#13: True Short Story by Ali Smith
Available in: The First Person and Other Stories
Writers recommended by Ali Smith: Ciaran Carson, Alice Thompson, Rebecca Brown, Grace Paley
Given that we here at the Gum Wall are all about celebrating the short story, it is only fitting that Ali Smith's True Short Story is the next inclusion on the site. While this book is uniformly strong throughout (The Child is a fine example of Alice Munro's adage that every short story is at least two stories, and No Exit is impressively creepy given it has fire-exits as its main topic),
True Short Story is simply a sonnet of the short form, and an impressively moving meditation on life as it occurs.
The Story
A woman (Ali) overhears a conversation in a cafe. A father and son are debating the difference between the novel and the short story. The younger man says the short story is a nimble goddess, a slim nymph, while the novel is a flabby old whore.
Their conversation segues into Ali's relationship with her friend Kasia, an expert on short stories who also has cancer. Their continuing dialogue on the difference between novel and short story bounces back and forth, with Kasia often calling Ali with her latest definition of the all too malleable short story.
By story's end, they have something of a definition, and are aided by similar definitions of the short form, from Hemingway to Munro to Ozick. Somewhere in these definitions comes a clarity previously thought unattainable, and we are left with Smith's final lines, which are breathtaking.
Why it Sticks
Ali Smith is a master of wordplay, and is particularly skilled at taking a minor snippet of conversation and expanding outward from a seemingly innocuous point. In True Short Story, the overheard dialogue echoes outward, resonating far beyond its initial setting. In less skilled hands, the story might have seemed forced or overly fanciful, but Smith's juxtaposition of the flippant and the life-changing here leads to a surprising and genuinely rewarding climax.
A brief note:
I read this story in an empty park on a sweltering Sunday afternoon. Upon finishing, I rested the book on my chest and closed my eyes, feeling full, alive and complete. I read hundreds of short stories every year, and yet only a precious few resonate like this one did. Thank you Ali.
