The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis: Complete Collection

The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis: Complete Collection by Lydia Davis

Often with short story collections, I will try to list the titles of the stories. However, that would go on for pages with this collection. There a lot of stories in here. Some are long, while many are just a few words long. For the short ones, the overhead of the audiobook is distracting. The story and narrator are announced. The few words of the story are read. Then it is announced that the story is complete. There is more "overhead" than story. I feel reading would work better for these.

The long stories can also be fairly unconventional. One "story" is a detailed analysis of letters written to a young classmate who has been injured. The different closings for the letters are tabulated. The length of letters are compared and grouped by gender. Other various components and mechanics are analyzed in detail. It seems a long exercise in something that is not typically analyzed.

While there are some duds, the super short stories do often hit their mark. Why go on for pages, if you can get the same thought out in a few words? Some of the stories feel at least partially autobiographical. Others have inspiration from some everyday event or correspondence. Some of the Kafka influence can be seen. 

Essays Two: On Proust, Translation, Foreign Languages, and the City of Arles

Essays Two: On Proust, Translation, Foreign Languages, and the City of Arles by Lydia Davis

Lydia Davis got bit by the language bug when she lived in Germany as a young child. Since then, she has gone on to learn other languages and translated many works into English as well as written her own works in English. The essays in the book cover a number of different types of translation. A traditional example is translation of a French work into English. Other forms of translation include translating English into more modern English and translating for herself as she reads Norwegian.

There is some long discussion on Proust. The work has already been translated and updated before. This gives many opportunities to look at the original and the various translations. There are a variety of tradeoffs in the translation. Sometimes there may not be a single word that matches what was in the other languages. Trying to get the flow from language to another can be challenging. Looking at previous translations also provides insight.

She finds translating a good way to "wake up" or break out of a rut. I see it as a creative endeavor that has some tight bounds. This provides a joy of understanding multiple languages and the comparison. She enjoyed reading a non-traditional Norwegian novel by Dag Solstad as a way of familiarizing herself with Norwegian.

Can't and Won't: Stories

Can't and Won't: Stories by Lydia Davis

This collection of short stories includes some that last just a page and others that go on. Some are based on spam email. Others arose out of the obituaries. There are a few that deal with the paralysis of making decisions. There is a very long one about receiving a grant. Will that allow the recipient to leave teaching? Well, maybe not. How will it change how the author interacts with people? There are various diversions to discuss how a teacher interacts with her class and the fear of writing on the blackboard. Then it punches forward to the thank you note to the foundation - that is overly analyzed and never sent. The style of the stories is excellent with skill taken to turn even the most mundane into a well-hewed message.

Essays One

Essays One by Lydia Davis

Kafka had an influence on Lydia Davis' writing style. That says enough. She had a career translating books (primarily from the French) as well as writing (especially short stories.) The essays here bounce around various styles, with a lot of free association and stream of conscious writing. Sometimes a piece of SPAM email can inspire a short story. Other times short story may end up looking more like a poem. It is all good. She said she has another book devoted to translation, but it still gets ample mention here. Both translation and writing involve a significant amount of editing and rewriting. It is an art to distill the meaning in the appropriate format.