The Aquarium by Aleksandar Hemon

  In addition to being a bookaholic, I am also a magazine-aholic and have several subscriptions that pile up alongside the bookshelf.  One of my subscriptions (on my nook -- less clutter!) is to The New Yorker, and the current issue is "The Fiction Issue" with essays and short fiction by a wide range of authors.

  If the first piece - "The Aquarium" by Aleksandar Hemon - is any indication, this is going to be one amazing issue.  (Sadly, it is behind the website's paywall so I can only provide a link to the abstract)

  My only familiarity with Hemon to now has been his work as editor of the Best European Fiction anthologies (I have The Lazarus Project patiently waiting on the shelf, which now may be moved to the front of the pile).  Last November, as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival, he was to moderate a selection of readings from the anthology and I attended; however at the beginning of the program another gentleman came to the podium to say that Hemon was not able to be there because his daughter passed away. 

  This essay is about his daughter Isabel -- only nine months old when diagnosed with a rare brain tumor -- and the progress of her illness and how it affects not only her parents but her 3 year old sister Ella.  I am not a parent so I cannot imagine the experience of seeing one child go through so much pain and suffering while trying to keep a brave face for your other child.  Ella seems wise beyond her years, keeping Isabel smiling when she is able to visit her in the hospital, while at home creating an imaginary brother;  all the while appearing to understand that things are wrong. 

  This is a heartbreaking story (Isabel only recently passed her 1st birthday when she died) but so well-written, and if you're a marshmallow like me (and, frankly, even if you're not) make sure to have a tissue or two handy if you have the opportunity to read it. 

Highly recommended.

AfterWord: Conjuring the Literary Dead

AfterWord: Conjuring the Literary Dead, Edited by Dale Salwak

Published:  2011 by University of Iowa Press

Source:  Review copy received from publisher via NetGalley

  AfterWord:  Conjuring the Literary Dead, is a collection of speculative essays of situations where modern day writers interact with authors of the past.  In the introduction, the collection's editor, Dale Salwak described the essays as "an invitation to come face-to-face with a literary personage in a new way"; and while this may be true, for the casual reader of classic literature (if there is such a thing) the collection may be taken as inaccessible, readable only to experts in a particular author or genre.

  The most interesting essay to me was Eugene Goodheart's discussion with Jane Austen about her heroine, Emma Woodhouse.  I disliked Emma immensely (the character and the novel) and the speculative explanation told by Austen via Goodheart is interesting, especially since Austen references Stephen Dedalus in her argument of why Emma is her favorite character.  When Goodheart expresses astonishment that she is familiar with James Joyce's work she responds:

You are bemused.  Well ask yourself, how is it possible that I am speaking to you, centuries after my death?  As an immortal writer (spoken plainly and without irony), I have met and will continue to meet other immortal writers who were born long after I died.

  Now wouldn't those be interesting discussions?

  Alas, because I was familiar with only the names of the other resurrected authors (but not all -- who was George Gissing?) I don't think I could properly appreciate the other essays.  They seemed too academic, focussing on minutiae of the author's life rather than his or her work; however given that the publisher is an academic press I suppose that can be expected.