Damian Kelleher - Literary reviews and essays

The latest addition to the website is my review of Nigerian author Elnathan John's short story, Your Man.

Your Man is one of those very rare stories which manages to capture the essence of a conflict without moralising for one side or the other. John chooses to tell his story in the second-person perspective, which forces the reader to become a participatory member of the long-running, seemingly never ending brutality and bloodshed of cultural collisions. The story is set in, and identifies most with, Nigeria - but it's themes are sadly universal, and applicable most everywhere. A powerful and affecting piece.

You can read the review here.

Your Man by Elnathan John is a short story from Sentinel Nigeria - Issue 8.

Other stories from Sentinel Nigeria - Issue 8 include:
---Okoli-Okpagu, Ifesinachi - Ugobenna

The latest addition to the website is my review of Romanian author Doina Ruşti's short story, Bill Clinton's Hand.

Bill Clinton's Hand tells the story of Bill Clinton's visit to Romania in the 1990s. Vizitiu Octavian, flautist and twelve-year-old, has all of his dreams come true. Ruşti's story examines less the importance of a celebrity on an ordinary person, but the importance of the ordinary person when they suddenly become a major player in a story they have known and loved for so long.

You can read the review here.

Bill Clinton's Hand by Doina Ruşti is a short story from Bucharest Tales from the New Europe Writers series

Other stories from Bucharest Tales from the New Europe Writers series include:
---Bican, Florin - Penguins
---Lungu, Dan - Mr. Escu's Adventure

The reviews for this book were made possible thanks to a kind gift from my friend Bogdan Suceavă.

The latest addition to the website is my review of Belgian author André-Marcel Adamek's short story, The Ark.

The Ark has God visit Belgium in order to build a second Ark to purge the world of its infinite scourges. God's choice, however, is perhaps not the best, and though Adamek's narrator manages to build the Ark and populate it with the necessary flora and fauna, he is too small, too petty, too melancholy, too mean, too heartfelt, to go through with God's plan. Too human, in other words.

You can read the review here.

The Ark by André-Marcel Adamek is a short story from the Words Without Borders January 2012 issue, Apocalypse.

Other titles from the January 2012 issue include:
---Xerxenesky, Antônio - Seizing Cervantes

The latest addition to the website is my review of Croatian author Zoran Ferić's short story, Make a Doctor Run.

Make a Doctor Run is one of those stories that grasps onto an odd ideas and worries it out until it's exhausted. In Ferić's case, this is the gravedigger's game of making doctors run before picking them up and giving them a lift to the nearest tram station. On the surface, the idea doesn't seem to have leg - with Ferić it does. What results is a strange, entertaining, rather funny story that happily refrains from wearing out its welcome. Lots of fun.

You can read the review here.

Make a Doctor Run by Zoran Ferić is a short story from Absinthe: New European Writing - Issue 1.

Other titles from Issue 1 include:
---Blatnik, Andrej - Too Close Together

The latest addition to the website is my review of Australian author Mary Fortune's short story, The Dead Witness; or, the Bush Waterhole.

The Dead Witness; or, the Bush Waterhole is a detective story, arguably the first written by a woman anywhere in the world, certainly the first written by an Australian woman. While it suffers from being a rather poor detective story, Fortune succeeds in celebrating the beauty and difference of the Australian flora and fauna. Her descriptive writing in this area, a first for the nation's literature, is truly remarkable. Here, in Fortune's writing and this story in particular, it could be argued that Australia found its first proud writer.

You can read the review here.

The Dead Witness; or, the Bush Waterhole by Mary Fortune is a short story from from The Penguin Best Australian Stories, edited by Mary Lord.

Other titles from The Penguin Best Australian Stories include:
---1859: Lang, John George - The Ghost Upon the Rail

The latest addition to the website is my review of Nigerian author Ifesinachi Okoli-Okpagu's short story, Ugobenna.

Ugobenna is the story of Silvanus, a hard working father who comes into conflict with the endemic corruption of Nigeria and, by extension, his son's descent into criminal, immoral activities. It is the story of Silvanus' soul, and how a good man turns bad without wanting to.

You can read the review here.

Ugobenna by Ifesinachi Okoli-Okpagu is a short story from Sentinel Nigeria - Issue 8.

The latest addition to the website is my review of Romanian author Dan Lungu's short story, Mr. Escu's Adventure.

Mr. Escu's Adventure is an absurdist romp through Bucharest as seen through the eyes of Mr. Escu, himself no strange to an odd situation. Dan Lungu effectively mixes comedy with absurdity. The best character? Bucharest itself.

You can read the review here.

Mr. Escu's Adventure by Dan Lungu is a short story from Bucharest Tales from the New Europe Writers series

Other stories from Bucharest Tales from the New Europe Writers series include:
---Bican, Florin - Penguins

Other titles by Dan Lungu under review include:
---To the Cemetery

The reviews for this book were made possible thanks to a kind gift from my friend Bogdan Suceavă.

The latest addition to the website is my review of Brazilian author Antônio Xerxenesky's short story, Seizing Cervantes.

Seizing Cervantes is an excellent story, effectively marrying contemporary cultural and political criticism with artistry and wit. It manages to be both literary and intellectual while remaining funny and relevant. Definitely recommended.

You can read the review here.

Seizing Cervantes is a short story from the Words Without Borders January 2012 issue, Apocalypse.

The latest addition to the website is my review of Slovenian author Andrej Blatnik's short story, Too Close Together.

Too Close Together will be familiar to readers of Blatnik: nameless characters, their relationship as the focal point, the acceptance that interaction is a process of getting things wrong while trying to get them right - both your own feeling and theirs. What's new is the thematic backdrop of war, which allows Blatnik to intensify the already deeply felt emotions of his characters.

You can read the review here.

Too Close Together by Andrej Blatnik is a short story from Absinthe: New European Writing - Issue 1.

Other titles by Andrej Blatnik under review include:
---You Do Understand

The latest addition to the website is my review of Australian author John George Lang's short story, The Ghost Upon the Rail.

The Ghost Upon the Rail can lay claim to being one of Australia's very first detective and ghost stories, by one of Australia's very first novelists. The story itself, however, suffers from a lack of directed narration; a Poirot or Maigret reacting to, and being a participant in, the story, would have helped to create suspense and interest. A failed attempt, but historically interesting.

You can read the review here.