John Freeman (Ed)
Text Publishing
Otago Daily Times, October 31st 2015
Freeman’s: Arrival is the first volume of a new, biannual literary anthology compiled by former Granta editor John Freeman. Described in the publicity material as ‘part literary journal, part anthology’, it is, like Granta, intended to present previously unpublished works based around a central theme.
In this instance, Freeman has collected a diverse range of short stories, essays, poetry and photography that deal with that elusive moment of first contact, of what it means to arrive (or fail to arrive) at some literal, emotional, biological or metaphorical location. The result is a fascinating read that treated me to stories from some of my favourite authors (Mitchell, Murikami) and introduced previously unfamiliar or debutant writers such as Tahima Anam and Fatin Abbas.
The ordering of material is carefully and artfully handled such that story transitions to poem to essay with scarcely a ripple, and although it is hard to pick a favourite from the riches on offer, two essays particularly stood out for me.
The first is a reflection by Jamaican-born commentator Garnette Cadagon on the contrasting experiences of being a black man walking the streets of Kingston and New York, and how the way in which others perceive him shapes both his perceptions of his environment and of his own identity.
The second, by short-story writer and translator Lydia Davis, details the author’s attempt to bootstrap her way through Dag Solstad’s “Telmark novel” (a massive genealogical catalogue of Stolstad’s ancestors described by critics in his own country as unreadable) in the native Norwegian, without using a dictionary and with next to no knowledge of the language. Although vastly different in theme, tone and subject matter, both left me deeply thoughtful and challenged a number of assumptions about my own place in the world and the way I perceive those around me.
If future editions of Freeman’s live up to the quality of Arrivals, I am sorely tempted to become a subscriber.
https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/books/new-literary-anthology-provides-plenty-food-thought
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