Fen: Stories

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I think that’s one of the things I love about the Fens, that things like Ely Cathedral you can see from miles and miles away because it’s so flat.” Marco and Arch looked so like one another, like a mistake doubled across space. She looked like leftovers.” University of Oxford (24 September 2018). "Alumna Daisy Johnson Shortlisted for Man Booker Prize 2018". Oxford University Department for Continuing Education . Retrieved 13 October 2018.

We see short stories of pale, young women, searching for love and fulfillment. But their environment is fenland, and most of their socialization occurs in pubs, or while fishing. Some travel to a larger town for their jobs. Others are still teens in school. Johnson, Daisy (7 January 2015). "There Was a Fox in the Bedroom". Boston Review . Retrieved 13 October 2018. The writing is beautiful, and made the elements of magic injected into most of the stories completely plausible, as well as being magical each was so human. Reading this was a joy, I had to stop reading to save some for the next evening.

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There are hints of miracles and resurrection. I immediately thought of Colm Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary (see my review HERE). But this is darker than Tóibín’s novella, and without the explicitly Biblical framework, it’s more unknown and unknowable. It’s not hard to imagine the flat, foreboding landscape of the Fens outside this circle, and the creeping water. She stops, waits, nods. The male-dominated stories we have told ourselves are missing such a large part of human experience that there needs to be space for alternative ones next to them, she explains, a space opened up by the irruption of the uncanny. “It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be writing about male characters, but women need to appear not only as mothers and partners, they need to appear as I-carrying figures in their own right.” As part of my work with UN Women, I have started reading as many books and essays about equality as I can get my hands on. There is so much amazing stuff out there! Funny, inspiring, sad, thought-provoking, empowering! I’ve been discovering so much that, at times, I’ve felt like my head was about to explode… I decided to start a Feminist book club, as I want to share what I’m learning and hear your thoughts too. In mijn hoofd zong de naam Daisy Johnson al rond sinds 2018, toen ze de shortlist van de Man Booker Prize haalde. Haar debuut, de verhalenbundel ‘Fen’ (in vertaling ‘Veenland’) legde ik blind op mijn stapeltje aankopen in de boekhandel, en later begon ik onvoorbereid aan de eerste alinea. Het was meteen raak.

Having a child (or anyone you love) is a prelude to loss, whether yours or theirs. The more you want it, the more you have to lose. This story is an allegory for growing up and leaving home. AS Byatt’s short story, The Stone Woman (see my review see my review HERE) came to mind. The stories are in many ways more striking than the better known Everything Under, and this is in part the nature of short stories that cannot meander (Sarah Hall's term for the more forgiving nature of longer novels). Daisy Johnson's book came to me by chance. I retweeted a contest, didn't know what books to say I liked, and was given a surprise bundle. The moment I read the blurb, I knew I had to read it. So I've been dipping in and out. Female protagonists each find themselves rooted in a British landscape that's familiar, but surrounded by a world that isn't.I perceive 'Language' 'Starver' 'A Bruise the Shape and Size of a Door Handle' and 'A Heavy Devotion' as mythical fairytales and know I shall repeatedly re-read them as such.