Confessions of an Irresolute Ethnic Writer - A Short Story by Elaine Chiew from her debut collection, The Heartsick Diaspora - 2020
Gateway to Elaine Chiew on The Reading Life
“The mendicant smiled into the wind. ‘Child, is the diaspora not within you? Do you not contain multitudes? Trust in the ineffable, the invisible. The voice will find you.’”
In “A Thoroughly Modern Ghost of Other Origin" we saw how even
the Ghosts of Singapore arose from an other worldly diaspora. In “Confessions of an Irresolute Writer” we get a glimpse of the Diaspora that helped create Hinduism and Buddism. The story is a delightful work of magic realism, displaying the marvelous creativity and talent of Elaine Chiew.
Set in a middle class area of London, not in ultra rich Belgravia with The Tiger Moms in “Rap of the Tiger Mother”, the lead human character is an irresolute writer, given to day dreaming and theoretically based literary musings rather than writing. We are not directly told where he is from but there is enough to make it probable he is a Singaporian of Chinese ancestry. He is very into American pop culture and has a knowledge of William Faulkner.
He is insecure in his cultural identity, seeming himself through old western images of “orientals”:
“He should be writing, but spent many hours thinking about consistent narrative voice and examining every zit on his countenance, or simply gazing at his own visage in the mirror and making faces. The Yellow-Peril Face. The Fu Manchu Face. The Charlie Chan Face. The Fresh-Off-The-Boat Face. The Model-Minority EagerBeaver Face. Which one was his True Face?”
Suddenly a being from at least four thousand years ago lands on the window ledge of his apartment, Garuda
(Garuda is a bird creature from Hindu mythology that has a mix of eagle and human features. He is the vehicle (vahana) of Vishnu and appears on the god's banner. Garuda represents birth and heaven, and is the enemy of all snakes. In Indian art, Garuda gradually acquired more human form over the centuries and so maintained only his wings. In Cambodia, however, he retains even today the great talons and vicious-looking beak of a bird of prey..from The Ancient History Encyclopedia)
Of course the man is shocked and frightened as Garuda enters his apartment. Garuda says “you are from third world country, right.”
Singapore is a first world place but who is going to contradict Garuda?
Garuda is hungry and considers eating the writer but decides to take him on a flight in search of better fare. As he clings to Garuda, they are soaring above England. Soon it is just not plain old England but somehow translated into a landscape out of ancient India texts. Garuda begins to open up to the writer sbout his issues with his parents, retelling Hindu Scripture as a family drama.
This is all an amazing transforming experience for the writer,now seemingly chatting with a diety about Family issues.
There is much to think about and enjoy in this story. The flight over England is a Marvel. The writer begins to record his thoughts in a notebook, producing work far transending his old work.
This is real.
This is a challenging story as we go further into the Multifarious Diasporas.
This is the seventh story in The Heartsick Diaspora i have posted upon. There are Seven more. I give this collection my highest endorsement.
Elaine Chiew
Elaine is a writer and a visual arts researcher, and editor of Cooked Up: Food Fiction From Around the World (New Internationalist, 2015).
Twice winner of the Bridport Short Story Competition, she has published numerous stories in anthologies in the UK, US and Singapore.
Originally from Malaysia, Chiew graduated from Stanford Law School and worked as a corporate securities lawyer in New York and Hong Kong before studying for an MA in Asian Art History at Lasalle College of the Arts Singapore, a degree conferred by Goldsmiths, University of London.
Elaine lives in Singapore and her book, The Heartsick Diaspora, and other stories, will be published by Myriad in 2020..from epchiew.com
Mel u
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