tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1674510287177469473.post1641183543470974781..comments2023-06-06T08:13:43.101-07:00Comments on Vanessa Gebbie's news: AT BAFTA TO SEE CLARE WIGFALL WIN THE NATIONAL SHORT STORY AWARDVanessa Gebbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00833187671441310234noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1674510287177469473.post-57148348856480234242008-07-15T05:56:00.000-07:002008-07-15T05:56:00.000-07:00Hi T'The Numbers' is just one of Clare's collectio...Hi T<BR/><BR/>'The Numbers' is just one of Clare's collection, The Loudest Sound and Nothing, as you know. The rest are also engaging, also extraordinarily skillful.<BR/> <BR/>I think we have to leave history to be the ultimate judge, perhaps... but this award does make one raise an eyebrow at recent decisions not to shortlist elsewhere.Vanessa Gebbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00833187671441310234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1674510287177469473.post-41984134936922339142008-07-15T05:34:00.000-07:002008-07-15T05:34:00.000-07:00have a gander at 'The Numbers', Clare's winning st...have a gander at 'The Numbers', Clare's winning story. Eleven pages of a small paperback that captures (for this reader, anyway) the world of an island community very well. Takes skill, that!Vanessa Gebbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00833187671441310234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1674510287177469473.post-64248011379616867292008-07-15T04:55:00.000-07:002008-07-15T04:55:00.000-07:00A novel tries to be a world in microcosm, usually....A novel tries to be a world in microcosm, usually. It's a telescope view of things from a distance. I think it's rare for a short story to try and capture the world in microcosm. It's more of a look through a microscope at some small event, near the point where quantum uncertainty takes over. <BR/><BR/>People are undoubtedly trying to patronise the genre, to corral and confine it to a safari park. It may not bite those feeding hands from day to day, but once in a while it will jump on the keepers and devour them.<BR/><BR/>To read stories is no less reading than to read poetry or novels. No less time is involved, no fewer pages, no shorter hours, no fast food version of a gourmet feast, no spacefood pills. The novel may come on a silver tray like a turkey with a big lid over it, and short stories may come stacked in bamboo steamers, like dim sum, perhaps.Ossianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12095236313068093836noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1674510287177469473.post-7222192106640421272008-07-15T04:29:00.000-07:002008-07-15T04:29:00.000-07:00Congrats, Clare, so glad you were there V (thanks ...Congrats, Clare, so glad you were there V (thanks for the message!). I was invited too, would have loved to come had I been in the same country. Great that at least one prize this week went through the proper procedure of shortlisting and then announcing a winner, and not a big name either. So happy for her!Tania Hershmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781460794034586895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1674510287177469473.post-76771765934875429482008-07-15T03:42:00.000-07:002008-07-15T03:42:00.000-07:00Cor.Hmm.I agree with querying the 'time hungry age...Cor.<BR/><BR/>Hmm.<BR/><BR/>I agree with querying the 'time hungry age' thing, Os... because actually, if you read a good short story fast, you MISS such a lot. You need more time, not less, to appreciate it. But its a point of view, I'm sure not intended to be patronising. Can't see that at all.<BR/><BR/>Re the other: Don't we all (short story writers that is) seek to capture the essence of a world in a few words? Make it come alive for the reader?<BR/><BR/>(great news for the Willesden judge by the way, well done you lot)Vanessa Gebbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00833187671441310234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1674510287177469473.post-39551431042573922632008-07-15T03:33:00.000-07:002008-07-15T03:33:00.000-07:00I don't agree with M.K. on "the genre for a time h...I don't agree with M.K. on "the genre for a time hungry age" or "capturing worlds in microcosm". What patronising nonsense.Ossianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12095236313068093836noreply@blogger.com