First Things First: Selected Stories

by Diane Schoemperlen

"Schoemperlen's inventive language and narrative structures encourage readers to be free 'from the prison of everyday thinking.'"— The New York Times Book Review First Things First gathers eighteen of the best of Diane Schoemperlen's earliest and uncollected stories, with several being published in book form for the first time. Playfully inventive, comic, moving, and profound, this collection will reinforce Schoemperlen's importance as one of the leading short story writers of her generation. Diane Schoemperlen is the author of twelve books, most recently By the Stories & Pictures .

Genres: Short Stories

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2016

About the author

Diane Schoemperlen, short-story writer, novelist, teacher, editor (b at Thunder Bay, Ont 9 July 1954). Diane Schoemperlen grew up in Thunder Bay, Ont, and attended Lakehead University. After graduating in 1976, she spent a summer studying at the Banff Centre, under such writers as W.O. MITCHELL and Alice MUNRO. Since 1986, she has focused on her writing career and has taught creative writing at schools such as St Lawrence College and the Kingston School of Writing. She currently lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Reviews

[Angélique (MapleBooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You clash with my constructed atmosphere."

The stories of First Things First feel so much like confidences. They are essentially the intimate thoughts of twenty-four women whose inner life is at odds with the outside world. Some of those ladies simply have peculiar—if not disturbing—personalities. Others construct elaborated narrative to cope with their struggles: loneliness, separations, poor relationships, the contradictory needs to conform and be unique. What emerges from those short fictions is a powerful and unfiltered portrait of womanhood.

"There is a better way, a much better way in the world to be known, and I have used it here."

Schoemperlen is incredibly talented at exposing the dual identity of her characters. She reveals their conscious effort to appear socially proper and emotionally stable, while in their mind are raging anger, sadness, frustration, or even insanity. The best part of most stories was seeing the real personality and true feelings of the protagonist showing behind the façade.
One of my favourite short story was “To Whom It May Concern”, a collection of letters penned by a woman in the process of divorcing. You get a deeper understanding of the protagonist with each letter because she's showing a different self to the recipients. The letter to her in-laws is a lesson in passive-aggressiveness!

It's also interesting how many characters reinterpreted reality so it would hurt less. “An evening in two voices” describes the conversation of two women about the memory of an evening spent together with their spouse. Soon, it appears that one of them has distorted her memories to shield herself from the pain it yielded. Similarly, “The Climb” is about a woman, in love (or wanting to be in love?), who continuously misread the man she's hiking with in an attempt to make the moment feel romantic.

Beside all this, I really enjoyed the discussion First Thing First's stories bring up about the role of women in society and in a relationship.
“The Long Way Home” is the contrast between two friends, one holding fast to the traditional role of housewife, and the other focusing on her career. However, they seem envious of one another's life. It's one of the book's stories that expose the difficulty for women to redefine their role in a changing society.

Also, First Thing First repeatedly shows women trapped by relationships or the search for one. Most relationships in the books are unhappy, although most women have done considerable efforts, if not sacrifices, to make them work.

"She'd often wondered why women spend so much time doing things to make men fall or stay in love with them, while the men all expect to be loved just the way they are."

As a whole, the stories feel like an encouragement to women to break the mould, pursue a passion or a career, feel entitled to their feeling and be themselves.

"There was a certain freedom in not wanting to fall or be in love."

I really enjoyed how First Things First avoids clichés and attempts a brutally honest depiction of the woman's mind. Schoemperlen has an impressive talent of portraying how her characters appear on the outside as well as how they feel inside, thus revealing enormous contradictions. Her stories can be funny, cynical, or both, but they are always insightful and thought-provoking. The fact that the stories were written during a sixteen years time span add another layer of interest since society changed considerably during those years.
A very strong and powerful book!

[Brian Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, accessible high-quality Canadian Lit. I'd never read this writer before, but I am definitely interested in checking out her other work. In addition to traveling alongside the characters in the narratives I feel that I've traversed couple of decades in the author's life. The stories cover the developing period of the author's career when a student in the seventies, through the eighties. The technique and style change over that time. Her early work being quite intense and daring and her mid-eighties veering into avant-garde technique. All the while the quality and readability remain peerless. I've become a new fan!

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book that engaged my memory of being and place right from the beginning . Names, locations, friendships, summer evenings…

Diane Schoemperlen's writing speaks my experiences, my heart, my truths. This uncollection of stories is perfectly entertaining.

[Alexander Kosoris · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Things First is a collection of early short stories by Schoemperlen, published from the mid-’70s–-while studying English at Thunder Bay’s Lakehead University–-up to the early ’90s. This wide breadth of publication gives a reader a bird’s-eye-view of the evolution of an author. And this isn’t to suggest the writing’s poor early on. Even at the start of her writing career, Schoemperlen was intensely observant, she understood the power of strong imagery, she had a firm enough grasp on the human condition in order to write believable characters, and she was consistently innovative with the short story form. The clear evolution has more to do with the author’s confidence, which is understandable, as it takes both significant skill and experience to be self-assured with one’s own writing. This tends to present in Schoemperlen’s work as what feels like a forcing of profundity, really working hard to hit a memorable phrase or something that makes the reader stop and think, which looks, to me, like a fledgling author trying desperately to prove herself–-which also makes sense in the context of her discussion in the preface. As we go, this quality slowly disappears, greatly improving later work as a result.

I struggle with how to reconcile my feelings for a book like First Things First well enough to write a coherent review. There’s a wide margin from story to story with regards to creative features that work and don’t work, with stories I absolutely love, those I dislike tremendously, and some that just leave me lukewarm. I can suggest that Schoemperlen remained inventive throughout, but it didn’t always work out in the end. On one hand, originality, in my mind, is commendable in its own right; on the other hand, how strongly should I count this as a positive feature if I didn’t feel that the end result always came together well? I suppose I enjoyed most of the later stories, so we ended on the right foot, but I can’t discount the fact that I had difficulty getting into the earlier work. (I very honestly found myself with a sudden desire to get caught up with my pharmacy reading instead; QT-prolongation has never before seemed so interesting.)

I kind of wish this wasn’t my first foray into Schoemperlen’s work, as it would likely be much more interesting to study her writing evolution from the perspective of a fan of her popular or award-winning work. That said, the fact that it was observable to an outsider is still somehow encouraging to me as an amateur author: Maybe there’s hope for me yet.

[Barbara Sibbald]

I have been remiss in writing this in part because I know the author and have a great affection for her. Putting that aside to write an impartial missive on this book has been fraught, but let me attempt it.

Diane has gathered 24 stories written over 30 years starting with first she ever published, "The Diary of Glory Maxwell" (The Muskeg Review, 1974), when she was only 20 years old. Her experimentation with form, indeed her re-imagining of form, was already in full swing. Maybe she didn't know there were "rules" to be followed; maybe that didn't matter to her.

She goes on in list-writing, genre-defying glory. "To Whom it May Concern" is a wonderful telling of the end of a marriage through conflicting letters. "Waiting" contains three vignettes of longing from three perspectives. "True or False" is amusingly playful and yet reveals hard emotional truths. This is the heart of Diane's literature, witnessed again -- amply -- in "An Evening in Two Voices" and "First Things First."
There is much to admire, and bountiful good reading.
Diane is one of Canada's most interesting writers: experimental, fearless and immensely talented.