Emma's Hands

W.J. Keith is a retired professor of English at the University of Toronto and author A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada.

Contemporary writers on the art of the short story claim that it now
manifests many of the qualities once associated with poetry: bold
imagery, verbal precision, succinctness of statement. The traditional
emphasis on plot is now considered old-fashioned; instead, readers are
presented with finely etched transcriptions from experience, symbolic
moments, scenes and moods revealing inner conflicts or unexpected states
of mind.

Mary Swan’s stories conform to this general trend. They are
evocative, touching, delicately poised. Above all, their resemblance to
poetry extends to include an extraordinary stylistic resonance. If one
responds fully to her art, one rejoices in the sheer beauty of the
writing. This is a quality not generally admired nowadays, with the
exception of the self-conscious, mannered, and surely overrated style of
Michael Ondaatje. The difference lies in the fact that Swan’s prose is
not imposed conspicuously upon her subject but arises naturally and
appropriately from it. Her protagonists are invariably women, most often
mature women looking back on incidents in their lives whose significance
they now understand for the first time. Swan’s prose is clear, even
limpid, reminiscent of the seemingly simple but highly sophisticated art
of Ethel Wilson.

Yet Swan demands a good deal from her readers. Her writing may be
precise, even crystalline, but she reproduces the sudden shifts of mind
and temporal dislocations that so often characterize people undergoing
intense emotional strain. Unless one reads with great care, picking up
every tonal clue, these stories may seem obscure and fragmentary. One
may have to go back, read again, and puzzle out the connections.
Eventually, however, all these stories reveal their secrets—and they
are valuable secrets.

Mary Swan’s first book, a novella entitled The Deep (2002), revealed
the same qualities that are evident here. I have no hesitation in
hailing her as the most gifted new Canadian prose writer to have
appeared on the scene for many years. But the key, I repeat, is in the
style. These stories must be listened to; every word must be savoured.
An exceptional talent is on display here.