SHORT STORIES

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30094, 30 March 1963, Page 3

SHORT STORIES

Coast to Coast. Australian Short Stories. Selected by Hal Porter. Angus and Robertson. 216 pp. The latest volume of “Coast to Coast” again reveals the bright fresh approach to life that seems to be the special gift of many Australian short story writers. Notable in this respect are Patricia Rolfe’s “Life Among the Savages” and Hal Porter’s “First Love.” But a number of the stories included give an impression of brevity, as if the writers were unsure about the placing of emphasis and about the possibilities of the form they have adopted. The first story in the book, Amy Wittimg’s “The Weight of a Man,” is an example of this. A comparatively simple incident brings about consequences that not all readers would accept as probable. In the same way Judah Waten’s “His Only Love” is not entirely satisfying. Science fiction is suitably represented by “It Could Be You,” in which Frank Roberts explores a terrifying prospect. Other stories show that Australian writers can deal competently with unfamiliar characters in an exotic setting. Michael Rowdon’s “Tale of a Japanese Evening” is the best story of this kind in “Coast to Coast” The Terribly Wild Flowers. By Gerald Kersh. Heinemann. 257 pp. Gerald Kersh has written many full-length novels, and “The Terribly Wild Flowers” is his 10th volume of short stories. Looked at from that point of view this collection is unlikely to be exciting; but such an opinion would be incorrect. In fact, Mr Kersh’s imagination seems to have become more lively with exercise; and it is a long time since anyone has written stories remotely resembling these. In his day, Arthur Machen, in tales like: “The Inmost Light,” “The White People,” and “The Terror” could create the kind of atmosphere suggested in this book; but Mr Kersh secures his effects much more rapidly than the older writer did. The story which gives the book its title is an example of this. Nor are such things as “The Oracle of the Fish” lacking in depth and suggestion. Mr Kersh’s appreciation of national characteristics, in particular those of the Welsh, is best described as acute. The longest story “The Pug and the Angel" is a period piece, a tour de force. It is a story of low life in New York, which is related to the novelist Thackeray in that famous old theatrical public house, “The Coal Hole in the Strand.” “A Problem in Curves,” “Perfect Camera” and “Tamara Prolly” are all shorter than the stories mentioned above; but each of them contains a clever idea. “The Terribly Wild Flowers” is Mr Kersh at his best.