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Stories Out of Omarie
Stories Out of Omarie, Wendy Walker’s new collection, deals with forbidden love in medieval Europe and North Africa. A knight meets a naked woman in the forest who rescues him only to lead him later to drawn. Two lovers, forcibly separated, continue their involvement in letters delivered to each other by a swan. A passionate affair in which the lovers never touch brings a jealous husband to dismember a nightingale. Venus realizes in the middle of narrating a story that she is the invention of one of her own characters. In the title story, a father forces his daughter into a barrel and throws it overboard in the middle of the sea; rescued by pirates, she is given to a sultan who teachers her to read, and whom she deserts for her father. In story after story, each written in Walker’s impeccable and densely rich style, the author takes us to the brink of passion where the characters totter, ready to retreat entirely from love or fall into the pit of sensuous transgression. Once again, she takes the reader for a breathtaking venture on the ‘tempting regions of web.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
311 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1995
About the author
Wendy Walker
33 books83 followersI am the author of The Secret Service, Stories Out of Omarie, The Sea-Rabbit, or, The Artist of Life, Blue Fire, My Man and Other Critical Fictions, The Camperdown Elm, and most recently, Sexual Stealing. I am a co-founder of The Writhing Society, a group that practices writing with constraints. My drawings are in the Flat Files of the Kentler International Drawing Space in Red Hook, Brooklyn. My website is www.wendywalker.com.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 10, 2019
beautifully written, often haunting stories based on the lais of Marie de France. medieval love and forbidden romance, the occasional bit of supernatural, strange quests and brooding obsessions, the fragility of the body and the strength of the heart.
according to my good friend Wikipedia:
"The Passing of Graelent" based on "Lanval"
- a complex novella about the love of a knight for a mysterious lady he has come upon bathing, and the trashy king and queen who cause him no end of difficulties. I had some challenges with the italicized, declamatory portions of this piece, as the high-flown language and obscure rationale for their inclusion took me aback and reduced the intensity of the overarching story. I would not read this one first. still, the balance clearly weighs in the positive and there were many moments of sublime beauty and dry wit to enjoy.
"Laüstic" based on "The Nightingale"
- a cloistered woman falls in love with a neighbor knight. tragic and gorgeous. perhaps the most perfectly written story in the collection, a true gem.
"The Children of Montjoie" based on "Les Deux Amants"
- a condescending fellow relates the story of a test for a princess' hand, one with tragic results. lovely and moving, despite the distancing narration.
"The Twin Knots" based on "Guigemar"
- the second of three novellas, one even more complex then the first. and like the first, I had some challenges with this one. this story of a lovelorn knight and a cloistered wife who create knots that can only be undone by the other was often fascinating but just as often obscure. its ruminations on Art were absorbing, although perhaps took up too much space. still, this work - narrated by Venus! - had much that enchanted, and was perhaps the most hallucinatory story in the collection.
"Deadlock, or, The Two Titles" based on "Chaitivel"
- a competition between four worthy knights for the love of one rather indecisive woman results in death, a terrible loss, and an almost ecstatic mourning. this was an odd one.
"A Story Out of Omarie" based on "A Story of Beyond the Sea"
- the third novella and my favorite piece in the collection. a wife finds terrible misfortune and is terribly mistreated, which leads to an incredibly fulfilling shift in her destiny. from European court and forest to the palaces and gardens of the Middle East and back again. schadenfreude, a richly detailed setting with a focus on patterns, and a fascinating, complex heroine. what an entrancing adventure! I reread it this morning and it was an even more layered and resonant experience the second time around. there is a hypnotic serenity to the writing here that insists upon contemplation. an absolute 5 stars.
"Swan Hunger" based on "Milun"
- a rather amusing tale written as alternating letters between two lovers - a knight and a married woman (of course). it was an intriguing decision to not close with the original happy ending of this lay and instead end on a note of ominous ambiguity.
"Goatleaf" based on "Chevrefoil"
- a short retelling - or perhaps distillation is the better word - of the love between Tristan and Isolde. an idyll.
according to my good friend Wikipedia:
The lais of Marie de France are a series of twelve short narrative Breton lais by the poet Marie de France. They are written in the Anglo-Norman and were probably composed in the late 12th century. The short, narrative poems generally focus on glorifying the concept of courtly love by the adventures of their main characters. Despite her stature in Anglo-Norman literature and medieval French literature generally, little is known of Marie herself, but it is thought that she was born in France and wrote in England.Wendy Walker doesn't update these poems, she re-envisions them. as stories, of course, but in other ways as well. in some, she stays as true as one could to the feeling of a myth or legend or fable being told. in others, there is a sense of playfulness and mordant humor, or a surreal quality, or meta elements. often she makes a decision to feature one component of a poem over another. (in a couple, she displays a surprising modesty by not engaging with an accusation of homosexuality in one tale or a wound leading to impotence in another.) her style and the tone of each story varies in a way that makes this collection of archaic narratives a dynamic one rather than dull and dry or overly earnest. I admired the liveliness and intelligence continuously on display throughout the collection. I loved the author's focus on the permutations and potential dangers and, above all, the sheer intensity and all-encompassing, almost obliterating qualities of a forbidden love.
"The Passing of Graelent" based on "Lanval"
- a complex novella about the love of a knight for a mysterious lady he has come upon bathing, and the trashy king and queen who cause him no end of difficulties. I had some challenges with the italicized, declamatory portions of this piece, as the high-flown language and obscure rationale for their inclusion took me aback and reduced the intensity of the overarching story. I would not read this one first. still, the balance clearly weighs in the positive and there were many moments of sublime beauty and dry wit to enjoy.
"Laüstic" based on "The Nightingale"
- a cloistered woman falls in love with a neighbor knight. tragic and gorgeous. perhaps the most perfectly written story in the collection, a true gem.
"The Children of Montjoie" based on "Les Deux Amants"
- a condescending fellow relates the story of a test for a princess' hand, one with tragic results. lovely and moving, despite the distancing narration.
"The Twin Knots" based on "Guigemar"
- the second of three novellas, one even more complex then the first. and like the first, I had some challenges with this one. this story of a lovelorn knight and a cloistered wife who create knots that can only be undone by the other was often fascinating but just as often obscure. its ruminations on Art were absorbing, although perhaps took up too much space. still, this work - narrated by Venus! - had much that enchanted, and was perhaps the most hallucinatory story in the collection.
"Deadlock, or, The Two Titles" based on "Chaitivel"
- a competition between four worthy knights for the love of one rather indecisive woman results in death, a terrible loss, and an almost ecstatic mourning. this was an odd one.
"A Story Out of Omarie" based on "A Story of Beyond the Sea"
- the third novella and my favorite piece in the collection. a wife finds terrible misfortune and is terribly mistreated, which leads to an incredibly fulfilling shift in her destiny. from European court and forest to the palaces and gardens of the Middle East and back again. schadenfreude, a richly detailed setting with a focus on patterns, and a fascinating, complex heroine. what an entrancing adventure! I reread it this morning and it was an even more layered and resonant experience the second time around. there is a hypnotic serenity to the writing here that insists upon contemplation. an absolute 5 stars.
"Swan Hunger" based on "Milun"
- a rather amusing tale written as alternating letters between two lovers - a knight and a married woman (of course). it was an intriguing decision to not close with the original happy ending of this lay and instead end on a note of ominous ambiguity.
"Goatleaf" based on "Chevrefoil"
- a short retelling - or perhaps distillation is the better word - of the love between Tristan and Isolde. an idyll.
Read
August 2, 2014I really like Wendy Walker. And I apologize for taking so damn long reading this short collection of stories ; they do rather belong together in the manner that any collection arranged by its author belongs together, not a mere random assortment. I forgot this principle and read assuming I’d use these stories to fill in various gaps of time, etc. That was a mistake.
Because these stories are really quite excellent. What is going on here is that Walker is telling (because, for these-type-thing the telling is always a retelling so let’s just stick with ‘telling’) stories of days gone by, days of old, days of the days of chivalry, days of the The Lais of Marie de France ; something I’ve not read, but I’ve read a few things of what I might call that era, and listen, Walker gets it right -- the tone, mood, style, voice, register, all of it -- and avoids the Barthian ironical appropriating of days of old or the kind of ideological modernizing practiced by the disneys and hollywoods and etcs of our era. Walker brings life into this old world ; bones dance here. Unfortunately, perhaps, there is not much sorcery accompanying the swords and chivalry. Another time perhaps?
In order to flesh out this short Review, I’ll add the back cover descriptor ::
“Stories Out of Omarie, Wendy Walker’s new collection, deals with forbidden love in medieval Europe and North Africa. A knight meets a naked woman in the forest who rescues him only to lead him later to drawn. Two lovers, forcibly separated, continue their involvement in letters delivered to each other by a swan. A passionate affair in which the lovers never touch brings a jealous husband to dismember a nightingale. Venus realizes in the middle of narrating a story that she is the invention of one of her own characters. In the title story, a father forces his daughter into a barrel and throws it overboard in the middle of the sea; rescued by pirates, she is given to a sultan who teachers her to read, and whom she deserts for her father. In story after story, each written in Walker’s impeccable and densely rich style, the author takes us to the brink of passion where the characters totter, ready to retreat entirely from love or fall into the pit of sensuous transgression. Once again, she takes the reader for a breathtaking venture on the ‘tempting regions of web.’”
And if that does whet your whistle ; Why are we even talking?
And to conclude, as I’ve said a thousand times before, I don’t know how to talk about ‘prose style’ and this kind of thing, but I really like Walker’s prose ; I have to say that because her prose must be the system of blocks out of which she built something I like to read. And to finally conclude, I like what she did with the Lais of Marie, so I’m gunna check out what she does with Grimm in The Sea-Rabbit; Or, the Artist of Life.
Earlier I had this fore-conception to offer :::
_________________
Hi.
I've been looking for excuses for you to read Wendy Walker even prior to any kind of Reviews showing up in this corner of goodreads. Walker was rec'd to me by Rod :: https://www.goodreads.com/user_status... And my first thought is that her Blue Fire is knot available at amazon which is pretty cool because what author would have the gaul to diss amazon? ; but you can find it here :: http://www.proteotypes.org/books [also, she has several books pub'd by Sun and Moon]
BUT just now I discovered this magic word :: "Oulipo". Please read : "Wendy Walker and Tom La Farge on Constrained Writing" ;; http://www.nyfa.org/nyfa_current_deta...
Please note that there is another Wendy Walker who writes those despicable soup books. Our Walker is http://www.wendywalker.com/
Because these stories are really quite excellent. What is going on here is that Walker is telling (because, for these-type-thing the telling is always a retelling so let’s just stick with ‘telling’) stories of days gone by, days of old, days of the days of chivalry, days of the The Lais of Marie de France ; something I’ve not read, but I’ve read a few things of what I might call that era, and listen, Walker gets it right -- the tone, mood, style, voice, register, all of it -- and avoids the Barthian ironical appropriating of days of old or the kind of ideological modernizing practiced by the disneys and hollywoods and etcs of our era. Walker brings life into this old world ; bones dance here. Unfortunately, perhaps, there is not much sorcery accompanying the swords and chivalry. Another time perhaps?
In order to flesh out this short Review, I’ll add the back cover descriptor ::
“Stories Out of Omarie, Wendy Walker’s new collection, deals with forbidden love in medieval Europe and North Africa. A knight meets a naked woman in the forest who rescues him only to lead him later to drawn. Two lovers, forcibly separated, continue their involvement in letters delivered to each other by a swan. A passionate affair in which the lovers never touch brings a jealous husband to dismember a nightingale. Venus realizes in the middle of narrating a story that she is the invention of one of her own characters. In the title story, a father forces his daughter into a barrel and throws it overboard in the middle of the sea; rescued by pirates, she is given to a sultan who teachers her to read, and whom she deserts for her father. In story after story, each written in Walker’s impeccable and densely rich style, the author takes us to the brink of passion where the characters totter, ready to retreat entirely from love or fall into the pit of sensuous transgression. Once again, she takes the reader for a breathtaking venture on the ‘tempting regions of web.’”
And if that does whet your whistle ; Why are we even talking?
And to conclude, as I’ve said a thousand times before, I don’t know how to talk about ‘prose style’ and this kind of thing, but I really like Walker’s prose ; I have to say that because her prose must be the system of blocks out of which she built something I like to read. And to finally conclude, I like what she did with the Lais of Marie, so I’m gunna check out what she does with Grimm in The Sea-Rabbit; Or, the Artist of Life.
Earlier I had this fore-conception to offer :::
_________________
Hi.
I've been looking for excuses for you to read Wendy Walker even prior to any kind of Reviews showing up in this corner of goodreads. Walker was rec'd to me by Rod :: https://www.goodreads.com/user_status... And my first thought is that her Blue Fire is knot available at amazon which is pretty cool because what author would have the gaul to diss amazon? ; but you can find it here :: http://www.proteotypes.org/books [also, she has several books pub'd by Sun and Moon]
BUT just now I discovered this magic word :: "Oulipo". Please read : "Wendy Walker and Tom La Farge on Constrained Writing" ;; http://www.nyfa.org/nyfa_current_deta...
Please note that there is another Wendy Walker who writes those despicable soup books. Our Walker is http://www.wendywalker.com/
August 1, 2016
Wendy Walker seems to have an interest, perhaps like that of Angela Carter or Italo Calvino, in classical story forms. But her approach is very much her own, here rendering a set of medieval legends into a crisp timeless prose that suggests the language of their era while maintaining a modern clarity of telling. Their implications, however, retain a sense of mystery despite this clarity of actual event. Is this a function of irreducible myth in the original material, or of Walker's richly layered assembly, where competing voices in verse may arise as internal commentators, narrators may prove otherworldly and of uncertain motive, or multiple pages may veer off into discussions of the creation of an artwork which may or may not reflect the events surrounding it. The result is oddly ageless yet contemporary, direct yet ambiguous, particularly in the three haunting longer novellas that make up most of the text.
Read in a single go during a long plane voyage, which allowed me to collapse and compare her approaches across the stories quite effectively.
Read in a single go during a long plane voyage, which allowed me to collapse and compare her approaches across the stories quite effectively.
January 28, 2019
I‘ve thinking about 12th century romances lately and remembered this ridiculously good book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews