A World of Difference: An Anthology of Short Stories from Five Continents

by Lynda Prescott

"This anthology brings together an international selection of short stories by distinguished modern writers from five continents (America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe).

 

The fifteen stories collected here were all written in English within the last fifty years.  Each has something to say about cultural encounters, often arising from experiences of migration or uprooting.  In tone and mood the stories are as varied as in their geographical settings - their predominantly realist temper promotes vivid, imaginative connections between the worlds of fiction and the worlds of its readers.

 

The book's theme of 'difference' is echoed in the diversity of writers represented: Nobel Laureates (Nadine Gordimer, V.S. Naipaul); masters of the short story (Raymond Carver, Mavis Gallant, William Trevor); and a younger generation of late twentieth-century writers on their way to establishing international reputations (Ana Menendez, Zadie Smith).

 

Each story is introduced by a photographic and biographic portrait of its author".

Contents:

The ultimate safari by Nadine Gordimer
In Cuba I was a German shepherd by Ana Menéndez
The joy luck club by Amy Tan
What do you do in San Francisco? by Raymond Carver
Mr Sumarsono by Roxana Robinson
The last Mohican by Bernard Malamud
The end of the world by Mavis Gallant
The distant past by William Trevor
American dreams by Peter Carey
Bella makes life by Lorna Goodison
Martha, Martha by Zadie Smith
Pit strike by Alan Sillitoe
Storm Petrel by Romesh Gunesekera
Squatter by Rohinton Mistry
One out of many by V.S. Naipaul

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Literature, Classics, 21st Century, Poetry

296 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2008

Reviews

[Zanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding collection, inspiring me to read more of the work of many of the authors featured:

Nadine Gordimer - The Ultimate Safari

A tale of asylum-seeking in Mozambique from the point of view of a young child, whose unworldliness enables Gordimer to draw a painful contrast between the lives of African people and the experience of tourists visiting the sub-Saharan area

Amy Tan - The Joy Luck Club

This story was a breath of fresh air for me and I fully intend to seek out the original collection. Tan's most famous story is truly original, providing a rare and deep insight into Chinese cultural attitudes and history, and the intergenerational tensions engendered by migration.

Ana Menendez - In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd

Menendez fleshes this simple series of vignettes with rich and poignant detail, the precious material of cultural memory. The perpetually frustrated hope of a diaspora in long-term exile is balanced with humour and the imperfect compensations of life in America

Roxana Robinson - Mr Sumarsono

Robinson tells the simple tale of a visiting diplomat from the viewpoint of the well-meaning but vulgar and ignorant hostess's young daughter, who is disgusted by her mother's behaviour. Mr Sumarsono is angelic and oblivious, and his vision purges all impurities from the hosts kindness. The transformative potential of cross-cultural meetings is richly hinted at in this clever and finely crafted story.

Bernard Malamud - The Last Mohican

Malamud's protagonist's experience is full of delicious novelty, and the deeper resonances are many, reaching into complex collective notions of fellowship, shared history and responsibility.

Alan Silitoe - Pit Strike

The first story I have read by Silitoe, who relates this unusual anecdote in a refreshingly unembellished style, while the scriptural leanings of the protagonist give his actions a stylish tone of mythical heroism

V.S Naipaul - One Out of Many

I first read this with In a Free State and it's made an indelible impression. Naipaul is masterful in telling the incisive tale of servitude transported, giving each character due measure of inherent decency, self-interest and flawed humanity. The uncomfortable meeting of worlds is all the more resonant because stories from the point of view of servants are so unusual. Over and over I was confronted with my own privilege and prejudice, and forced to think again. It's also a radical story of emancipation and readjustment, entirely without utopian illusions.

[Vicky "phenkos" · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book accompanies Book 3 of the Open University course AA100 "Arts Past and Present", however it can stand on its own, and will be of interest to people keen to explore themes of otherness, cultural diversity, displacement and migration. It comprises fifteen short stories by well-known (as well as less well-known) authors including Nadine Gordimer, Raymond Carver, V.S. Naipaul, Peter Carey, Zadie Smith and Alan Silitoe. One of the aims of the book is to highlight the vigour and vitality of the short story genre (often eclipsed by its more prestigious cousin, the novel). Another aim is to be as inclusive as possible regarding locale; writers included in this collection hail from as diverse places as South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Canada, Australia and India (and, of course, from the UK and the US).

[Julie Mednick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this for my OU degree. A good mixture of short stories.

[Kiki Dal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories by foreigner writers from many different parts of the world. The stories were all written in english and they all have a common subject:cultural encounters. I found the narrative techniques very interesting.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally finished this. I liked some stories and found others a drag to read. Martha, Martha is the one that I have to concentrate on for my essay, and four other stories I had to read for the text book and tutorial.

Out of the 15 stories in the collection, I enjoyed reading 6 of them.
1) The Ultimate Safari by Nadine Gordimer.
A heavy but well written story about orphaned children having to travel with their elderly grandparents and other desperate villagers across Kruger national park. It is told through the point of view of the little girl, and it is heart breaking. I say I enjoyed reading this, but I don't think enjoy is the right word exactly. It's enthralling and it'll stay with me for a long time.

2) The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Also pretty heavy in the back story, but I think quite relatable in a lot of ways. This is about a young woman who doesn't think she knew her mother very well. June/Jing-Mei's mum died suddenly and all June has, or feels she has, are the arguments they had and the stories of the Joy Luck Club her mum told her, which seemed to be truth embellished but when mixed together told one whole true story.
June gets invited to take her mum's chair at the Joy Luck Club's meeting. It originally started as a night of eating foods and playing Mah Jong for money, in the grim days of war in China, but in modern america, it's turned into eating foods, playing Mah Jong for fun, and buying stocks in businesses for profit. And through making small talk with her mother's friends, people she grew up calling Aunties, she finds out that the story is true, and that she knows a lot more about her mother than what she thought. I spoil it more than that, because I think it's very worth the read. I believe that it went from being a short story to a full sized novel and even a film.

3) The End of the World by Mavis Gallant
Another heavy one. This one is hard to describe, because it's quite grim. It's about a man called Billy who, after a poor relationship with his father growing up, has to sit at his father's bedside whilst the man lays there dying. The relationship is so rocky that, after a few days of the man not dying, Billy wonders if it's all some joke and wishes it would hurry up. It's not enjoyable in the way of liking it and the characters, it's intriguing because it's so believable.
Humans are complicated things and sometimes you can be angry, upset, unwilling to forgive a person, and then be there when duty calls just to feel empty when the source of frustration is no longer there to frustrate you anymore.

4) American Dreams by Peter Carey
Now this one is dark but it's humorous. If Ray Bradbury did suburban horror, he'd have written something like this. A sleepy town in Australia is dying off from monotony and the young person's attitude to have a better identity for themselves.
Amongst the sleepy town residents is a strange little man who has been upset by someone, but nobody knows who or what they've done, and they're all willing to take the blame. One day he decides to build something and a set of walls to go around it. He spends ages on it. Then one day he dies, and his poor wife, in her new found freedom knocks the walls down. I won't reveal what it is, but let's just say sometimes you've got to be careful what you wish for.

5) Martha, Martha by Zadie Smith
Another hard one to describe, but only because the characters seem so flighty! Nice read though. I can't say much more than that because this is what my essay's on and I don't want to risk someone flagging this up as sharing essay ideas. Meep!

6) One out of Many by V. S Naipaul
Bizarre one that made me frustrated with the main character. Felt a bit like having to draw the line between cultural encounters and a lack of common sense for some of it. This is about a man from Bombay who goes to Washington with his boss, who he cooks for. Things go wrong, he tries to fix things and things go wrong again. I mean this guy, you can't help but feel sorry for him, but at the same time I sort of felt like he brought some of it onto himself.
(Some would say it's a flaw of mine that I tend to lack empathy when it comes to men dealing badly with their self-inflicted problems).
It's enjoyable in the way that it makes you carry on reading just to see what happens next.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I happened upon this book while browsing through the English-language section of a small bookshop in Istanbul. Given the themes of migration, displacement, and difference, purchasing it seemed appropriate. I really enjoy short stories, and this collection of 15 different stories from around the world was an exceptional choice. It was only after starting to read that I realized it was a course text for a university course!

A major theme within the stories was the myth of American exceptionalism and the melancholy faced by many who migrate as their expectations of the new country do not match the experiences they or their family face. My favourite, Peter Carey’s ‘American Dreams,’ spins a compelling tale of migrant dreams for an Australian teen who realizes after time that the glamour of elsewhere is not as promising as it may appear. Contrasting this, Bella in Lorna Goodison’s ‘Bella Makes Life’ buys in to the allure of America, to the disappointment of her husband. Amy Tan’s ‘The Joy Luck Club’ and Ana Menéndez’s ‘In Cuba I was a German Shepherd’ show the pressure migration places on a families and individuals: the protagonists in both story struggle with not meeting the higher expectations placed on them in America. Rohington Mistry’s ‘Squatter” humoursly recounts the tale of an Indian migrant to Canada struggling for ten years to adapt to his new home, and V.S. Naipul’s ‘One Out of Many” narrates the experiences of a poor Indian cook shocked by, saddened and finally slowly adapting to a new life in Washington D.C. Throughout these stories, the tone of difficulty adapting in a new environment and leaving home behind reminds the reader that for some migrants, moving creates a new displacement that has a profound impact on a person’s understanding of self and well-being.

This theme of displacement is found in the majority of other stories found in the book, which are set in a variety of locations. Nadime Gordimer’s ‘Safari’ opens the book with a hauntingly simple tale of a young girl forced to leave her home country with her grandmother after the disappearance of her mother by a militia. Gordimer’s tale ends with the war-weary grandmother explaining that she has no home while the narrating child continues to express optimism at returning home and finding her loved ones. While the generation and location shifts in William Trevor’s ‘The Distant Past,’ here again we find protagonists longing for a previous ‘home’. In this case, two nostalgic, elderly Irish siblings who supported the monarchy find their hometown accepting Republicanism and beginning to shun them. Romesh Gunesekera’s ‘Storm Petrel’ contrasts the cheery optimism of an émigré with an eerie foreshadowing of coming tensions in his homeland. Each story demonstrates in a different way the lack of control people may have over political strife irrespective of their personal hopes and opinions.

Fiction highlights and expands on the human experiences of migrants. These stories open the mind of the readers to understanding the challenges people face as time passes, as people move, and as cultures and governments change. The diversity of experiences selected by Lynda Prescott in this anthology is commendable, while the themes of questioning the exceptionalism of America, the ‘in-betweenness’ of migrants, and the often melancholy experience of being away from home are evident.

I've also blogged about this on my blog - check it out if the topic of migration interests you!

[Nicholas Richard Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology, edited by Lynda Prescott, is one of a number of set-texts that are needed if you are studying the sixty credit Open University (OU) Level 1 humanities course, AA100 'The Arts Past and Present'. It is an introductory course made for new students to experience a plethora of arts disciplines before deciding on a particular specialism. This book is meant to aid understanding within the third block of the module, 'Cultural Encounters', and is intended to be used in approaching the discipline of English language and literature studies. Lynda Prescott, herself, is a senior lecturer for the OU in the UK, and has authored and edited a range of Open University material for various courses throughout the humanities department. I studied AA100 in the year of 2011, and have subsequently gained a Certificate of Higher Education in Humanities, focusing on the English Language and creative writing as my specialism. It is only now, having finished my latest module U214 'Worlds of English', that I have returned to this book, looking over the short stories that were not the focus of AA100 in particular, whilst also exploring old ground.
The theme of the anthology is, of course, 'difference'. This echoes a lot of the material in the 'Cultural Encounters' block of AA100 and throughout U214, and is meant to focus on the many varieties of English around the world, uniting people in one lingua franca, whilst also planting seeds of prejudice when cultural norms are either challenged or ignored. 'A World of Difference' explores the short story genre across the five continents of America, Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe, and provides voices from many cultures and ethnic groups that resonate experiences of migration and community presence. The anthology literally sweeps you across the map and gives the reader a sense of diversity within the English language, both in the content of the stories themselves and in the language used by the specific characters/narration therein.
Each entry within has a brief introduction, which explains who the author is and their motivation for entering into the genre of the short story, along with brief career highlights and how their story fits into the overall theme of the book. There is also a preface authored by Lynda Prescott at the beginning, explaining her reasons and motivations for putting together the collection of short tales, and how the theme of difference permeates throughout the anthology of cultural encounters. Selected authors such as Nadine Gordimer, V.S. Naipaul and Amy Tan, amongst others (fifteen altogether), make up this collection of fictional, yet fiercely realistic tales of immigration, cultural anxieties and transitional pressures within the mid-to-late twentieth century. If a particular author catches your attention, the introduction to each entry usually includes a small list of their highlighted works, otherwise Prescott has provided 'selected further reading', regarding the genre of the short story and other such contemporary collections to explore.
'A World of Difference' makes a worthwhile addition to the aspiring and professional linguist's bookshelf and, as an Open University set-text, provides the level 1 student of AA100 with a pleasant introduction to the complexity of the English language that is fuelled by world history and global politics.

[Akbar Madan · Rating 4 out of 5]

الكتاب مجموعة قصص من مناطق مختلفة جمعت لتشكل نصوص انثروبولوجية تعكس اللقاءات الثقافية التي تمت في تلك المناطق وتعبر عن المواجهات في الافكار والقيم وايضا المعتقدات الدينية وما تفعله تلك اللقاءات من تعرية المكان واللا أمكنة المرتبطان بكل ممارسات الناس هناك ، الفواصل الزمنية نقطة الفراق بين الثقافات وكذلك التغيرات في وسائل الانتاج والتواصل .

[Valerie Valente · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was assigned three of the stories from this collection for my literature class, but I enjoyed them so much I decided to go back and read the rest of the book. I am currently really interested in perfecting my short story writing skills, and I found this collection to be particularly interesting and diversified. There are some very highly rated authors included in this volume; Zadie Smith, Peter Carey, Amy Tan... You just really can't go wrong with these literary masters.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concrete example of the variety in language - dependent on location and author.

It might be more accurate, in fact, to speak of different Englishes, since the varieties of English used across the world as well as within the British Isles can be quite distinct from each other.

The Ultimate Safari by Nadine Gordimer

The African Adventure Lives On... You can do it!
The ultimate safari or expedition
With leaders who know Africa.

I didn't think our grandmother wanted to speak again. I didn't think she was going to answer the white woman. The white woman put her head on one side and smiled at us.

Our grandmother looked away from her and spoke - There is nothing. No home.

>In Cuba I Was a German Shepher by Ana Menéndez

[Sarah u · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because it is a set book for one of my history degree modules. The stories in the anthology study cultures from all over the world. Some of the stories, 'The Ultimate Safari' for example, are very moving and thought provoking. Even though this time I read because I had too, I will not hesitate to pick this up again to read for pleasure. A great collection.

[Ceri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my set books for my OU course so I 'had' to read it, but I love short stories & this was a good collection with authors from all around the globe & featuring different countries & cultures.

[Kendall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains several short stories by authors who live in different parts of the world. Overall, I enjoyed most of the stories. They were interesting and some of them were very powerful. It was a good book to read.

[Justine Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to try if you want to dip your toes into the fresh water of short stories. They have a mixture of old and new from different countries to give you a wide range of people with different voices.

[Sasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read *some of* as part of Open university AA100, the stories I read where in themselves fine , but felt very similar to other texts I have read for school etc. It's a shame modern texts seem to only be used very rarely as sources for academia.

[Mew · Rating 4 out of 5]

short stories with purpose...page turning...

[Laurence Dodds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short stories, Raymond Carver has a few stories in here. Very short stories that really helped me in my english course.

[Vince · Rating 5 out of 5]

They're all good stories,especially Bernard Malamud's ; and the one by Roxana Robinson (Mr Sumarsono) is the best short story I've ever read.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy short stories, and I really enjoy stories with a foreign element - people out of their normal environment, and these stories are all about that. About displaced people.

[Krupa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good short stories and i liked most of them. I justwishthey were more current and not adding to the prejudice about the rest of the world.

[Kerrie Watling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this anthology of short stories, cultural barriers aside it enlightens differences. the stories are brilliantly written my favourite being 'in Cuba I was a German Shepard'

[Lorna Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I breifly touched on one or two of these stories during my English Degree. I thought they were nice and snappy and contained a nice little mix of multicultarism.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are four or five really good stories in here, but the majority feel too similar and are uninteresting.

[Gary Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful diverse collection of stories, a must read for anyone wanting a reading experience from different corners of the world.

[عبدالعزيز مال الله · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In Cuba l was A German Shepherd", and "The Ultimate Safari" one of my favourite stories in this lovely books. come With strong message between the lines, and discuss culture encounter in many ways

[Amateur-Reader]

This anthology is among the reading list of an A level course at the Open University which is called AA100. The short stories although written by different authors of different ethnicities, they share a major theme which is difference or cultural encounters as one of the chapters of the textbook accompanied by this set book named so.

9 stories have been of interest to me for they were balanced between being realist and fiction, while the rest were fully as not realist fiction at all, but mere exact depiction of real average everyday life of immigrants or travelers with no extraordinary events.
Some stories involve immigration from home to another destination. Others involve the experience of belonging to home and whether immigration is the main goal or a temporary solution ends with a retreat? I'll organise the stories from the most interesting to the least one and it's a personal opinion for sure:

1- The Ultimate Safari by Nadine Gordimer.
2- Pit Strike by Alan Silitoe.
3- The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.
4- American Dreams by Peter Carey.
5- Squatter by Rohinton Mistry.
6- The Distant Past by William Trevor.
7- The Last Mohican by Bernard Malamud.
8- The End of the World by Mavis Gallant.
9- One out of Many by V.S. Naipaul.

These 9 short stories are interesting to me because they involve an order of events not as the rest which is focused on an average description of everyday life with only doubts and a sense of nostalgia. Will I read it again? Well, no way.

[Denise Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book I would normally pick up and just read for pleasure. In a way it wasn't, it was to help me and inspire me to write my own collection of short stories, however, I found this interesting. It is an eye opener if you are not very well travelled, like myself, it gives you in site as to how other countries operate, their struggles with adaption, whether adapting to the Western world or even adapting in their own world.
It is interesting as most of the stories in this are about people who are struggling, who have had to leave their home for whatever reason and struggle with the new life they are leading, having to adapt to Western ways (mostly).
As the reader you feel sorry for these people and almost apologetic that our ways are so different to their own.
If you are not very well travelled but are interested in how the rest of the world sees the West pick up a copy of this book and it will certainly educate you.

[Kimberley · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a really hit or miss collection for me. some of the stories felt bafflingly pointless (what do you do in san francisco), others just baffling (the last mohican. some were good (the end of the world, american dreams, the joy luck club and martha martha). a few were absolutely incredible: storm petrel and my favourite in the collection: in cuba i was a german shepard genuinely made me tear up. the other stories felt pretty mediocre or forgettable to me. while im glad i read this because of the stories i enjoyed, i did find a lot of the stories to feel like filler/had very little value that i found from them.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

it’s hard rating a short story anthology and 2 stars feels maybe harsh for this but when i compare it to other 3 star reads this def wasn’t as enjoyable for me as they were. out of the 15 stories i only actually enjoyed 6 of them, and even those weren’t life changing or anything. i’ll look into the authors i liked, but otherwise, either i am not a short story girlie or this was just not the collection for me

[Ophelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, woe is me, I do principally despise the short story collection, where the five-star tale meets the barely-scraping-two.
A few of these stories were so profound and perceptive that they blew me away, but others were more of a pleasant breeze, and more still were a vacuum that sucked away at my time with no intention of rewarding the commitment.