The Introduction

While I struggled through BASS 1978, I came across a story, that in my mind, was the finest that I had read up to that point in the anthology. It was entitled “The Conventional Wisdom” by Stanley Elkin. I gave it my normal treatment in a review...meandering sentences, dodging the actual pint of the story, and attempting to relate to the message the author was trying to impart through his writing.

I Scored it 10 out of 10.

As I stated, it was a story that would stay with me forever.

I know that I will come across others that rate as high and will probably surpass it in my rankings.

Stanley Elkin is the guest editor for BASS 1980. I feel that I have done ample research on him as an author through readings of interviews in such publications as “The Paris Review”, and listening to a couple of his interviews on “Wired for Books”, which is the Don Swaim radio interview show.

I also ran across references to meetings that JCO had with Elkin in her Journal.

The problem with doing so much research on him was that I started to construct a character Elkin and determine the types of stories he was going to select before even reading the introduction.

I suppose the best message that I received from Elkin in his introduction, was that he flatly stated that he chose the stories based on his taste. That the stories may or may not have been the “Best” but they were the “Best” according to his taste.

Well- that’s about as honest as you can get I suppose. I wouldn’t think that any of the guest editors would base their selections on much more.

I think that Elkin was fortunate enough though to come along early in the “guest editor” position and was able to get by in the introduction with almost stating the obvious. I’m not going to fault him for that in the least. It needs to be said and the reader needs to keep this in mind.

I think I also need to put something right out here before I continue writing about the introduction and the BASS of 1980.

I am intimidated by this particular collection. I have a strange feeling about the combination assembled.

There

That’s all I need to say about that.

I just wanted to get that out there. I hope that this feeling doesn’t shade my feelings about the individual writers or their works.

How could it not though?

There was a word that Elkin uses in his introduction and sometimes all it takes is a word for the mind to start churning.

Transcendence

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about transcending my mind, my consciousness, my reality. I have been looking at my behavior – everything from my dreams, my inner dialogue, my conversations with M, my selected podcast subscriptions, my running and finally, how in interpret what I am reading.

I’ll address my running first because I feel that this action is what is taking me to a “different level” of consciousness.

Simply put:

When I run, I ascend to a different level of consciousness. I know that there are all sorts of chemicals being released into my body triggered by my brain to manage what I am physically putting it through.

I run without headphones because I feel that this allows me to focus deeper on everything that I am going through. The sounds, smells, temperatures, changes in perception, etc.

An interesting thing happens though while I run. I do not “zone out”. I am hyper aware of my surroundings. At the same time, I am deep into my mind. I am solving problems, creating and discovering, and on my longest runs, this is where the most interesting things happen. I am almost guaranteed that I will hit the “High” caused by running. What I do with that “High” is what counts.

I feel that my entire outlook on life, my life, our life, has changed since I have taken on the long miles. I feel that it adds to my reading life as well.

So, as I have taken the “long miles” route in this introduction, I hope that the tastes of Elkin allow me to transcend my mind and help me along my journey.

Contents

The Emerald / Donald Barthelme

Long Calls / Frederick Busch

The One-Star Jew / David Evanier

The Remission / Mavis Gallant

Speck's Idea / Mavis Gallant

The Old Folks / William H. Gass

In Case of Survival / T. Gertler

The Faithful / Elizabeth Hardwick

The First Clean Fact / Larry Heinemann

Into the Wind / Robert Henderson

Lemon Tree / Curt Johnson

Friends / Grace Paley

Home / James Robison

Mama Tuddi Done Over / Leon Rooke

At the Anarchists' Convention / John Sayles

The Safe Deposit / Isaac Bashevis Singer

Dr. Cahn's Visit / Richard Stern

The Rags of Time / Barry Targan

The Old Forest / Peter Taylor

Gesturing / John Updike

Markowitz and the Gypsies / Norman Waksler

Hog's Heart / Gordon Weaver

Because I am a Geek

I have created a spreadsheet that you can access in Google Documents through the link below.

BASS author count 1978-2008

Column “A’ has the title of the story. Column “B” has the name of the author with the year of publication in BASS . I have sorted the author names alphabetically in order to count the number of times the authors have appeared in the anthology (just the years in my collection).

My life and these books

One of the exercises I am undertaking in this journal is the utilization of the stories to take me back in time to where I was in my life when the story was written.

It’s another connection exercise I can make.

Taking time to reflect and have some healthy dwelling on the past in an effort to recognize where I am today and the person I have become as a result of my past experiences.

The 80’s will see me pass through the 3^rd - 12^th grades.

The 90’s will see me in college, working at a liquor store, a restaurant and a gourmet food manufacturing warehouse. Travel to Russia and Peace Corps service in Romania.

The 2000’s will see me returning to America with a wife, finding work at a newspaper as a researcher, maintaining our happy life as a couple and looking forward to making some additions.

The 10’s which are only a couple of months away...who knows?

So, as I read along, I’ll touch on these dates and align them with my life.

Navel gazing?

Sure but it helps me.

1980 was an interesting year.

I touched on, in a previous post, the situation with my family. During this time in my life, I was a participant in the American destruction of the nuclear family. It was a collective action taken by heads of households across the country. The divorce fad was hot in the early 80’s.

In 1980, I was straddling the 2^nd and 3^rd grades. I attended Granby for 2^nd grade and Stuart for 3^rd.

I am pretty confident in making the statement that the divorce took place during this year and my Dad was living in Philadelphia sometime during this year.

As it should, my mind did a wonderful job at erasing the painful memories while leaving enough to burn a bit.

There are cases where a buried memory will return, usually though reading a passage in a story, and for a moment in time, I’ll be transported back to those hazy days.

1980 was the year that my mother, sister and I spent alone. It was just the three of us in that house. Tough times for my mother I’m sure. It got better later though.

My heart hurts thinking about those days. When I remember back to those times...that particular year, the image that seems to appear more than any other would be that of the three of us around the dining room table eating soup and sandwiches. The lights were dim due to low wattage bulbs, and it felt cold in the house. It was so quiet. I think, reflecting on that sense of stillness and quiet, is one of the reasons why I become uncomfortable at dining tables when no one speaks.

My mother obviously had a hard time with the divorce and remarried rather quickly.

So, 1980 was a year that could easily pass from my memory and I don’t think I would miss it. I’m sure in the upcoming volume; there will be times to reflect, once again, on this particular year.