The law catches up with Herman, a fugitive dog. A girl travels around and around the subdivision where she lives, a “subdivision…purposefully constructed in the shape of a rosary,” contemplating the “mysteries” and thinking about her dad. What’s astonishing about these stories is their lack of literary pretention. Some are very funny, others are filled with sadness, but what they have in common is an ingenuousness that is almost disturbing in its pervasiveness. Not all the stories pull it off, though. In “Mad Dog and Other Pet Inventions” a couple of scientists invent an abouscope, “an instrument…able to take the sound waves of barking dogs and translate them into audible and comprehensible modern English.” From there, the story deteriorates. Then there’s David Day’s “The Tyranny of Dewey Decimal” which starts off bemoaning the “ludicrous accursed albatross of Great Literature,” then goes on to describe itself: “this scribbling here, for instance,/Shouldn’t, isn’t and doesn’t need to be literature.” Finally, it pins the blame for its fate: “It’s the bloody librarian, of course!” Of course. We all knew that. Interviews are an important part of Core. Three in this issue. The Meeka Walsh interview is like a book review. Walsh comes at her work from the outside, like she has no emotional investment in it. By the end of the interview, I certainly have no desire to read her book. On the other hand both the Lorna Crozier and the Joel Maki interviews tell the stories of thoughtful, interesting writers. On its cover, “Core” describes itself as a Literary Kaleidoscope. I’m not sure how literary it is (or how literary it really wants to be), but it sure is a good read.
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