Literature's mainstream – muddier than usual

 kw: book reviews, fiction, short stories, collections

The themes of the stories in The Best American Short Stories 2020, edited by Curtis Sittenfeld, seem to be two: Dystopia and Slice-of-Life Emptiness. Frequently a story encompasses both. Is this a reflection of the way society is viewed through the mainstream media, mainstream entertainment, and mainstream politics (not those of the recent President, but of his opponents)? Pessimism rules the party called Democratic, and it rules American culture.

One story in this volume that bucks the trend is "The Apartment" by T.C. Boyle. It is a slightly fictionalized account of the life of Jeanne Louise Calment, from the time a lawyer proposed a "reverse mortgage" on her apartment, when she was 90, until she outlived him about thirty years later; she lived to age 122. There is another fictionalized life story, "Liberté" by Scott Nadelson. It isn't nearly so pleasing; the author gets more into motives and musings he could not have known.

Far too many of the stories relate someone going nowhere fast, or almost nowhere, and usually working their way down the ladder of success, if they were anywhere on it to begin with.

As usual in such a collection, the writing skill of the authors is excellent. However, it seems they have little to work with. In a very different genre, I read a story long ago of two people sent to contact an alien race, learn their language, and attempt to set up friendly relations. One is a skilled linguist, and goes after the language at a great rate, but at the end of the story is more of a prisoner, like a talented zoo animal. The other, who learns few words, does what he can to improve the skills and livelihood of the people around him, and becomes their trusted friend (this mirrors one of the side plots of The Ugly American by Burdick and Lederer, without the heavy political overtones). At the end, when the fellow who succeeded in gaining the trust of the aliens is asked about the difference, he says, "You have to have something to say."

This generation of writers doesn't have much to say, but they can say it very, very well.