The Rules of Partial Existence

Carolyn D. Redl is a sessional lecturer of English at the University of
Alberta.

Millar’s stories seek out and unravel the traveler’s encounter with
the mystique of Asia (in particular, Nepal) but they unravel still more
about the mystery of the traveler. What impetus drives the seeker to a
destination? In each of these eight pieces, a protagonist journeys
toward the glory of newfound space.

The stories charm and enchant. Narratives are peppered with Indian,
Nepalese, and Scandinavian names, places, words, and expressions. Some
emulate the simplicity and poetic grace of subaltern literature.
“Heaven, the Rain God, This World, Woman,” is one such story. A
60-page travelogue/autobiography, it measures the first-person
narrator’s life through her and her father’s travels—to Norway,
Prince Edward Island, the heavens, India, Germany, Vienna, Italy, and,
finally, Nepal. In this work, Millar’s voice is strongest, perhaps
because the content is closest to her own experience. Others in the
collection carry the aura of “found stories,” particularly
“Elephant in Taxi” and “Vishnu’s Dream,” which are strongly
dependent on dream and symbol.

Pervading the volume is Millar’s genuine delight at the unexpected
revelations of travel. In her introduction to the collection, she
answers the question “Are these stories about Nepal?” with a
hesitant “I don’t think so.” If not about Nepal, the stories
certainly convey a feeling for Nepal, and an even greater feeling for
the traveler. Not rites of significant initiation, the journeys exist,
it seems, of themselves through the territory they traverse and for
themselves through the language they evoke.