New Month, Different Year

It's been a long and intense time since I wrote here last. To return to this space now feels right, however. Also the Olympics at last are over!

Since I'm reading a lot of fiction these days, I'm going to write about that..: Yes, I'm writing my own fiction too, but I don't want to discuss that.

The best book I've read in a long time is Tibor Dery's Niki: The Story Of A Dog. No, not sentimental or anthropomorphic. The novel is set in Hungary 1948-55 roughly, and Niki connects with a middle-aged couple in Pest who are living through those years of political turbulence (a euphemism). Niki is only in part an emblem, a symbol of the couple's grief, troubles, love, exhaustion, near-defeat. Mostly she is herself, a terrier bitch.

The book is short, compelling, restrained and understated in ways that strengthen the harshness (physical and emotional) of the events described. One chapter, in which Niki goes for her last real walk, is among the most beautiful expressions of praise for the natural words that I've read.


An earlier book of Dery's, The Portuguese Princess, is one of those treats for a reader interested in how a fine writer develops. Only one story, though the longest, in PP is really good, and unfortunately I've forgotten its title. . . . It's about a group of people living in WWII Pest, spending their nights underground in a cellar to escape the bombing. It's full of striking characters and dialogue, funny and piercing and horrible and graceful by turns. The cointrol and restraint of Niki are lacking, though. The author/narrator is much more present on the page.

One or two more of Dery's works are available in English, mostly translated by Georges Szertes. Highly recommended. There are only a few copies of his books in the Lower Mainland's libraries. Try Amazon.

Scotland Speaks Up

Here's a link to a blog by Sandra in Scotland. A friend of mine gave her a copy of "The English Stories," and here's her take on the book. Thank you Sandra!

Such an unexpected arrival of enthusiasm, insight, praise --it's wonderful. A Christmas present!

http://apps.blissfultimes.ca/blog/?e=41392&d=12/13/2009&s=No%20Hope%20Heart%20Attacks%2FThe%20English%20Stories#comment

Transition

Transition quite recently became a verb.

Parent has been one for a while.

Concerning used to be a preposition but sometime in the last 18 months or so
it turned into an adjective.

These changes make me feel as if the floor is tilting, though not as steeply
as some of the grammatical and idiomatic shifts of the past couple of
decades. People now say without embarrassment, "They invited him and I for
dinner," or "The twentieth is Mary and I's anniversary." They declare that,
"Greedy bankers played a big factor in the global meltdown" and that "Each
applicant has to bring their resume," and "No less than nine demonstrators
turned up for the protest."

Of these surely the silliest is each/their, because a plural would so easily
resolve the mismatch -- "All applicants must bring their resumes." But that
resolution will not occur. Also, in the remainder of
my lifetime I don't expect to be able to write the words passion, vision,
terrible, or awesome in their "true" senses. I accept all that. Part of me
doesn't care much anyway; I'm not as upset as Madame the concierge in Muriel
Barbery's remarkable novel "The Elegance of the Hedgehog." She's truly
horrified by what she sees as not simply imprecision or carelessness but as
actual abuse of language.

I do though remember with much love my aunt Isabel Wilson, a fine editor and
broadcaster who was never in her long life able to write a sentence starting
with But (as I did in the previous parag) or with And. She tried, but just
couldn't leave those poor co-ordinating conjunctions out on the ice-floe
with no help at hand. So then I feel guilty because my standards have
slipped; I am part of the process of change, perhaps even of the general
deterioration. I haven't parented my language well.

Like many writers who've been at it for decades, I use far less punctuation
than formerly. My diction includes fewer formal words. My paragraphs overall
are shorter, I think. Less, more, shorter, longer -- for good or ill these
all have to do with writing fiction, which is supposedly what I do with my
life. I am however transitioning between the publication (end) of one book,
The English Stories, and the creation (beginning) of another, possibly
titled Red Girl Orange Boy.

So here I am. I hate this in-between place, this flux. I'm afraid to go
into my writing studio. The stories there, whether half-first-drafted, many
times drafted, sent out and rejected, or only present in the form of a few
scribbles in my notebook, could easily all be dead. And if I find one or two
in the morgue that have a pulse, I don't feel confident about applying the
paddles with any skill. So I dither and avoid, and I daydream about grammar.
Yes, it's concerning

Read, read, read

Since my last post I've been reading my head off, at two book clubs, at the Vancouver International Writers' Festival, at the Vertigo Reading Series in Regina, at McNally Robinson in Saskatoon, at a creative writing class at Vancouver Island University -- and on 16 November at the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library.

All these recent events were satisfying in different ways. In Regina I read with Myrna Kostash, who has a great new book out, The Frog Lake Reader, about a massacre that was part of the Riel rebellion, and with Elizabeth Philips, a fine poet. All of us brought our own audience to the reading, so it was lively. Saskatoon and McNally Robinson Books made a total contrast. If not for a book club brought along by the sister of a good friend, my partner and our hostess in Saskatoon would have been the sole listeners! All turned out well, though. We all sat in a circle, I read, and we went on talking over tea and desserts for a long time after that.

At the VIWF not only was there a fine moderator (Shaena Lambert) and chair (Paul Grant) of the sessions I was in, but also the smooth administration of the Festival was impressive. Seating, lights, guides to venues, safekeeping of bags, sales of books, set-up for book signing -- all so well done. At one panel there was a problem with a microphone. Someone called out, "Technical!" Within seconds the deity (female) leapt on to the stage and did her magic.

The visit to VIU made possible a pleasant reunion with my pal Keith Harrison, for whose class I did a reading and talk, and a meeting for the first time with Liza Potvin, who besides being a fine writer is another veteran of The Boarding School experience. As usual in these CrWr classes, the students were at first slow with questions, but as the hour advanced they asked more and more and more. . . . . It's exciting to perceive, in the calibre of a question, the mind of a writer at work. Very young, but the real thing! And then the bell rang.

After my VPL reading -- a great audience -- I feel as if I've graduated. Something like that. These past 6 months since The English Stories appeared have been just full of activity for/with/about the book, and now there's a lull. I'll be glad to go back to my desk to be with various short stories, some in draft, some brand new, that have been calling to me. As well, this book has brought me a lot of fan mail. What a pleasure!

Pickle Me This

Many thanks to Kerry Clare, whose lively literary blog is at picklemethis.blogspot.com
She's written a wonderful commentary on English Stories. Here's a taste --

"With mere words (though there is nothing mere about her words), Flood has recreated a time and a place and an atmosphere so steeped, I could trace my finger along the patterns in the wallpaper (and she doesn't even mention the wallpaper). These stories are challenging, tricky, ripe with allusionary gateways to the wider world of literature. And so rewarding, for the richness of character, the intricate detail, and careful plotting that holds just enough back, keeping us alert and anticipating what's around every next turn."

Much appreciated!

Travelling Back Home

A long time since I've made an entry!

September I spent in England and Ireland. England featured some great theatre, marvellous river trips on the Thames, and many museums and galleries, but Ireland was the best. With a good friend, I did a 10-day walking tour in the southwest, round the Dingle peninsula -- The Dingle Way. We walked on spectacular strands (beaches even more beautiful, yes, than Long Beach), along tiny country roads and boreens, on the flanks of what the Irish call mountains (steep hills), on sheeptracks and across rivers and over brilliant green fields dotted with (a) sheep and (b) standing stones and (c) beehive-shaped stone structures that are maybe Christian but maybe from much longer ago. Throughout, the weather was great. Also featured were the Blasket Islands, the All-Ireland Gaelic Football Final, much traditional music, many interesting fellow-walkers including an 82-year-old doctor still hiking solitarily, Guinness of course, and wonderful food. The smoked salmon -- amazing. And nowhere in Canada is such good bread commercially available.

Back in Vancouver the weather's still wonderful. I'm back to writing and/or revising short stories, and am looking forward to a round of appearances in the next month or so. As follows:

Friday 23 October, 10 - 11:30 am, Vancouver International Writers' Festival, Granville Island, in the Revue Theatre -- "Coming of Age," with Lisa Foad and Cordelia Strube, moderated by Shaena Lambert

Saturday 24 October, 8 pm, Vancouver International Writers' Festival, Granville Island, Waterfront Theatre, "Polyphony," with John Bemrose, Andrea De Carlo, Karen McLaughlin, Maile Meloy, Anik See, Thomas Trofimu, and moderated by Paul Grant

Monday 26 October, 7 pm, Vertigo Reading Series, Aegean Coast Coffee and Tea, 1901 Hamilton Street, Regina, with Myrna Kostash and Elizabeth Philips

Wednesday 28 October, McNally Robinson Books, 3130 8th Street East, Saskatoon, solo reading

Tuesday 10 November, 11:30 am, at Keith Harrison's creative writing class, Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, solo reading

Monday 16 November, 7 pm, Peter Kaye Room, Main Branch, Vancouver Public Library, solo reading and talk

Hope to see friends and neighbours at one or other of the above!

link to Co-op Radio interview

Here it is --

http://www.rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2009/08/english-stories