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ISBN-10: 1-55022-896-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-55022-896-0
6 x 9 in, 180pp, paperback
$19.95 CAD
October 2009
reviews
Price: $19.95
In 1995, Canadian novelist and critic Hal Niedzviecki started publishing Broken Pencil, a magazine dedicated to the zine scene, the independent and alternative arts community that had been boiling below the surface of Canada's culture. Broken Pencil's mandate was (and is) to bring the submerged cultural urge into Canada's collective consciousness, to help lift it up and lend it legitimacy. And this includes promoting writing, from writers within Canada and outside it whom nobody here had ever heard of or wouldn't touch, that was too weird or uncomfortable for the (all-too) serious literary journals, too visceral and punk rock for the likes of the Margarets and their ilk.
The stories in this anthology are outcasts. They don’t fit into traditional CanLit and, in most cases, they don’t even resemble the contemporary short story we’ve come to know and love. They are anti-literature. By and large, they read ragged, lacking the refinements of metaphor, magical realism, and perfect epiphany on the prairies. A few of them might even be badly written. On purpose? By accident? Who really cares? This is Broken Pencil, where the words do the work, voices are discovered and developed, and the place for sharp, offensive urban fiction.
Includes stories by Sarah Gordon, Golda Fried, Martha Schabas, Etgar Keret, Ian Rogers, Ethan Rilly, Greg Kearney, Leanna McLennan, Craig Sernotti, Janine Fleri, Karen McElrea, Matthew Firth, Christopher Willard, Paul Hong, Josh Byer, Derek McCormack, McKinley M. Hellenes, Julia Campbell-Such, Zoe Whittall, Joey Comeau, Emma Healey, Robert Benvie, Grant Buday, Sandra Alland, Kate Story, Charlie Anders, Jake Kennedy, Kevin Spenst, Jessica Faulds, Joel Shneier, Esme Keith, Christoph Meyer, Tor Lukasik-Foss, Joel Katelnikoff, Janette Platana, Federico Barahona, and Dave Hazzan.
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| Read an excerpt from Can't Lit.pdf | 97.08 KB |
Alison Potstra
In the foreward to this collection of startlingly original short stories which have appeared in the 14 years of Broken Pencil's existence, cofounder Hal Niedzviecki says, "These stories are outcasts. They don't fit into traditional CanLit ... They are anti-literature. By and large, they read ragged, lacking the refinements of metaphor, magical realism, and perfect epiphany on the prairies. A few of them might even be badly written. On purpose? By accident? Who really gives a fuck. This is Broken Pencil. We're not trying to win awards, launch the writers Oprah wants you to read, or really do anything at all. The words do the work. Their ink seeps past the skin and on into the flesh. I carry these stories around in my heavy heart, clogged arteries, chest cramp laughter, sharp pain an insistence that things still matter despite all evidence to the contrary."
With an introduction like that, it may be easy to approach this anthology with mild trepidation, the anticipation of having one's mind monumentally blown, and excitement to approach unconventional stories that may be so poorly written that they're far superior to anything written by, as editor Richard Rosenbaum mentions, that of "The Tyranny of the Margarets."
The collection as a whole, however, slightly disappoints in its failure to form a cohesive theme from story to story, aside from unconventionality. The gap between the prose that gives one pause, and the prose that offends and/or confuses, is too large. When read hurriedly, jumping from one story to the next with little room to reflect, there seems to be an odd number of stories that borderline on the grotesque; one can only read about so many blow jobs and graphic sex before thinking oneself a prude. Niedzviecki is right--some of these stories are very, very poorly written.
Others are just too avant-garde for those raised on a steady diet of "perfect epiphanies on the prairies." Craig Sernotti's "Another Young Lust Story" feels like an excuse to write a one-paragraph story about sex, "Scarlatina!" by Derek McCormack didn't make an ounce of sense, "Too Much Mean Me" by Geoffrey Brown may have done something interesting if one was brave enough to tackle the imposing block of text, Charlie Anders' "Yes Man" is definitely not for the squeamish, and Joel Schneier's "Dandruff," among others, seems so simple that the only response is, "what?"
That said, there are others in this collection that dazzle. The authors use the medium to their advantage, telling stories with great resonance and depth in such a small alloted space. Golda Fried's "Lindsey" is chock-full of effortlessly gorgeous phrases and images such as the final one: "Lindsey put heaps of sugar into our coffees and it escaped from the spoon all over the table. She turned up the radio until it made us bump into things. She tossed her closet on the bed saying, 'Honestly, we can go anywhere tonight. You decide,'" as is her brief yet beautiful "Summer." Martha Schabas' "Natural Selection," an account of a troubled, modern relationship, is also one of lasting impact. "Camp Zombie" by Ian Rogers, about a camp for the sleep-disordered, is darkly funny and unexpectedly poignant. "Little Wite Squirel Angel" (sic) by Christopher Willard, about a reality-show addicted obese woman, written in "whitetrash" vernacular, makes a funny, yet disturbing comment on American culture. "The Jesus" by McKinley M. Hellenes is beautiful and tragic. "The Napoleon Difference" by Julia Campbell-Such has an alarming ending, Emma Healey's "Last Winter Here" is almost poetic in its simplicity, Kate Story's "Flame Retarded" captures the end of childhood innocence perfectly, and Jessica Fauld's "Sickness" is everything a short story should be: tight and well-crafted with an unexpected conclusion.
Perhaps it's not useful to expect this entire collection to take your breath away. Some stories may; others will disgust or confuse you, causing you to wonder how the heck they made it into a published anthology. For this, the editors offer no apology. They state from the get-go that these stories are sharp, often abrasive, and sometimes poorly written. Expect the unexpected.
The best way to approach this collection then, is not as an English Lit. student bent on discovering a common thread, a theme that binds the anthology together. Nor should one desire workshopped metaphors, conventional short story structures, or brilliant insight. One should, however, keep an open mind. The originality of some in this collection may cause you to reconsider everything you know about "literature."