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Midge Raymond's collection, Forgetting English, received the
Spokane Prize for Short Fiction. Her work has appeared in American
Literary Review, Ontario Review, Indiana Review, North American Review,
Bellevue Literary Review, Passages North, the Los Angeles Times,
and other publications. She is on the editorial board of the literary
journal Green Hills Literary Lantern.
Midge taught communication writing at Boston University for six years,
as well as creative writing at Boston's Grub Street Writers. While
living in Southern California, she held writing workshops and seminars
at San Diego Writers, Ink, where she also served as vice president of
the board of directors. Midge now lives and writes in Seattle, where
she teaches at Richard Hugo House. Her current projects are supported
by an Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship.
Read
an interview
with Midge Raymond
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"What had
at one time seemed strange and
jarring, even magical, has grown familiar: the hot white lights; the
tones of the language; the pungent scent of foods once exotic, now
commonplace. In the warm and dewy air, the chill of spring clings to a
breeze that washes over her, and she feels Jing-wei's pendant rest in
the hollow of her neck, the jade cool against her throat."
Reviewed by Majella Cullinane
Travel and exploration, how it connects and disconnects us, how
familiar problems in unfamiliar locations can sometimes force us to see
who we really are and where we've come from is a theme which pervades
Raymond's first collection, Forgetting
English.
First Sunday,
set in Tonga,
centres around two sisters: one idealistic, who for most of her life
has moved from place to place with an ease that comes only with
non-attachment; the other having just lost her corporate job and all
the trappings attached to such a career. At a loose end she decides to
seek out her sister in Tonga. Theirs is a relationship which is not
only fraught because of disparate values and goals, but one which has
also strained as a result of one's familiarity with the language,
culture and customs of the place and the other's imposition of that
"belonging".
A couple who have recently had an abortion take a trip to Japan in the
story Translation Memory. The
husband compares the economy of Japan, its sparseness, its efficiency
and economy of space, with his own relationship:
"...he wonders as he tastes salt on his lips whether the withdrawal of
affection between himself and Julie is perhaps not likewise a matter of
economizing – not a falling away of love but a storage of energy for
the future."
Raymond also uses the analogy of translation and technology, the
problems associated with it; what can be lost or confused in
translation as a parallel for the couple's communication breakdown. And
yet if forgiveness is sought in a foreign culture which permits a kind
of escape or sloughing of the self, it might be found in the touching
lines:
"He had reached out his hand, as if he might bridge the liminal
divide between their two worlds."
Chance encounters are often the heart and soul of travel stories. The
Ecstatic Cry, set in perhaps the most isolated of Raymond's
locations,
Antarctica, features a biologist grappling with the realities of modern
tourism, which may support scientific research and development, but
which also has a serious effect on the environment. When an unexpected
meeting sparks a chain of events, it forces her to re-examine her own
life.
My favourite was the title story, Forgetting
English, set in
Taipei. Language is viewed not only as something which needs to be
interpreted, but also a reflection of what we do not understand in our
own lives; also, although not knowing a language may alienate us,
conversely it can give us the anonymity and unfamiliarity we seek.
Paige, a woman who has had a difficult and troubled past, seeks a new
start and discovers it studying Chinese and immersing herself in a new
culture. While in Taipei she makes a friend with a local woman.
However, while foreigners may seek escape and renewal in another
culture, it may not be so easy for natives who are expected to follow
prescribed cultural mores. When these cultural values clash, there can
be devastating consequences.
The main criticism of the collection is a personal one: I'm not a huge
fan of theme-based short story
collections. However, Forgetting English is an enjoyable read;
Raymond's style of writing is engaging, her locations exotic, her
endings are often resonant and deftly-written, and what her stories
express about travel and exploration is honest and forthright.
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