Being so close to Christmas I was going to choose a story from a Christmas anthology to read this weekend, but to be honest I am a bit more in the mood for something with a French setting. As a matter of fact a friend passed along this link to me. So to put you in the mood as well, click on the link, let the page load and then use your right scroll button to see the lovely Paris skyline at night. Sigh. I wish I was there now.
Instead I dug out my collection of stories by Mavis Gallant that I found at a library sale, which I've been meaning to read. I'm not at all familiar with her, so first a little bit about her. She is Canadian and was born in Montreal in 1922. She now makes Paris her home where she writes. She has won all sorts of prestigious awards for her work and is one of a very few Canadian writers whose work regularly appears in the New Yorker. According to the Wikipedia:
"Grazia Merler observes in her book, Mavis Gallant: Narrative Patterns and Devices, that 'Psychological character development is not the heart of Mavis Gallant’s stories, nor is plot. Specific situation development and reconstruction of the state of mind or of heart is, however, the main objective.' Frequently, Gallant’s stories focus on expatriate men and women who have come to feel lost or isolated; marriages that have grown flimsy or shabby; lives that have faltered and now hover in the shadowy area between illusion, self-delusion, and reality."
I opted to read the title story of the collection, which is set in 1950s Paris. "Across the Bridge" refers to the bridge from the Place de la Concorde, which Sylvie and her mother are crossing in order to "frank" (to mark a letter, package, etc. for transmission free of the usual charge, by virtue of official or special privilege; send free of charge, as mail.--had to look that one up) the envelopes to her wedding invitations. When Sylvie reveals to her mother that she is in love with another man, her mother chucks the whole lot of the invitations over the bridge.
"I watched the envelopes fall in a slow shower and land on the dark water and float apart. Strangers leaned on the parapet and stared, too, but nobody spoke."
It turns out that the man she does fancy herself in love with she actually met only once and thereafter formed a sort of epistolary friendship with. Her father writes to the man (after canceling the wedding), but the man denies any romantic involvement:
"Bernard was ready to swear in court (should a lawsuit be among my father's insane intentions) that he had taken no risks and never dropped his guard with an unclaimed young person, encountered in a public park. (My parents were puzzled by "unclaimed". I had to explain that I used to take off my engagement ring and carry it loose in a pocket. They asked why. I could not remember.)"
What Sylvie must decide is whether to go back to her old fiance (if he'll have her) and lead a conventional life (well, perhaps I think it sounds like a conventional life). At one point in the story her mother persuades her to get her hair cut, so she would not look so young. I like her reaction to the end result:
"I felt nothing but the desire for a life to match my changed appearance. It was a longing more passionate and mysterious than any sort of love. My role could not be played by another person. All I had to do now was wait for my true life to reveal itself and the other players to let me in."
She is an excellent writer, there's even a subtle humor to this story. "Across the Bridge" was well written and finely crafted. I get the impression from what I've read about her that Mavis Gallant is one of those hidden gems of a writer. She is most deservedly worthy of wider attention amongst general readers.