Short Story Review: ¨Big World¨

The big world of literature is Tim Winston's oyster. This Perth-born Australia writer has his nation at his feet: The Turning, his book of short stories published by Picador in 2004, has turned into a national best-seller and won the Christina Stead Award 2005. Granted, not all best-selling authors and award-winners (sixteen are the prizes that Winton has won throughout his writing career) can be said to have literary worth. If you are the type of person who refuses to follow the herd and tends to be suspicious of editorial blockbusters, at least try one of the seventeen stories that constitute The Turning. My suggestion is ¨Big World¨: a fifteen page story about big themes -loneliness, friendship or life choices just to name a few- that could whet your appetite for more. But, of course, the proof is in the reading.

Being a writer of novels and short stories for adults and children, Winton seems to have written ¨Big World¨ having both target readers in mind. The story resembles the novel of Initiation, thus appealing to those who are on the road to adulthood as well as to those who have already trespassed that threshold. This is the story of two school-leavers who, having failed their University admission-exams, feel stranded in Angelus, a fictional town located in Australia's South-Western coast. The protagonist (who is the first-person narrator of the story) and his bosom-friend, Biggie, work at the Meatworks of this small country-town, until one day they decide to buy an old Kombi from a hippie and leave for the North, in search of a paradise of Mangoes, cold beer and girls. For the protagonist, getting away form Angelus means breaking the chain that anchors him not only to Angelus' small world but also to his mother: a single-parent English teacher who cannot refrain herself from commenting on what she thinks is best for her son. But the adolescent's expectations will differ from reality and the road to the Big World will take an unexpected turning. Likewise, the plot will also have an unexpected twist, since the reader will probably not find much of the adventurous which is generally associated with the novel of Initiation. This is quite an uneventful journey. However, the point of arrival will differ from the point of departure. The reader will therefore be challenged to determine which the turning point in this story is, that crucial point that becomes an epiphany in the protagonist's life.

Perhaps one of Winton's strongest points as a writer is that he gives life to his characters as well as a voice of their own. Hence, the narrator of this story speaks with the colloquial and harsh language of an adolescent, therefore narrowing the distance between the characters and the reader. Yet, the narrator's speech is highly poetic, which reveals the sensitive side of a supposedly rough boy. The human quality of the characters is also displayed in the dynamics of the relationship between the narrator and his friend, Biggie. As the story moves forward, these two characters acquire the characteristics of a duo of complementary opposites: the narrator is the bright boy and dreams about reading Stevenson at university, while Biggie is dimmer (at least from the narrator's perspective), and only wants to become a salmon fishermen like his father. In spite of their disparity, there is friendship and loyalty between them. But a dormant conflict will trouble the protagonist's mind until he realizes that the tie which has kept them together is starting to come loose.

¨Big World¨'s literary worth seems to stem from the plurality of readings that it allows. There are elements of Post-Modernist writing, such as the blend of beautiful poetic images with harsh language, as well as an interesting construction of gender roles; male characters are not stereotyped; there is the abusive father who batters his wife and his son, but there is also the sensitive adolescent who cries his eyes out when he learns he will not be able to go to college. ¨Big World¨ can also be read from a Post-Colonial perspective: being a Southern-hemisphere citizen, Winton seems to be conveying a message by telling the story of a boy in Southern Australia who believes the big world (or perhaps the world itself) is somewhere in the North, far from where he lives. Winton appears to be making a question on the identity of his country's literature. Perhaps it is in the local color of this short story that we can find his answer to this question.

The big world of literature is Tim Winston's oyster. This Perth-born Australia writer has his nation at his feet: The Turning, his book of short stories published by Picador in 2004, has turned into a national best-seller and won the Christina Stead Award 2005. Granted, not all best-selling authors and award-winners (sixteen are the prizes that Winton has won throughout his writing career) can be said to have literary worth. If you are the type of person who refuses to follow the herd and tends to be suspicious of editorial blockbusters, at least try one of the seventeen stories that constitute The Turning. My suggestion is ¨Big World¨: a fifteen page story about big themes -loneliness, friendship or life choices just to name a few- that could whet your appetite for more. But, of course, the proof is in the reading.

Being a writer of novels and short stories for adults and children, Winton seems to have written ¨Big World¨ having both target readers in mind. The story resembles the novel of Initiation, thus appealing to those who are on the road to adulthood as well as to those who have already trespassed that threshold. This is the story of two school-leavers who, having failed their University admission-exams, feel stranded in Angelus, a fictional town located in Australia's South-Western coast. The protagonist (who is the first-person narrator of the story) and his bosom-friend, Biggie, work at the Meatworks of this small country-town, until one day they decide to buy an old Kombi from a hippie and leave for the North, in search of a paradise of Mangoes, cold beer and girls. For the protagonist, getting away form Angelus means breaking the chain that anchors him not only to Angelus' small world but also to his mother: a single-parent English teacher who cannot refrain herself from commenting on what she thinks is best for her son. But the adolescent's expectations will differ from reality and the road to the Big World will take an unexpected turning. Likewise, the plot will also have an unexpected twist, since the reader will probably not find much of the adventurous which is generally associated with the novel of Initiation. This is quite an uneventful journey. However, the point of arrival will differ from the point of departure. The reader will therefore be challenged to determine which the turning point in this story is, that crucial point that becomes an epiphany in the protagonist's life.

Perhaps one of Winton's strongest points as a writer is that he gives life to his characters as well as a voice of their own. Hence, the narrator of this story speaks with the colloquial and harsh language of an adolescent, therefore narrowing the distance between the characters and the reader. Yet, the narrator's speech is highly poetic, which reveals the sensitive side of a supposedly rough boy. The human quality of the characters is also displayed in the dynamics of the relationship between the narrator and his friend, Biggie. As the story moves forward, these two characters acquire the characteristics of a duo of complementary opposites: the narrator is the bright boy and dreams about reading Stevenson at university, while Biggie is dimmer (at least from the narrator's perspective), and only wants to become a salmon fishermen like his father. In spite of their disparity, there is friendship and loyalty between them. But a dormant conflict will trouble the protagonist's mind until he realizes that the tie which has kept them together is starting to come loose.

¨Big World¨'s literary worth seems to stem from the plurality of readings that it allows. There are elements of Post-Modernist writing, such as the blend of beautiful poetic images with harsh language, as well as an interesting construction of gender roles; male characters are not stereotyped; there is the abusive father who batters his wife and his son, but there is also the sensitive adolescent who cries his eyes out when he learns he will not be able to go to college. ¨Big World¨ can also be read from a Post-Colonial perspective: being a Southern-hemisphere citizen, Winton seems to be conveying a message by telling the story of a boy in Southern Australia who believes the big world (or perhaps the world itself) is somewhere in the North, far from where he lives. Winton appears to be making a question on the identity of his country's literature. Perhaps it is in the local color of this short story that we can find his answer to this question.