Source of Lit - Natalie Bakopoulos

I enjoy it when a writer shows the ability to write in more than one style, not allowing their work to be pigeonholed as this or that.  In the course of the last week, I've had the pleasure of receiving or picking up the latest issue of Ninth Letter, and that of Tin House.  In these two great journals (individual posts to come) are the first and second fictions published by Natalie Bakopoulos, a writer I've had the pleasure of meeting more than a few times at readings or other literary type gatherings the past few years.

Not a bad couple of journals for your first two pieces to be found in, not to mention the fact that they're alongside writers like Blake Butler, Ron Carlson, Dave King, Tom Whalen, Dorothy Allison, Charles Baxter, Lydia Davis, Junot Diaz, Jose Saramago, George Saunders, Brian Evenson, and the list just goes on (as noted, individual journal posts to come soon).  There is cause for this though, they are two really great fictions.

The Ninth Letter story, "Babies," starts:

"The year Sasha turns thirty-three, babies fall from the sky." 

This might give you a sense of the type of story that has been written here - there is definitely a fabulist element to it, as these babies float down to those that are apparently ready to have children, or at least a child.  There is certainly a more realist aspect to the story as well, as Sasha's longing and obsessive nature is truly the engine that moves the reader forward.  It is an excellent mixing of the two and extremely impressive even before finding it out it is Natalie's first published story.

I continually refer to these two as fictions above as I'm not wholly certain the Tin House piece isn't an excerpt from the novel that Bakopoulos is working on (the time and setting are identical), though it does work fine as a stand-alone section if it is.  It is titled "Fresco, Byzantine," and is set in Greece, 1970-71.  It begins:

"They had come of age in such places, those island prisons -- during the Nazi occupation, during the civil war, throughout the fifties, and now -- and now some were growing old there.  "We were wondering about you," many said when Mihalis arrived.  "About how long you'd be spared.""

This is a more straightforward piece and delves into relationships, integrity, hope, and all of the great things that lend potential conflict and interest to writers and Natalie uses all of them to their potential.  If this is a novel excerpt, consider this one person looking forward to the rest.

Comments

[George Bakopoulos]

I'm her proud father..what more can I say?
Thank you!

[Luba Bakopoulos]

And I'm her proud mama. Natalie got the ambition and hard work from her dad's side of the family. not to mention the talent. She also got some talent from my side, but luckily, not the laziness.

[Luba Bakopoulos]

Dan Wickett, what a beautiful review. I write that not just because I'm Natalie's mother (although I cannot absolutely vow that that's not part of it, he-he). Hope holds all of us together. "Contra spem spero"--"I hope against all hope" writes a famous Ukrainian author. What is there beyond hope for mankind (except perhaps love), or we would all be lying in some grassy (or muddy) field--drugged, drunk, or insane. Thank you, Mr. Wickett.