The
best From the Bering Strait & Other Stories
In
Frank O'Connor's short story, News
for the Church, Father Cassidy (known
for his leniency) advises a young
woman in his confessional: It's
all the little temptations we don't
indulge in that give us true refinement.'
What a perfectly ambiguous piece
of moral instruction. What music
to our ears. What more could we
ask for in the way of loopholes?
For who is to say which are the
little and which the not-so-little?
How do you separate them? (Deliberation,
reflection, a bit of time, but then
not one of those keeps much company
with temptation.) You could find
yourself fudging, engaging in all
sorts of intellectual gymnastics
in order to allow yourself to call
small big. On the other hand, if
you really felt the need to go to
such lengths, maybe that particular
temptation wasn't so little after
all. Otherwise, why would you have
bothered?
But wait a minute. Is it really the venials we need avoid? We thought those were the freebies, the forgivables, the ways of letting off steam, to keep us out of really big trouble. But then we're talking about refinement here, not salvation. And what about refinement? It too seems a pretty relative term. What I call refined, you call retentive, or vice versa. Too much refinement and you tighten into preciousness, prudishness. You seize up. You're no fun anymore. You can put people off with too much refinement, and that'll pretty much take care of temptation for you. So yes, as ethics, that piece of advice has its problems. But as aesthetics, and as a comment on the art of the short story itself, it seems perfectly apt. Because in the story, there's only so much space, and you can't have everything. Nor can you give it. Knowing what to hold back, what not to do, or say, is such a part of a story's shaping. So that the story itself becomes a kind of enticement. Like being led by the hand to a particularly fascinating keyhole. But a keyhole, nonetheless. And right there, along with whatever slice of life we've glimpsed, are all the things we don't know, or aren't told, or haven't fully understood. And that's the beauty of it. That knowing everything would only spoil the view - Molly McCloskey
Edited By Clem
Cairns
Contents:
Sorry. This Book is Out of Print
You can view some of the stories from this book in our Short Stories to Read Online page
From the Bering
Strait by Gina Ochsner
Read
this story in Short
Stories to Read Online
A Game of Chess by Eithne
Le Goff
Etienne's Tattoo by Geraldine
Taylor
Come to me, Sweet Dementia
by Martin Malone
Reptiles by Patrick Sandes
the forces by Pam Leeson
Aqua Linda by Scott Lipanovich
Why I've Always Loved Fishmongers
by Graham Mort
The Woman Who Swallowed The Book
of Kells by Ian Wild
Sal by Derick Donahoe
The Imam's Daughter by Shereen
Pandit
Mr McInty's Special Window
by Rebecca Lisle
The Face in the Wallpaper
by Hugo Kelly
This is Art by Maureen Aitken
Heard of a Band Called Mysterical?
by Mick Wood
The No Thumb Hitch-Hiker
by Sarah Weir
Life Assurance by Stella
Galea
Wardrobe by Patrick O'Toole
Cover Picture - Afternoon Swimmer by Gabrielle Seymour
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