are also writers like Dan Chaon, Louis Erdrich, Anthony Doerr and Mona Simpson, who had been included in earlier selections. The point is that many writers continue to be active with the form and others are also establishing their strong presence. The short story is fully alive, nourishing to the soul and enlivening to the imagination.
The stories portray intense emotions and divergence in form, style, structure, craft and technique. Death, which is inevitable and irresistible, forms the theme of a few stories and the intensity of emotions that they evoke are illustrations of the effect short stories can have on readers. There are poignant tales that explore the nuances of family life and love, birth death. In "Compassion", by Dorothy Allison, four sisters look after the mother and unfold the family ties and the different marriages of their mother. In "Night Talker", by Edwidge Dandicat, the protagonist returns to the mountains to be part of the death of the old aunt who looked after him as a child and brings out the lifestyle of remote mountain people. Kevin Brockmeier's "Space" is also a powerful story of a father and son trying to reconstruct their family after the death of the wife and the mother.
The collection also has remarkable stories that speak of the celebrations and sufferings of life. E.L. Doctorow, in "Baby Wilson", presents the sympathetic boyfriend of a desperate young kidnapper who has stolen a newborn baby from a hospital. Love is again at the core of Z.Z. Packer's "Every Tongue Shall Confess". The whole collection is a vibrant affirmation of the power of love and human connectivity. Anthony Doerr's "Shell Collector" is about a blind naturalist's love for shell fish. Sharon Pomerantz in "Ghost Knife" tells of the lust of a couple in public places.
Though the collection brings out the cosmopolitan and multiracial life in the U.S., quite unlike in previous years, there is no story that dwells on the Asian Diaspora, except for a story by Emily Ishem Raboteau titled "Kavita through Glass". It is about the relation of newly-wed couple belonging to two different cultures and religions, regaining their love. The other reference is about the character of a Dr. Banerji in "The Bees". The stories definitely cross the borders of nations and their resonance will reverberate in the conscience of the readers because of their power. They are brilliantly imaginative and artistically compassionate and illuminating with a very rich spectrum of disturbing predicaments, intense feelings, surprising resolutions and enduring mysteries.
The Best American Short Stories, editor: Walter Mosley, series editor: Katrina Kenison, Houghton Mifflin, $13.
K. KUNHIKRISHNAN
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