On to the next story in Francesca Marciano's The Other Language. Literary voyages are part of the attraction reading has for me. Last week it was a small Greek village and this week, Venice. In her short story, "Chanel", Marciano has struck several chords with me. I love an author who can write about the seemingly mundane experience, yet do so with a poignancy and understanding that is conveyed so simply. My life may not resemble that of Caterina's but the emotions, desires and disappointments she she shows are not so very far off from my own.
In "Chanel" a woman buys a designer dress that costs well beyond her means and it serves as a sort of indicator for her of success, a dress she buys as a celebration but never wears. How many of us have done something similar? Bought something we thought was so wonderful and with so much anticipation for using later that it might in some way change our lives. Maybe that is stretching things a little, but something special and out of the ordinary. Maybe so out of the ordinary that it doesn't live up to expectations.
Caterina is in Venice with her friend Pascal, a film she made having been nominated for a David Award (the Italian version of the Oscars). It's almost a given she is going to win, though she is one of four different directors to receive a nomination. Granted it's only for a short, a documentary she made about a group of synchronized swimmers preparing for the Olympics. Still, it's cause for celebration. She and Pascal take in the art and film scene in Venice. Drink overpriced cappuccinos and sub par sandwiches and generally soak in the atmosphere. They decide that money will not be an issue for the weekend as it's a time for celebration. Caterina's name is in the papers for the award and Pascal is on the cusp of being discovered as an actor. The sky is the limit.
When they have had their fill of the cultural side of Venice they decide to take on the shopping. Pascal is a true connoisseur of all things beautiful, and he has affected boredom down to a science. They go into the priciest stores and try on the most expensive clothes with an air of being the wealthiest of the wealthy and then know just when to make their exit. They end up in the Chanel store, Caterina's turn. The last dress she tries on, just for fun though the clerks haven't a clue, is utterly divine. And Caterina looks stunning in it. It's that moment of the right dress on the right body and Pascal tells her she must buy it. It's from their cruise line and the cheapest of the dresses she's tried on (keeping in mind a Chanel dress that doesn't even have a price tag and if it did would run into four figures. She knows she can't afford it, but she does it anyway. Cobbles together the funds to buy this dress that she imagines she will be wearing when she walks onto the stage to accept her award.
And then the ceremony is moved from night to day. And it won't be televised live. Budget cuts. A strange off year. From the most sparkling affair it turns into a grunge ceremony. Wrinkled linen suits and flip flops. The nominees showed a sort of "fuck you and your pathetic award ceremony" attitude. And so the dress goes into its storage bag and into the closet. Caterina takes it out for every other major event in her life, but it seems never to quite fit the moment. Too nice for the ordinary. And Caterina has never made another film, is a mother of twins and a wife and so life is now all about the ordinary.
Yet another slice of life that Marciano captures so well. In a way (and here is me reading into the story), the dress is about expectations and waiting for that perfect moment to wear it, that perfect moment in life that is important enough but otherwise remains zipped up in its bag in the closet. Waiting. And maybe it should have been pulled out and worn to the supermarket and who cares if it verges on the eccentric. It's a lovely story and a reminder on how life should be lived.
I like stories like that. That take the mundane and transform them into something more. Something universal and relatable to my own experiences--even if on an entirely different level.
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The November 10 New Yorker story "Primum Non Nocere" (Latin for "First, do no harm) is about an adolescent girl who comes face to face with one of her mother's patients. Her mother is a therapist who seems to be more attuned to those outside the home than her own daughter. I began my NY short story reading this year with another of Nelson's stories, "First Husbands". (She's the only author so far to have a second story appear in the same year!). Apparently "rebellious teenagers" is one of Nelson's common themes in her stories. You can read the full Q&A here, where she writes about her influences (Carson McCullers and Eudora Welty to name just two--must look for her suggestions now). The full story can be read here.
I'm definitely going to continue on with the Marciano collection, but I might take a slightly different short story path for the rest of the year. I have a special collection of stories that I have been waiting to dip into. Check back next weekend to find out what it is!