The Best Australian Stories 2011

When the world has asked ‘what does it mean to be Australian?’ many have turned to our media for answers. They have watched Crocodile Dundee and seen Lara Bingle on the television; they have read Bryce Courtney and confused Australia with South Africa. They have told their friends “Australians are boxers with hot girlfriends who hunt crocodiles in their spare time.”

The Best Australian Stories 2011, compiled by Cate Kennedy, is an important publication because it places 31 of our best writers in a tangible location, in something to be passed around and examined. It is a place to reflect upon a modern, contemporary Australia.

Perhaps then, this book is a classroom of gifted and talented toddlers who, while finger painting, are presided over by a world-class artist. No I am not comparing these stories to a toddler’s finger-painting session. What I mean is, like a toddler’s multi-coloured finger painting, the stories found within often contain multilayered narratives and, like a world-class artist presiding over a classroom of toddlers, they are often melancholic.

This is seen in What Love Tells Me by Nicholas Jose, a two-timing narrative that tells, through description and reflection, the woes of a male protagonist dealing with death in rural and urban settings – and maybe commenting on the progression of recorded Australian life from the bush to the city.

Forging Friendship, by Karen Hitchcock, also uses a dual narrative. She speaks of old friends finding her on Facebook and past lovers and dresses that she searches for on eBay. Hitchcock’s writing is intelligent and funny. After I finished reading her story I said “yes” and someone asked me why I said “yes” and I told them to buy the book.

Much of the book’s content is melancholic, a common theme in Australian literature given – amongst others – our convict ties and equal-rights abuse. However, it is a theme that has largely inconvenienced the Australian public. After all, we are the lucky country! Kennedy’s inclusion of stories like Duty of Care, Carrying On, The Men Outside My Room, Visitors’ Day and Home address issues of mortality, deception, relapse and comment on our refugee laws. They are mature, important steps at acknowledging a contemporary Australia.

However, while one cannot fault Kennedy’s attempt to compile a selection of stories that speak to a contemporary Australia on contemporary issues, several come across as bland and unpalatable – dishes that have been prepared and placed in a fridge, forgotten, to then be removed a week later and driven several hours to a family barbeque where dogs lie down and lick the concrete.

Others are genius and dark. Chris Womersley’s Where There’s Smoke is reminiscent of Roald Dahl. It is like the moment after you burn sugar on a pan. It is deceptively intriguing.

Silence 1945, by Rodney Hall, is also excellent. The author plays with one’s thought of expected outcome and, while offering an outcome, leaves it to the imagination of the reader to decide the ending. This is achieved in less than – about –350 words, which is a testament to the story.

My favourite story in the collection is Everybody Wins on Kid Planet by Nick Smith. He has great prose and originality and, like Hitchcock, is someone I look forward to reading in the future.

David Marr, while addressing the Colin Simpson lecture in March 2003 said, “So few Australian novels … address in worldly, adult ways the country and the time in which we live.” The Best Australian Stories 2011 is an earnest, affecting look at the modern day and will be found enjoyable, mostly.

Rating: 3.5 stars

The Best Australian Stories 2011
Black Inc
Paperback, 274 pages, RRP $ 29.95