THE GRAYWOLF ANNUAL SIX: Stories From the Rest of the World

by Scott--Ed. Walker ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 1989

Last year, Graywolf offered the well-received Multi-Cultural Literacy as their annual anthology, and now they follow up, notably, with 14 short stories from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, drawn from publications mostly not available in the US. The collection offers a varied selection of fiction ranging from modern folk tales to thinly disguised political allegory. ""What Should I Do?"" by Chen Guokai (Chinese) is a long saga about a girl whose personal and romantic life is traumatized by the Cultural Revolution and its shifting currents of favor and disfavor. Alifa Rifaat's ""Another Evening at the Club"" (Egyptian) is a deftly constructed Maupassantian social drama concerning a naive woman, married young, who loses a ring and makes the mistake of telling her husband. Yuko Tsushima's ""The Silent Traders"" (Japanese) is an impressionistic sketch rendered in fairy-tale imagery about living beside a deep wood with its aura of loss and mystery. ""Two Bedtime Stories"" by Mori Yoko (also Japanese) offers two ironic fablea from a woman's point-of-view--one concerning a husband's jealousy after a successful audition, and the other about a woman who has an anonymous affair with a man who approaches her on the street. Other notables include: ""The Veteran"" (Henri Lopes, the Congo), about a soldier faced with the consequences of his violent past; ""Seeds"" (Mahasveta Devi, India), a long tale about a family fatally involved in a great land and labor dispute; and ""The Drumming Sand"" (Ibranim Al-Kouni, Libya), a desert story with the otherworldly flavor of a Paul Bowles. From countries as varied as Kenya, Japan, India, Syria, China, and Libya, a largely successful compilation that ranges far beyond the domestic terrain of most anthologies: a useful and eye-opening sampler.

Pub Date: Dec. 15, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Graywolf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1989

Categories: FICTION