| Grimy arcade sex and violence, one of the best Canadian debuts in recent history and the dubious art of collecting – and writing on – erotica.
I wasn’t old enough to be drawn into the first wave of video games, that of the Frogger, Centipede and Space Invaders ilk. Still, the influence of those early game pioneers is felt by every decent North American consumer of pop culture. Their creations have led to visual (and spatial) approaches to art (and "art") that have bled through everything from books to film and sexuality.
This last one is what informs Emily Schultz’s new novel Joyland (ECW Press, 296 pp.), a creepy work where early arcade culture meets fumbling teenage sex. In fact, each chapter is given the title of one of that generation’s favourite arcade games – Donkey Kong, Joust, Berserk, et al.
Joyland is the local kids’ favourite meeting place, where young talents challenge each other over cigarettes and lipstick, letting life in a small Manitoba town drag into perpetuity. The novel is narrated throughout with different "players," which at times gets a tad confusing, as each kid seems to be watching the other from afar. The action revolves around young Tammy, who watches her brother’s drive to score – with both joysticks – send the small neighbourhood teenage clique into scores of love, sex and violence. Compelling, if oddly removed and chilly.
Madeleine Thien’s sophmore work, Certainty, has garnered amazing reviews and rightfully so. It’s a wonderful work that expands the delicately structured prose she began with her collection of short stories, Simple Recipes – imagine one of those tales given historical context and a family tree.
Moving throughout history – from Second World War North Borneo, to modern-day Vancouver and Indonesia – Thien takes great risks with such a seemingly disjointed narrative. It’s a testament to her skill that two seemingly simple love stories turn into a young woman’s inquiry into their lost childhood. Gail, who barely remembers her parents’ war-torn past, finds herself travelling across the world seeking information, eventually clinging to a Jakarta-based photographer for context. Thien blends this into a narrative of her parents, where they create their own collection of weary tales, trying to keep ahead of the past. Thickly layered and suspenseful, Certainty is a noteworthy, and even auspicious, debut.
It’s almost a laudable task when someone makes sex redundant and blasé, but author-turned-investigative globetrotter Geoff Nicholson has managed to do it. His new work, Sex Collectors (Simon & Schuster, 288 pp.), purports to be a study of all those who study "erotica" (his quotation marks – people collect pornography, not erotica), but is really a tepid, baby-stepping entry into the world of $5 trash museums off the Texas interstate and worn-out, desperate characters like Cynthia Plaster Caster. He even unforgivably trashes Henry Miller. The book has a curious train-wreck quality to it that drives what narrative there is, when he’s not too afraid to look or offer his own judgment, which happens often. Avoid, unless you find soft-focus tampon ads "sexy" and "subversive."
The next Writers Guild of Alberta event, Wednesday, June 21 at 7 p.m., is all about travel writing, in a discussion led by author Gordon Cope (A Paris Moment).
At Pages on Kensington, Nancy Holmes reads from her new collection of poetry, Mandorla, which explores motherhood, on Thursday, June 15 at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, June 17 at 2 p.m., Neil L. Jennings will be signing copies of his book on southern Alberta plants and flora, Uncommon Beauty. Also, Pages is seeking supporters for their newly established Catherine Anne McKay Publishing Award, created after the death in 2003 of store owner Cathy McKay. The award seeks to help Canadian creative writing students. Contact the store for more details.
At McNally Robinson, authors Mary Oakwell (Many Foundations: Historic Churches of Alberta) and D. Larraine Andrews (The Cowboy Trail: A Guide to Alberta’s Historic Cowboy Country) offer up an evening of Alberta history and travelogue, enough to put together your own adventure, on Thursday, June 15 at 7 p.m. On Friday, June 16 at 8 p.m., Leslie Greentree launches her new short story collection, A Minor Planet for You and Other Stories.
In award news, Christopher Wiseman won this year’s W.O. Mitchell Book Prize for his collection of poems In John Updike’s Room. Zadie Smith won the Orange Prize for fiction for her novel On Beauty, beating out the predicted recipient, Hilary Mantel (Beyond Black). And Ian McEwan won the U.K.’s oldest literary award, the James Tait Black Memorial prize, for his novel Saturday. |
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