Shirley Kossick
THE PENGUIN BOOK OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S STORIES edited by Kate Figes (Viking, R108,95)
THIS is an excellent collection of 33 short stories drawn from various parts of the world and covering a wide diversity of subjects. There is no obvious theme or thread unifying the collection, and in her rather perfunctory introduction Kate Figes offers no clear rationale for her choice.
Taken together as a cross-section of women’s interests and differing narrative techniques, however, the stories form a fascinating group. Herself a linguist with Arabic and Russian at her fingertips, Figes has not been afraid to venture outside the English-speaking world. She includes two stories from China, and one each from Japan, Peru, Lebanon, Egypt, France, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba and two from Russia.
The collection opens on a chilling note with Nineteen Fifty-Five by Alice Walker, which deals with the exploitation of a black songwriter by a white superstar. The story is funny at times, but this does not ameliorate the ruthlessness of the Elvis- like figure, or the irreparable loss to Gracie Mae, the victim.
This shapely and well-written story sets a high standard which is ably sustained by the subsequent pieces. Among these, The Jewess by Irene Dische is one of the longest and most intriguing. Perhaps intimating something of the author’s own anxiety about her German-Austrian heritage and her chequered career, she tells a moving story of German-Jewish exile. The emotional confusion she reflects is one of the less overtly dramatic yet no less crippling effects of racial hatred and persecution.
Family life and childhood figure quite prominently in the collection. Helen Simpson’s masterly Heavy Weather poignantly details the burdens and the weariness of young motherhood, while Maria Elena Llano’s In the Family evokes the tensions and conflicts of blood relationships. Always wonderful on children, Janet Frame is up to her customary level in The Reservoir, which conveys the thrill of deliberate disobedience. In an equally vivid tale, Anita Desai feelingly depicts the pain and fearfulness of discovering one’s own insignificance in an uncaring world.
Another Anglo-Indian writer included here is Bharati Mukherjee, whose A Wife’s Story suggests the clash of cultures between East and West. This theme is also explored in Bi Shumin’s Broken Tranformers, which describes the unexpected effects of a flood of American toys into China.
Among the more familiar inclusions are Nadine Gordimer, Ellen Gilchrist, Bessie Head, Isabel Allende, Margaret Atwood, Alison Lurie, and Shena Mackay. It is not possible within the confines of a review to discuss each story or even to mention each writer, but Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber forces itself to the forefront of one’s mind for special mention.
It is an archetypal Bluebeard story, but infused with a modern sensibility and awareness of psychological possibilities. Though the story itself is bizarre and melodramatic – as well as erotic at times – it hints at universal truths underlying its baroque surface.
As with any anthology, it is always possible to quibble. Certainly in this case, and in the absence of any stated criteria, Figes’s selection seems to be highly personal but it is also most discriminating. There is not a dud among the entire 33 stories and all make for gripping reading. With the useful headnotes on each writer and the variety offered, this is a thoroughly enjoyable collection.