Sean Dowie Reviews No Edges: Swahili Stories by Sarah Coolidge, ed.
No Edges: Swahili Stories, Sarah Coolidge, ed. (Two Lines Press 978-1-94964-145-5, $16.95, tp) April 2023.
Untethered imagination is what I’m always hoping for when I read. That’s why I like speculative fiction: it breaks through the constraints of reality. However, those aren’t the only constraints I’ve encountered in literature. Cultural constraints – particularly those in Western culture – can make stories with seemingly radical speculative ideas have a tinge of sameness. Enter No Edges: Swahili Stories, an anthology of Swahili literature from Kenya and Tanzania, translated into English that is imbued with enthralling chaos. Some stories are speculative, some are not. A few stories go where you might predict, a few of them take turns into the joyously ridiculous. This collection has everything, thus offering some wickedly good surprises. So surprising that when I say some of the stories jumped off the page, I almost expected that to literally happen.
As with many short story anthologies, not every piece worked for me. It’s frontloaded with the two best ones. The first being ‘‘The Guest’’ by Fatima Shafii, translated by Hassan Kassim. It follows a girl who has yet to introduce her suitor to her growingly impatient family. She’s so far met him only in private, but time is ticking, and her parents can’t wait forever. Through playful narration, we follow her and the suitor’s romantic dynamics with a meet-cute and cloying adoration until the suitor is introduced to the parents. There is a twist regarding the identity of the suitor, which many should figure out, but the surprise is instead in the honeyed, humorous storytelling. In terms of voice, I found it to be the strongest of the bunch.
The following story is ‘‘A Neighbor’s Pot’’ by Lusajo Mwaikenda Israel (translated by Richard Prins). The two main girls, Chausiku and Sikuzani, are neighbors and friends. One day while playing, Chausiku trips on a shard of a cracked earthenware pot and is transported to a fantastical realm full of life-threatening monsters. The girls’ parents get involved, and we soon learn there is more to the story than just an unlucky accident. The plot unravels into the best kind of wildness, and the author clearly understands that, squeezing out all the fun that could be had. This is the most fantastical of the anthology, contained not only in the magical creatures but in how surreally skewed the characters’ motivations are. It’s pure otherworldliness.
The rest of the anthology didn’t quite match the quality of the first two stories for me, but all are still worth reading. ‘‘Timo and Kayole’s Chaos’’ by Mwas Mahugu (translated by Idzu Lahumyo) has a terrific sense of place, where the descriptions of the alleyways and city streets are still etched in my mind. ‘‘Attitudes’’ by Fadhy Mtanga (translated by Jay Boss Rubin) showcases gastrointestinal distress from the smells they cause while confined in a bus and the protestation from nauseated passengers in brutally effective detail, while being quite hilarious and punchy. From ‘‘Walenisi’’ by Katama G.C. Mkangi (translated by Richard Prins) details blasting prisoners on spaceships into eternity, offering a welcome dose of heady SF.
When people say a book offers everything, it often ticks off all the boxes on a Western checklist. No Edges ticks off all those boxes, comes prepared with its own unique checklist and ticks off those too. With such variety and creativity, there’s going to be at least one (but probably more) story you enjoy. While I found the start of the anthology to be the strongest based on my own weird-speculative taste, I still found something to admire in every piece.
Sean Dowie is a writer and editor living in Toronto, Canada. He’s an Assistant Editor at Augur Magazine, contributor at the fanzine Nerds of a Feather, and is on FIYAH Literary Magazine’s book reviewing team. When not obsessing over literary activities, he’s usually directing short films.
This review and more like it in the July 2023 issue of Locus.
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