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I don’t read many collections of contemporary short stories. I’ve had some disappointing experiences with anthologies of short stories, especially those written by authors who have produced enjoyable novels. After reading Petina Gappah’s collection, ‘An Elegy for Easterly’ I think I understand what the problem is; the short stories I’ve read are not like hers at all.
While other short stories strain towards a concluding moral, lesson or revelation Gappah’s stories end entirely without resolution. This is achieved so elegantly, without abruptly ejecting the reader from a narrative or leaving large, unanswered questions, that it is possible to forget that the characters have not reached any point of destination. More importantly it is easy to accept this lack of a definite ending, and the lack of a definite lesson to help the reader interpret the story. This is because Gappah has written stories where the details of her characters’ journeys create their own self contained worlds which we are content to gaze into for a small amount of time. Gappah has not created static snapshots with her stories, instead she has opened small holes in the air through which readers can watch and listen as her characters go about their lives, until these gaps close and new ones open. Readers will be sad to leave these characters, but will feel that these characters continue to live despite their stories ending.
The majority of the stories are set in Zimbabwa, just before or during the rule of President Mugabe. Only one story, ‘Aunt Juliana’s Indian’, concentrates on explaining the history of Zimbabwe’s recent political changes, but most stories contain some reference to the way the political turmoil has ravaged the country. My favourite stories are those where Gappah interweaves the political into a deeply personal story so that politics feels personal and genuinely important, for example in ‘At the Sound of the Last Post’ a wife attends her husband’s funeral, only to have it hijacked by the President and his followers. Most of the stories that contain this mixture have female narrators or female main characters. In contrast some of the stories that have male narrators deal more with strange occurrences, like an unwanted sleeping partner in a hotel and a man dancing to death. These stories feel a bit sterile, with the political impacts on the characters lives stated as facts, which do not seem to have much of a connection to the incidents that happen. However ‘The Negotiated Settlement’ which looks at both spouses views on a marriage is insightful and unbiased.
Some of these stories contain universal plots and feelings. In the title story a woman miscarries and sees a woman who can not possibly take care of a child get pregnant, ‘In the Heart of the Golden Triangle’ follows a woman feeling suffocated by the false life she leads despite her privileged situation and in ‘Something Nice From London’ a feckless son drains his mother’s money. However Gappah keeps all these universal stories within the sharply focused context of Zimbabwe and shows how the country’s current culture and political situation fixes these stories into shapes that differ greatly from the form they might take in Europe. If the title story were set in Europe or America it might deal with how the couple could adopt the child, set in Zimbabwe the government’s destruction of towns makes it easy for a young couple to reinvent themselves with a child they did not conceive.
There are several reoccurring themes and images throughout this collection. The image of pink lips, as a sign of AIDs turns up everywhere and characters who are portrayed as respectable die of the disease showing how prevalent it is. Infidelity is also present in almost every single story. As irresponsible infidelity inevitably spreads AIDs it is something to be feared for a number of reasons. Gappah obviously feels passionate about the culture of polygamy and easy separation that many of the men of Zimbabwe encourage. She shows that in Zimbabwe affairs can destroy a woman emotionally, as in ‘The Negotiated Settlement’, where the wife knows her husband has had a child with a previous mistress. She also points out the more physical ways infidelity can destroy women in this country, bringing disease into their lives and leading them to be cast into poverty with no divorce settlement.
‘An Elegy for Easterly’ is an impressive collection of stories that are both politically important and great reading. The first five stories were probably my favourite, because they have some of the best mixes of rhythm, characterisation and politics. One of these, ‘The Annexe Shuffle’ contains what I think is my favourite line from the collection:
‘Every heartbreak is a little death, all the same.’
It doesn’t sound like much, but in context it’s a heavyweight punch.
Further into the collection ‘The Maid From Lalapanzi’, the story of a woman remembered by children for her stories of life with the guerrillas will tear your heart at the end.
Other Reviews
Eve's Alexandria
Paperback Reader
While other short stories strain towards a concluding moral, lesson or revelation Gappah’s stories end entirely without resolution. This is achieved so elegantly, without abruptly ejecting the reader from a narrative or leaving large, unanswered questions, that it is possible to forget that the characters have not reached any point of destination. More importantly it is easy to accept this lack of a definite ending, and the lack of a definite lesson to help the reader interpret the story. This is because Gappah has written stories where the details of her characters’ journeys create their own self contained worlds which we are content to gaze into for a small amount of time. Gappah has not created static snapshots with her stories, instead she has opened small holes in the air through which readers can watch and listen as her characters go about their lives, until these gaps close and new ones open. Readers will be sad to leave these characters, but will feel that these characters continue to live despite their stories ending.
The majority of the stories are set in Zimbabwa, just before or during the rule of President Mugabe. Only one story, ‘Aunt Juliana’s Indian’, concentrates on explaining the history of Zimbabwe’s recent political changes, but most stories contain some reference to the way the political turmoil has ravaged the country. My favourite stories are those where Gappah interweaves the political into a deeply personal story so that politics feels personal and genuinely important, for example in ‘At the Sound of the Last Post’ a wife attends her husband’s funeral, only to have it hijacked by the President and his followers. Most of the stories that contain this mixture have female narrators or female main characters. In contrast some of the stories that have male narrators deal more with strange occurrences, like an unwanted sleeping partner in a hotel and a man dancing to death. These stories feel a bit sterile, with the political impacts on the characters lives stated as facts, which do not seem to have much of a connection to the incidents that happen. However ‘The Negotiated Settlement’ which looks at both spouses views on a marriage is insightful and unbiased.
Some of these stories contain universal plots and feelings. In the title story a woman miscarries and sees a woman who can not possibly take care of a child get pregnant, ‘In the Heart of the Golden Triangle’ follows a woman feeling suffocated by the false life she leads despite her privileged situation and in ‘Something Nice From London’ a feckless son drains his mother’s money. However Gappah keeps all these universal stories within the sharply focused context of Zimbabwe and shows how the country’s current culture and political situation fixes these stories into shapes that differ greatly from the form they might take in Europe. If the title story were set in Europe or America it might deal with how the couple could adopt the child, set in Zimbabwe the government’s destruction of towns makes it easy for a young couple to reinvent themselves with a child they did not conceive.
There are several reoccurring themes and images throughout this collection. The image of pink lips, as a sign of AIDs turns up everywhere and characters who are portrayed as respectable die of the disease showing how prevalent it is. Infidelity is also present in almost every single story. As irresponsible infidelity inevitably spreads AIDs it is something to be feared for a number of reasons. Gappah obviously feels passionate about the culture of polygamy and easy separation that many of the men of Zimbabwe encourage. She shows that in Zimbabwe affairs can destroy a woman emotionally, as in ‘The Negotiated Settlement’, where the wife knows her husband has had a child with a previous mistress. She also points out the more physical ways infidelity can destroy women in this country, bringing disease into their lives and leading them to be cast into poverty with no divorce settlement.
‘An Elegy for Easterly’ is an impressive collection of stories that are both politically important and great reading. The first five stories were probably my favourite, because they have some of the best mixes of rhythm, characterisation and politics. One of these, ‘The Annexe Shuffle’ contains what I think is my favourite line from the collection:
‘Every heartbreak is a little death, all the same.’
It doesn’t sound like much, but in context it’s a heavyweight punch.
Further into the collection ‘The Maid From Lalapanzi’, the story of a woman remembered by children for her stories of life with the guerrillas will tear your heart at the end.
Other Reviews
Eve's Alexandria
Paperback Reader
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