A VERY OLD MAN WITH ENORMOUS WINGS
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Before I forget...
Topic: January 2005
A couple of weeks ago, a great writer friend of mine, Heather Creamer of Nova Scotia, sent me, for a holiday gift, a collection of Canada's best for 2004: The Journey Prize Stories.

I flipped it open precisely to the page "Baby Khaki's Wings" by Anar Ali, a story previously appearing in filling station.

Well, of course, I had to read the story, knowing I would be perusing another famous angel story in the coming weeks. It turns out to be a terrific piece of magical realism. It is, of course, the story of a baby born with wings, but it's also the story of a young girl and the woman who employs her who are both victimized (in different ways) by an established patriarchy expecting perfection and constant care on the home front. It's also about trying to keep secret a wonderful truth from a society more preoccupied with social appearances and outdated customs than with the beauty of miracles.

Perhaps my favorite passage in the story is this description of the baby's developing wings, as the ayah Aisha, the young nanny, examines them with the intent to surgically remove them to protect her own job security:

"She slipped her fingers into the wing-pouch and pulled each wing out. Some white fluff flew out. Aisha smoothed out the creases on the wings and laid them across the baby's back. Only then did she realize that the wings had changed?they were now lightly downed with golden-brown hair. Aisha stroked the wings?they were so soft! What a beautiful baby!"

I won't tell you more than that, except to say that this is a must-read story for fans of both magical realism and angel tales. The writing is smooth and lovely, with bittersweet but beautiful moments. Ali Anar is an emerging writer worth anticipating.

A VERY OLD MAN WITH ENORMOUS WINGS
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Some history, and a word about Angels...
Topic: January 2005
Before I launch into a discussion about this favorite among Gabo's short stories, let's take care of some personal history.

I first read this story in 1996; a friend, Jeff Hill, had revealed to me in a writing group that my own work could be classified as magical realism. He gave me two books (Like Water for Chocolate and Chronicle of a Death Foretold), I read them, and I was convinced. I found a remaindered collection of Gabo's short stories shortly thereafter and read some memorable pieces, including "Eyes of a Blue Dog," "Tuesday Siesta" and "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings," and became hooked on Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

The version of "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" that I'm re-reading now comes from Leaf Storm and Other Stories, an Avon-Bard edition that's part of a larger series of primarily magical realist titles offered during the second part of the 20th century.

(Editor's note: We'll be featuring the history of that imprint in the Winter 2005 edition of Margin, which is slated for launch on January 26.)

But before I launch into the re-reading of this Gabo classic, a word about angels.

For me, angels in contemporary literature are, often, disappointing. It isn't that they aren't capable of wonders; they tackle their jobs with industry and enthusiasm. And that is precisely the problem. Flapping around with their absurd wings, glowing like, well, angels...they are hardly more than plot devices for the inexperienced writer, assigned to fix a stumbling manuscript and to lend it a manufactured sense of the mystical.

Now, I adore cherubs, and those angels who are part of the Nativity are lovely and necessary. But in a story about human foibles, who really needs a self-possessed heavenly creature directing traffic? I prefer stories where bumbling characters find their own way, which is significantly more interesting to me than watching an arrogantly perfect angel hold the lamp for them.

Angels in Disguise are another matter. There's a potential angel in the story, "Field" by Anne Spollen. I say potential because one could interpret the story's mystery visitor as a representation of the devil. But I read that story as featuring an angel, and I'm sticking with that interpretation.

Though perhaps I enjoy the idea of the Unlikely Angel most of all?the clueless, grubby angel who's shopping at Target on a bad-hair day with absolutely no idea they are leaving behind them a path of blessings and miracles. Like a reverse Pig Pen, eh? These are the angels that walk among us. At least that's what I'd like to believe.

Can't immediately recall any Unlikely Angels in literature, but you can certainly send me an email if you can. I know I'm trying to write one as a character in my current novel-in-progress.

Of course, akin to the unlikely angel is what I think of as the True Angel: pure, innocent, lovely. Think Remedios the Beauty from One Hundred Years of Solitude and you catch my meaning. After she rises up to the heavens, clinging to the wedding sheets, it all makes sense, though not a moment before. (Ah, the surprising inevitability of Garcia Marquez!) You'll let me know if you've found your own True Angel in other works of literature, won't you?

Which leads us back to this creation by Gabo, of

"?a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite of his tremendous efforts, couldn't get up, impeded by his enormous wings."

Stay tuned.

A VERY OLD MAN WITH ENORMOUS WINGS
Mood:  spacey
Topic: January 2005
Next week I shall begin re-reading and discussing the short story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings." I'm coming off a bout with walking pneumonia, so bear with me! Your comments are, of course, welcomed.

TKS

Introducing Margin's TWO-WAY MIRROR ~ a magical realist reading diary
Topic: From the editor
I recently had the pleasure of hearing Alberto Manguel read from his A Reading Diary at the fabulous Vancouver Public Library complex. I was inspired by his project. Manguel essentially selected a book he'd already read in the past and decided to reread it again and keep a reader's diary of his responses to the text as he read each book.

In January 2005, I will offer a small reading diary addressing my own experiences rereading various works of literary magical realism in a new monthly column. I've decided to dub it TWO-WAY MIRROR to suggest the interactive way in which literature informs our lives, as well as the way we bring our lives into the literature we read.

I'm excited by the idea?I'm always trying to find ways to concentrate my reading time. A reader's diary seems like the perfect way to do this. I hope you'll enjoy the thoughts and notes and links that arise from this project. It's just one of many ways we plan to celebrate Margin's 5th anniversary as an electronic anthology.

Below, please find the TWO-WAY MIRROR lineup for 2005. All of these titles currently reside on my home bookshelf:

January ~ "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (short story from Leaf Storm and Other Stories)

February ~ The Passion by Jeannette Winterson (novel)

March ~ The Sand Child by Tahar Ben-Jelloun (world literature)

April ~ The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (children's literature)

May ~ Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (classic novel in translation; I presently own the Norton Critical Edition edited by Diana de Armas Wilson and translated by Burton Raffel, but could easily be talked into reading the newest Edith Grossman translation instead)

June ~ The Woman Who Fell From The Sky by Joy Harjo (poetry)

July ~ Seven Nights by Jorge Luis Borges (lectures)

August ~ To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (novel)

September ~ James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (children's literature)

October ~ A Blessing on the Moon by Joseph Skibell (novel)

November ~ "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce (short story from Civil War Stories)

December ~ The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (novella)

Once TWO-WAY MIRROR goes live, subscribers to Margin will be automatically notified of these new additions to Margin. Those interested in responding to the diary entries will be invited to share their own thoughts through links contained within the feature.

As you begin to anticipate the coming year, you might also think about creating a diary of reread books. Consider this an experiment for the coming seasons of reading. It could make for interesting commentary in your book group, for instance, or it could be just the ticket you need for keeping up your annual reading resolution. It might also force you to read books that matter (who would reread books that didn't?).

At any rate, I don't believe any book is read the same way by any one reader the second time around. Rereading is not only about encountering the words again, but about interacting with books on a new, more personal level. The words of familiar books can become memory, emotion and intellectual experience when encountered again.

?Tamara Kaye Sellman is founding editor and publisher of Margin.