In his introduction to Mavis Gallant’s Paris Stories (2002), Michael Ondaatje describes her Europe as a place of “shipwrecks” (a recurring word in this collection, he notes).
Her characters are “permanent wanderers”, often from Canada and Eastern Europe, and not always from or in Paris, but Mavis Gallant wrote their stories in Paris. “After a while,” Ondaatje writes, “this collection of souls begins to represent for the reader the true state of the world.”
When I picked up this collection, I was expecting to read only the three stories that I hadn’t already covered in my reading project.
But after reading the quotations Ondaatje pulled to illustrate his points, I found Peter and Sheilah at the breakfast table, drinking coffee, and I thought that I would just read that one.
Then, I saw that he’d chosen “Irina” as the next story and I was in the mood for a little bit of Christmas, Gallant-style.
Next comes “The Homecomer”, of which I remembered the ending immediately but wanted to see what I’d not remembered as clearly.
Then, “In Transit”, well, it’s so short, and one of my favourites. So, why not?
After that, it’s “The Moslem Wife”, which is a long one but a very good one, and I realized that I was going to reread them all.
So, I left my bookmark there, and I flipped forward to “August”.
At the end of September, it’ll be time to choose my next short story project.
Next week (and, already!), it’s “August”.
Congratulations on the end of your project. I have so enjoyed reading about Mavis Gallant. The Paris Stories is the collection I have been gravitating toward, and the ‘permanent wanderers’ you talk about sound like characters I would like to read about.
It really is a good collection. I think you’ll enjoy it. And if you want “company” on the stories, you can always read/revisit my posts on each story along the way, if you so desire. You might even inspire me to reread again! 🙂
Oh, she is so good. I do need to read more of her stories. My September reading is looking booked up already, but perhaps in October I can return to Gallant. Thank you for introducing me to her work.
Also, I have made my blog private (long story short: there was someone reading it and making awful, hurtful comments and I decided that I didn’t need that in my life.) So if you go to my blog you can request access. Thanks!
“Booked up”…stawwwwwp! Whenever you get back to Gallant, I know you’ll appreciate her stories. IIRC, you have one of her anthology collections, either the Paris or the Montreal one? They’re both so good as introductions or elaborations.
Thanks for the invitation, looks like we’re good to go. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been having that experience. It’s hard to negotiate and protect our boundaries online, isn’t it.
What a project! Congratulations on reaching the home straight! 😀
Back in January 2017, the end stretch didn’t seem real, that’s for sure.
I have a copy of this collection on my shelves and am very much looking forward to it (after the remaining stories from The Cost of Living). You must be feeling very satisfied with your project on Gallant – what a rich seam of insights you’ve been able to tease out over the past few months!
You will love this collection, Jacqui, just love it! It’s been a super satisfying project. And I know that even though the idea of planning out another longterm project seems daunting, story after story and time does pass and the collections are read and enjoyed.