Sub-Rosa and Other Fiction

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

Vancouver freelance editor Catherine Bennett is an emerging
postmodernist writer. She has been published in such literary magazines
as Sub-terrain, Tessera, and Grain, which awarded her first prize in its
1991 “Short Grain” contest. Appropriately enough, she entered the
“Postcard Story Category.” Now her special style is showcased in
this collection of minimalist compositions.

Along with its minimalism, thie volume features some
“genre-bending” chapters that explore “a state of mind rather than
a description of events.” Unlike her postmodern peers, however, the
author does not challenge “patriarchal” linguistics with feminist
critiques. She can play with language, but her play is not in the same
league as that of Nicole Brossard or Erin Mouré. Bennett’s play is
hedonistic. She toys with English for her own—and sometimes the
reader’s—amusement. “Of all the rocks and all the hard places in
the world, ya had to land between mine” is a phrase that will amuse
cinema-literate readers.

Bennett also caters to those who seek rawer pleasures. “Ficture
Theory” and other stories feature passionate lesbian relationships.
The protagonist of “Whiskey Sour” becomes part of a ménage-а-trois
while on vacation in a “steaming city on the Gulf.” Despite some
intense prose, Bennett’s erotica remains at the subpornographic level.


Although Bennett appears to have avoided the trap of inaccessibility,
her prose is often ponderous. She offers sex and wit to compensate,
meeting potential readers halfway. Unfortunately, the literate public
sometimes demands that writers go further.