College Town, 1980 by Mary Gaitskill, 2007
The magic trick:
A specific time and place (as the title suggests)
A second Mary Gaitskill story for your weekend. This one comes with an interesting history as related in Gaitskill’s intro to the 2007 publication on Vice.com. The story, she says, dates back to 1982. She didn’t feel it was worthy of publication then but liked the characters enough to build from this story for her 1996 “Orchids,” which I’ve never read.
It’s so impressive that you could have a story this strong just sitting in a box at home for three decades. That said, you can see why perhaps she didn’t think it was worth sending out into the world at the time. It’s more a setting than a story. The title seems to acknowledge as much.
But what a setting. What a group of characters. The narrative arc here is pretty weak. There aren’t a ton of ideas; or maybe there are too many ideas and not enough specific plotlines pursued. But it almost doesn’t matter. This captures such a specific place and time and specific group of misfits, it’s just enjoyable to meet them and spend time in this world.
And that’s quite a trick on Gaitskill’s part.
The selection:
Teresa and Lindsay walked to the counter with their arms around each other. They stood there giggling and whispering. Lindsay was a small, pretty girl who wanted to be a writer. She wore a black leather jacket and large black sunglasses. She came to the Oasis almost every day. She could sit there all day talking about how depressed she was to the various friends and acquaintances who would occupy the empty place beside her as the day went on. Janet despised Lindsay for wearing ridiculous sunglasses and for letting her father support her. This, although Janet’s father had supported her until he went bankrupt. Teresa and Lindsay turned to lean against the counter and stared at Janet. They looked right at her, whispering and giggling. Janet tried to think about how one of them was ugly and the other stupid. It didn’t help. Under their eyes she felt swollen and ugly at her little table in the sun. At least they were young and had boyfriends to get depressed about.
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