I’m quite drunk at this point. I’m thinking he could do anything to me, and then straightaway I’m ashamed of the thought. He’s so young I could be his mother. I’d like to run my hand through his hair, press myself against him, and protect him in some way.
Peter Stamm has been getting a lot of acclaim lately. A couple of weeks ago, he was in The New Yorker.
And this week, he’s in Guernica. Read “Expectations,” and you’ll see why Stamm is so lauded: the stories tend to be deeply ordinary, about ordinary things, but they’re closely observed. It’s not the plot, but the form.
I wanted “Expectations” because the woman narrating it tells you so much about herself, her loneliness, without ever directly addressing it.
I’m thinking it might be one of the best stories we’ve ever run.
This was one of the most difficult stories to find a photo for! She talks about getting drunk with the guy, and then makes a mention that he leaves this lady-bug like chocolates on her table as a gift.
So many symbols. So much tension. Sometimes I wish I could just choose an abstract photo as a cop-out and leave it at that.
It was a great job, Haniya!