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f TASTE 1
IOF INDIAJ
FINE INDIAN CUISINE
I have friends who have given up on fic
tion entirely. They only read books that tell
them how to do something, or explain the
current political landscape through the eyes of
conservative talk-show hosts or liberal come
dians, or illuminate human history through
the evolution of the zipper or the cat-head
biscuit or some such. If they do read fiction,
it's a very specific kind of fiction, usually
involving sassy female detectives screwing
vampires or the foiling of Arab terrorists by
rock-jawed ex-Navy SEALs who answer directly
to the president. In other words, there comes
a point in many people's lives when fiction is
relegated to mental junk food or dispensed
with entirely.
the other hand, is fiction boiled down to its
essence-lean, economical and as direct and
true as an arrow to the target—and is there
fore much harder to master. Writers who gauge
the worth of a story by its word count are the
same as poets who think haiku is easy, and
both miss the point
The Georgia Review gets it. Our hometown
literary magazine, operating under the aus
pices of the university, has been quietly put
ting out some of the finest short fiction in the
Republic for over six decades now, including
many Pushcart Prize winners (the equivalent
of the Pulitzer for small-press literary fiction).
Whereas every college puts out some kind of
literary magazine, The Georgia Review not only
bePies up to the same bar
■■■■■■■j as Ploughshares and The
Kenyon Review but elbows
aside The New Yorker and
Sttl The Atlantic Monthly to
get there. When I say The
I Georgia Review is one of
the top magazines for fic
tion in the country, this
’ sn t hometown jingoism
talking. Like they say, it
If ain't bragging if you can
l|fSj do it, and The Georgia
Review does.
This year marks The
Georgia Review's 65th
anniversary, and they've
IB celebrated by putting out
a new collection called
PaPMBBBjljlj Stories Wanting Only
to Be Heard: Selected
Fiction from Six Decades
I of The Georgia Review
(University of Georgia
Press, 2012). Edited
■ by Stephen Corey, with
■ Douglas Carlson, David
■ Ingle and Mindy Wilson,
IPIllg this is like Christmas in
March, some of the best
short fiction written any
where since 1947. The
list of authors featured
here—-William Faulkner,
Joyce Carol Oates, T.C.
Boyle, Donald Hall, John
Edgar Wideman, Mary Hood, Ernest J. Gaines,
Fred Chappell, Harry freakin' Crews—make this
a veritable textbook for aspiring writers and a
joy for readers.
There's a hefty dose of "Southern* fiction
here, as is to be expected. Though, personally,
I've never cared for that particular delineation
as a defined subgenre or as a selling point
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. 131 B East Broad St.
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www.indiaathens.com
The Friends of the Athens-Clarke County Library present:
Cafe al* 7:00 p.m.
■a^j§S& Friday, March 30, 2012
at Lyndon House
aj Arts Center
293 Hoyt Street, Athens
Join the Friends of the Athens-Clarke County Library at Lyndon
House Arts Center for an evening of local authors, book signings
and desserts at Cafe au Librisl Free and open to the public.
Featuring special guests:
Hogh /IdiiiOM, chef/author of "A New Turn in the South:
Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen.*
Judith Ortiz Cofer, author of *The Latin Deli,* "If I Could
Fly," and "A Bailar/Let's Dance."
This scenario is completely understand
able. Few enough of us are what one would
call "readers* anyway—after alL we're taught
from our earliest days in school that reading is
a task with a deadline and a judgment on our
performance, not something one does for plea
sure—and the impetus to read diminishes as
we get older and weighed down with respon-
art supplies
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sibilitles. Our minds get enough of a workout
in the daily struggle to survive and thrive,
and by the time we get to the point where our
backs start to ache for no reason and our hair
follicles start taking early retirement and mov
ing down south, most of us just don't have the
energy to navigate metaphors and the complex
personalities of people who don't even exist.
We regard reading as a hobby rather than a
necessity, and we put it in the same place as
our baseball cards or that sweater we've been
knitting for months.
This is a shame, because the best stories
are written by grownups for grownups, and the
best stories written by grownups for grownups
are short stories. For all the marquee value of
the novel, its form allows and often requires
bloat (If you're Henry James) and padding
(if you're James Patterson). Short fiction, on
the South as a setting and a calling-forth of a
distinctive voice is well represented here, but
the range of places and voices in this anthol
ogy is wide. What the stories have in common,
however, is the keen insight into human frailty
and the large and small tragedies that shape
our lives. No Navy SEALS here. The best stories
are mirrors, and these are polished to dazzling
clarity.
There is much to be proud of in Stories
Wanting Only to Be Heard, and Corey et
aL have done a spectacular job of picking
through the treasure trove of material from
the vast archives of The Georgia Review. It's
an enviable job, and one done very weU. For
those who have given up on fiction, this
anthology will bring you back into the fold.
John 6. Nettles
i, artist/author of "Phillip Juras: The Southern
Frontier: Landscapes inspired by William Bartram's Travels."
terry Kay, author of "The Greats of Cuttercane,"
"Bogmeadow's Wish," and "The Book of Marie."
Hosted by WUGA's David Oates (author of "Drunken
Robins") with music by harpist Mary Fertsoa Raysnar.
Books available for purchase. Cash or check only. All proceeds
benefit the Athens-Clarke County Library. Call (706) 613-3650,
ext. 336 for information.
Join us at 6:30 p.m. for a free, pre-event bookmark-making
workshop for adults?
SXtSuns {(writ .
Commit At
MARCH 28,2012 FLAGPOLE.COM 9