A Personal Anthology, by Teika Marija Smits
Introduction
As a fan of the theories of Carl Jung, I very much appreciate the way Christopher Booker (The Seven Basic Plots) and Clarissa Pinkola Estés (Women Who Run with the Wolves) take a Jungian view on storytelling. In essence, their thesis is that stories are a blueprint for life, showing us the many paths – some more challenging than others – our lives may take when we make certain choices.
Being an editor of anthologies as well as a writer, I agonized over the approach I should take for my own personal anthology, worrying over how to compile the “perfect” list. Of course, though, there is no such thing as “perfect” in literature, there is only “done”, so in the end I went with stories that have, at some time or other, deeply moved me. And when I eventually compiled my list, I saw that all the stories were either about stasis or transformation – two situations in life that are diametrically opposed to one another. I think I’m particularly drawn to these kinds of stories because I view them as a kind of test of my psyche. If placed in the same situation, would I be content to live in a state of stasis? Or would I be psychically strong enough to go on a journey of rebirth? I hope these stories invite you to ask the same of yourself.
‘Static’ by Alison Moore (First published online as a Manchester Writing Competition finalist here. Collected in The Pre-War House and Other Stories, Salt Publishing, 2013)
The title of the story says it all, really. Elderly Wilfred is in an unbearably sad kind of stasis since his wife, Dorothy, is confined to bed due to illness. As he makes her a fresh cup of tea, he considers their long and happy life together, but also the various ways in which he feels he has failed her. Though both are powerless to transcend the awful situation, is there anything Wilfred can do or say that would make a difference?
‘Touch Me with Your Cold, Hard Fingers’ by Elizabeth Stott (First published as a chapbook by Nightjar Press, 2013. Collected in Best British Horror, Salt Publishing, 2014)
“Tony had been something of a womaniser, but Maureen has changed him.” Or so she thinks. Yet when Maureen discovers an “extraordinarily realistic mannequin” in Tony’s flat, Maureen begins to wonder if he haschanged; if he really has been transformed by her love. A deliciously uncanny tale, I was gripped to the very (disturbing) end.
‘The Machine Stops’ by E. M. Forster (First published in The Oxford and Cambridge Review, November 1909. Collected in The Eternal Moment and Other Stories, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1928; also available as a Penguin Mini Modern Classic, 2011)
First published in 1909, ‘The Machine Stops’ is a scarily prescient foresight of the world in which we live today. The majority of humans in Forster’s dystopia live underground, in individual hexagonal cell-like rooms, and are physically dissociated from each other. Yet they all interact with each other with the help of ‘The Machine’ which provides for all their bodily needs. They spend their days listening to lectures, music, and debating/discussing the latest news, opinions and ideas. Yet for all the proliferation and dissemination of words and ideas, the society, itself, is in stasis. And rapidly disintegrating. A masterly work, ‘The Machine Stops’ is a brilliant example of E.M. Forster’s deep understanding of human nature.
‘The Interpreter of Maladies’ by Jhumpa Lahiri (First published in AGNI #47, 1998. Collected in The Interpreter of Maladies, Flamingo, 2000)
In much of ‘The Interpreter of Maladies’, the young Mr and Mrs Das and their three children are confined to a car while Mr Kapasi, their guide, drives them to the Konarak Sun Temple. Bored by the car journey, the static-like travelling, Mr and Mrs Das talk to Mr Kapasi and discover that he has another occupation – he translates for a doctor. Mrs Das, suddenly intrigued by his other job, declares it romantic, causing Mr Kapasi to experience a rush of feelings.
“Her sudden interest in him, an interest she did not express in either her husband or her children, was mildly intoxicating. When Mr Kapasi thought once again about how she had said ‘romantic’, the feeling of intoxication grew.”
Lahiri is a magician-like writer. You think you know where this story is going, but then it veers away, surprising you; leaving you a little in awe of how skilful she is in the art of misdirection and the laying down of clues.
‘Coriander for the Hidden’ by Nicholas Kaufmann (First published in Interzone #280 Mar-Apr 2019)
The angel Suriel tends to all the plants in the Garden. He particularly loves the flowers of the Garden (though not so much the ever-rutting He and She), yet soon he finds himself in the most horrifying of situations when the On-High commands him to carry out the murder of the firstborn sons in Thutmose II’s kingdom “which sprawled the length of the ancient and dusty Nile” (though he is not to enter the houses which are smeared with lamb’s blood). Compassionate Suriel, who simply wants to look after his flowers, cannot bring himself to carry out this most terrible of tasks, and yet the On-High cannot be disobeyed. A compelling and thought-provoking story, my heart went out to Suriel.
‘Softlight Sins’ by Peter F Hamilton (First published in Novacon Souvenir Booklet 1997. Collected in Burning Brightly: 50 Years of Novacon, NewCon Press, 2021)
Douglas McEwan has always been a fence-sitting man, though as a Court Defence Officer he’s developed a sense of responsibility to his clients.
“But Douglas had taken it to an extreme, always refusing prosecution cases. The price he paid for his quirk came in the form of people like Adrian Reynolds. Twenty years old, with a father who had abused him from the age of eight – sexually, physically and mentally. Abused him right up until the day he finally snapped, taking a kitchen knife upstairs while the family slept.”
Adrian’s guilt is obvious and so the Reynolds trial is clear-cut, but what is to happen to Reynolds in this future version of Europe in which the death penalty has been reintroduced? Protestors from the TRUE JUSTICE group cry for Reynolds’ death; others from the LIFE! group light candles and sing hymns. Yet McEwan’s client has been offered an alternative solution: “Softlight: the total erasure of memory and behaviour patterns. Personality death.” McEwan, discomforted by the grey morality of this new biotechnology, oversees the administration of Softlight to Reynolds which should, at least, be a quick and painless procedure. But something remarkable happens that no one expects.
‘Pelt’ by Angela Readman (First published in The Forgotten and the Fantastical 5, Mother’s Milk Books, 2019. Collected in The Girls Are Pretty Crocodiles & Other Fairy Tales, Valley Press, 2022)
Although ‘Pelt’ is, technically, a reimagining of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, Readman instead shines a spotlight on Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, giving us a sense of what she experienced when inside the body of the wolf. A beautifully written tale of transformation, it confirms to me that Readman is one of the best writers of magical realism in the UK today.
‘Grey Area’ by Will Self (First published in Grey Area, Penguin Books, 1994)
The protagonist in ‘Grey Area’ is a young woman who works in the Department, at the Company. Charged with carrying out various administrative tasks for her boss, who is the Head of Department, she becomes sure that she is stuck in some kind of stasis – there seems to be no shift in the seasons, the sky remains the same grey colour, and her period, though due, stubbornly refuses to start. There isn’t a great deal that happens in this story, yet it’s shot through with Self’s darkly comic observations on office life; the tragedy of finding oneself in an uncanny limbo.
‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens (First published by Chapman & Hall, 1843 and widely available in print and online)
A near-perfect example of one of the seven basic plots (rebirth), I have no doubt that this archetypal story will continue to find fans as the years go by since it offers the reader a blueprint for the process of individuation, asking us that most discomforting of questions: do you have the strength to undergo personal transformation; to become the best person you can be? Or will you stumble at the hurdles on the hard journey before you? Thankfully, Dickens showed us how even the worst kind of person has the capacity for great change within him, and in doing so, inspired generations of readers.
‘Story of Your Life’ by Ted Chiang (First published in Starlight 2, 1998. Collected in Stories of Your Life and Others, Tor Books 2002)
Technically a novella, ‘Story of Your Life’ may be better known as the film, Arrival, which was directed by Denis Villeneuve. Nominated for a number of Academy Awards, I’m not surprised by the success of its translation to the screen because first contact films always have a certain allure to them. We cannot help but be curious as to what aliens might look like if and when we ever get to meet them. But the novella is so much more than just a story about first contact. It is about motherhood and language and time, and the curiously static, though transformational, quality of free will.
‘The New Utopia’ by Jerome K. Jerome (First published in Diary of a Pilgrimage and Six Essays, J. W. Arrowsmith, 1891. Now out of copyright and freely available online)
This short and witty story by the wonderfully-named Jerome K. Jerome, first published in 1891, confirms two things: people have always complained about the state of society and they’ve always been very sure as to exactly how to fix their society (if only they were in charge). So Jerome takes his protagonist into the future to show him exactly what a strictly equal society would look like. (It’s not good.)
Having an interest in the roots of dystopian fiction, I’d add that it’s not difficult to see how Jerome’s story may have influenced Yevgeny Zamyatin, the author of the novel, We – We being the direct inspiration for George Orwell’s 1984. So if We is considered the grandfather of all dystopian fiction, what does that make the even older, ‘The New Utopia’? I’d like to think that Jerome would approve of his story being a ‘great grandfather’ to this thought-provoking genre.
‘The Three Gold Hairs’ by Clarissa Pinkola Estés (though she writes that the little core of the story was given to her by her ‘Tante’ Kata – First published in Women Who Run With The Wolves, Ballantine Books, 1992)
This wonderfully told tale starts with an old, exhausted man wandering through the woods at night and carrying a lantern in which the candle is about to go out. Unexpectedly, he finds himself at the door of a warm, light-filled cottage, and it is there that he is looked after by an old woman and nursed back to vigour. Ostensibly a straightforward fairy tale, Estés explains that the story is really about creativity, and its ebb and flow. A deeply satisfying tale of transformation, it’s one that I’ve told to my children many times, and over many years. I don’t think they know why they like it so much, but being an archetypal story of rebirth, it will never fail to cast its spell on the reader who is still open to the power of magic.
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Teika Marija Smits is a UK-based writer and freelance editor. She writes poetry and fiction, and her speculative short stories have been published in IZ Digital, Parsec, Reckoning, Shoreline of Infinity, Best of British Science Fiction and Great British Horror 6. Her debut poetry pamphlet, Russian Doll, was published by Indigo Dreams Publishing in March 2021, and Umbilical, her first collection of speculative short stories, was published by NewCon Press in August 2023. A fan of all things fae, she is delighted by the fact that Teika means fairy tale in Latvian. She can be found at teikamarijasmits.com and @MarijaSmits
* You can browse the full searchable archives of A Personal Anthology, with over 2,500 story recommendations, at www.apersonalanthology.com.
* A Personal Anthology is curated by Jonathan Gibbs, author of two novels, Randall, and The Large Door, and a book-length poem, Spring Journal. His story 'A Prolonged Kiss' was shortlisted for the 2021 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award. He is Programme Director of the MA/MFA Creative Writing at City, University of London.
* If you are interested in contributing your own Personal Anthology to the project, then please let me know by replying to this email. I’m always on the lookout for guest editors!