posted on 15 Nov 2015

Public Library and Other Stories by Ali Smith

I was genuinely thrilled to see that there would be a new collection of Ali Smith short stories and even more delighted that it would be entitled Public Libraries and Other Stories. Over recent months Smith has been outspoken and redoubtable on the issue of the vandalism being done to the public library network and another fillip to the campaign can only be a good thing.

Having now had chance to read the book I have to admit I’m a little bit ambivalent about what she has produced. Anyone who has read Smith’s other work will know that they should expect something unconventional and something challenging and this collection is no exception. None of the stories in the book are directly about a public library but they are all laced together by individual, personal testimonies to the power of the library in the lives of people who have given Smith their memories and shared their sometimes intimate feelings about these buildings full of books.So, in its own way the book is a library too. My favourite is one of the shortest stories where a librarian tells of her feelings when she notices that one of the older people who has come into the library to read and ultimately doze at the tables is her mother.

There are paeans of praise, set in italics and placed between each story, so we are clearly being invited to make the link between the impact, role and purpose of libraries and Smith’s oblique stories. And I think the links are there but the reader sometimes has to stretch to get to them. The stories are frequently a creative blend of fiction and autobiography where the boundary line between the two is often difficult to establish. There is an evident love of language and word-play and Ali seems to roll these words around the stories for the sheer love of them. Little domestic situations turn out to have extraordinary conclusions and other stories just seem to run to an end that isn’t an end. Dream worlds force their way into reality and you’re as likely to find yourself in the company of Dusty Springfield as you are to be contemplating the life and loves of D.H.Lawrence and Katherine Mansfield.

However, I can’t help but feel that these stories are not for everyone and that those looking for carefully crafted, traditional stories with a beginning, a middle and an end will be disappointed. I’m also not sure that structure  works quite as well as it might – the library testimonials, perfectly worthy in their own right, do sometimes feel a little bit in the way of the book's natural flow.

As with any writing that takes chances I think it’s important not to rush to judgement – the stories demand a second reading and another reader may feel very differently about them than I do. I was too confused too often to really enjoy the book first time around but hopefully I’ll grow into it.

 

Terry Potter

November 2015