Fiction
from MONA
by Pola Oloixarac, translated from the Spanish by Adam MorrisPola Oloixarac’s Mona begins with its eponymous protagonist fleeing the safety of her academic post at Stanford to join a dozen literary prize nominees in Sweden. The story advances primarily through conversation and observation about art, books, sex, and theory—and when characters aren’t speaking explicitly in the language of critical theory we can imagine that they’re anticipating critical theoretical objections to their own thoughts. That said, it’s funny, sometimes very very funny. Mona’s insight into our world may come across as shockingly candid, it might come across as shockingly jaded, but it will not come across as inhibited or overly careful. With her debut Savage Theories, and now here in Mona, Oloixarac reminds us that serious fiction can also be bracingly wild.
An Ecstasy of Parting
By Meryl Branch-McTiernan“An Ecstasy of Parting,” by Meryl Branch-McTiernan draws its title from an Emily Dickinson poem, and like the poem tackles a dark subject at its heart. When we meet the main character, he’s waking up to the aftermath of an alcohol-fueled argument with his wife. We watch as he tries to redeem himself and regain control of the life he’s made for himself through a nostalgia-driven trip to the beach with his young daughter. Branch-McTiernan smoothly alternates the tone of the story between moments of existential dread, tenderness, and humor.
