Damian Kelleher - Literary reviews, short story reviews, essays, fiction

The latest addition to the website is my review of Belgian author Bernard Quiriny's short story, A Guide to Famous Stabbings.

A Guide to Famous Stabbings dismantles one of my favourite books, Enrique Vila-Matas' Bartleby & Co., and examines one misguided author's attempt to take an idea from the novel to its terminal end point. A great, great story - recommended emphatically to those who love Vila-Matas, and for those who don't, it's still very accessible and entertaining.

You can read the review here.

Note: I stumbled across this story via translator Edward Gauvin's website. Gauvin was also responsible for translating André-Marcel Adamek's short story, The Ark, which I also enjoyed. I strongly recommended readers interested in French-language literature visit his page.

The latest addition to the website is my review of Brazilian author Fernando Paiva's short story, God's Obituary.

God's Obituary is a story written in the form of a newspaper obituary. Allan J. Winchmaster, "God", the creator of genetic architecture and the father of innumerable organic creations, has died. Paiva's story examines the ethical and political ramifications of science taken to the highest level - that of creating life. Paiva's neutrally toned narrative hides a sharply ironic take-down of the excesses of science and, more generally, of man.

You can read the review here.

God's Obituary 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
---Adamek, André-Marcel - The Ark

The latest addition to the website is my review of Spanish author Juan José Millás' short story, R. J.'s Tiny Corpse.

R. J.'s Tiny Corpse examines the concept of the author's identity as distinct from their personal identity through the conceit of the narrator, a failed writer and R. J., recently deceased, who found fame and fortune by publishing the narrator's work. Cleverly done, entertaining and well thought out.

You can read the review here.

R. J.'s Tiny Corpse by Juan José Millás is a short story from Absinthe: New European Writing - Issue 2.

Note: Due to external commitments (moving house), I was unable to post the past week's reviews. New reviews will be forthcoming at a normal pace.

The latest addition to the website is my review of Estonian author Mehis Heinsaar's short story, Butterfly Man.

Butterfly Man is the story of Anselm, a young, mediocre, wannabe magician who... has the ability to spawn butterflies from his body when he experiences strong emotion. He becomes a hit with the circus, with tragic, and tremendous, results. Highly recommended.

You can read the review here.

Butterfly Man by Mehis Heinsaar is a short story from Absinthe: New European Writing - Issue 1.

Other titles from Issue 1 include:
---Blatnik, Andrej - Too Close Together
---Ferić, Zoran – Make a Doctor Run - Make a Doctor Run

The latest addition to the website is my review of Australian author Marcus Clarke's short story, Pretty Dick.

Pretty Dick is a "Lost Child" story, which is exactly what it sounds like - a child, the primary character, becomes lost. Sometimes they are found and sometimes not. Clarke elevates the story by virtue of his talent as a descriptive writer, but also due to his immense affection and awe for the Australian landscape.

You can read the review here.

Pretty Dick by Marcus Clarke 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
---1866: Fortune, Mary - The Dead Witness; or, the Bush Waterhole

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