Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic (15)

by Linda M. Morra (Editor), Marianne Ackerman (Editor)

The Black Death epidemic spawned Boccaccio's Decameron ; the bubonic plague brought us A Journal of the Plague Year . Many other great literary works have centered around storytelling at the time of a pandemic. Of people quarantined in their homes in 1722, Daniel Defoe "It was generally in such houses that we heard the most dismal shrieks and outcries of the poor people, terrified and even frighted to death by the sight of the condition of their dearest relations, and by the terror of being imprisoned as they were." In March of 2020, a new virus in the shape of a crown forced Montrealers and people worldwide to be locked in their homes in fear of contagion. Social distancing, self-isolation, and quarantine became the new buzzwords dominating everyday vocabulary. In April, once this new reality set in, the Quebec Writers' Federation asked its members, "What’s the story of your day?” It initiated a project, Chronicling the Days, inviting writers to detail a typical day in their life. The aim was to provide writers with a forum to put their creative thoughts to paper to try to make sense of the surreal situation and find some connection with other writers. “Every story valid,” the guidelines stated. One hundred writers responded to the challenge. True to its slogan of “No Borders, No Limits,” Guernica Editions is collaborating with the Quebec Writers’ Federation to publish these essays in an anthology in the spring of 2021. These 100 essays are interspersed by six longer ones, also on the topic of the pandemic, but written for the QWF Writes series. Most submissions are by professional authors, members of the QWF; for some, however, this anthology represents their first time in print. Chronicling the Days—Dispatches from a Pandemic  provides an intimate panorama of the early days and experiences of the coronavirus. Constituting a rich mosaic of different styles, forms, and voices, this anthology provides a moving account of the everyday life of Quebec writers in isolation, digging deeply into their souls and reaching out to others.

Genres: Nonfiction, Canada

260 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2021

About the author

Linda M. Morra is an author and professor. Her publications include Corresponding Influence: Selected Letters of Emily Carr and Ira Dilworth; Troubling Tricksters: Revisioning Critical Conversations (with Deanna Reder); and Basements and Attics, Closets and Cyberspace: Explorations in Canadian Women's Archives (with Jessica Schagerl). She is also the editor of Jane Rule's autobiography, Taking My Life. Her newest title is Unarrested Archives: Case Studies in Twentieth-Century Canadian Women's Authorship.

As an associate professor at Bishop's University, Morra specializes in Canadian literature from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She earned her B.A. from the University of Toronto, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Ottawa.

Reviews

[Ian Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology is an important collective account by more than 100 Quebec writers of the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. It should be in every library and school in Quebec and Canada! Highly recommended.

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Timely, "rather meta" Canadian collection of concise essays submitted by quality writers covering various stages and aspects of Covid-19 lockdown. Naturally there is some degree of repetition and overlap amongst the 100+ pieces but it doesn't impede on their value. In my Kindle version however, there is a distracting glitch whereby all instances of the fi, fl, and ft letter combinations in the body of essays are missing, and also the Th, tt, and ff combinations have disappeared from the essay titles.

I was struck by the line from Albert Camus's The Plague that Jim Upton included: "the only way to fight the plague is with decency." Some of my favorite pieces were the light-hearted Falling in Love Amid COVID-19 by Jim Olwell, and the heavy-hitting shorts by Caroline Vu and Andi Stewart about the Anti-Asian fallout that Trump precipitated. Love how he's referred to as "the orange incompetent president south of the border" and "Mr. Very Stable Genius".

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I am usually alone in my head, but now my thoughts have company. Anxiety and worry are my children who interrupt work and need attention.”

This is a compilation of short essays (2-3 pages each) all by different authors in Montreal on life in the beginning days of the Covid pandemic. I liked the structure; it lends itself well to being read in any in between time you have to spare. I also really liked having a different perspective every couple pages - older people, young people, medical professionals, teachers, people living with young families, people living alone, etc.

However this was a difficult one to rate for me. It started out strong, the beginning felt really relatable; the writing is approachable and peppered with profound pieces (profound in the way that hearing a feeling you’ve had articulated for the first time feels).

Some of the essays were interesting like the one about the Persian roots of the word quarantine or the one about the history of the living room. Others were heartbreaking and haunting, like the person experiencing Asian guilt, those questioning where they will get their life sustaining medications is society breaks down, or those struggling with the decisions to not allow their grown children to come home because they are vulnerable. However eventually it just got a bit boring; I guess that’s the point - one of the major struggles of the pandemic for a lot of people is boredom, woven with anxiety, doubt, uncertainty - this was well represented in these essays.

I can imagine this becoming assigned reading in the future for university students to balance news coverage of the effects on the global economy, border shutdowns, mass layoffs, chaos in hospitals, etc. so they can understand what pandemic life was like for many ordinary people. Definitely not a page turner but I think it does a good job of capturing the general mood of the pandemic.

[Ariane Laxo · Rating 5 out of 5]

How heavy my heart feels, reading this collection of short essays about the beginning of lockdown. It is a full year into the pandemic and I feel connected to every contributor for shared experiences of grief, sadness and fear, loneliness and boredom, watching Tiger King on Netflix, longing for hugs, feeling deep gratitude and love. COVID-19 everyday life is captured in this wonderful collection by Quebec writers, a time capsule for future high school students studying this time. I laughed (especially when reading a surprisingly joyful story about falling in love), cried, and had to put the book aside many times to take a break from a reminder of this reality we are still living. We truly are in this together. Ça va bien aller.

I received an advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A year into the this pandemic and it's still dragging on....It's with nostalgia and last years optimism that I read this book. Who would have thought it was still on going now? And no end in sight.... Being an introvert, I thought the first 3 months were the best ever! Home, alone, reading, binge watching movies, etc... heaven! Then I started to miss family and friends, going to breakfast or dinner, shopping with my daughter, bookstores,... now it's just sad and depressing. Maybe another anthology where authors write about the pandemic one year later? We're living it, but it's for the historical record as most of us aren't keeping journals! Kudos Writers! I look forward to reading more by each of you!

I receioved a Kindle arc from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

[Katie]

I am reading this book in March 2021, one year after the pandemic began… It is so interesting to find the remarks on what is new, terrifying, unfamiliar in the stories has become so common place in our every day lives. Alternately, it’s also interesting to be reminded of just how unknown everything was then, I think we may need a reminder of how serious things were/are/could have been, in the midst of what is now Covid complacency.

I don’t always like literary anthologies, or short story anthologies, but I thoroughly enjoyed the format of this book with its short excerpts that seems so real and genuine. It seemed like I was exchanging emails, or letters, with a familiar friend

[Angela Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was at the launch of this book last evening and I thought this launch was fantastic!

It is an awesome collection of experiences, thoughts and moments that occurred during this pandemic. I felt such haunting shadows - both personal and deep touched by hope and humour.

While the focus was on people living in Montreal, I feel that everyone can relate to these experiences during this pandemic.

[bohemianrhapsodyreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a historically accurate book about the plagues throughout history.

I just reviewed Chronicling the Days by Marianne Ackerman (Editor) and Linda M. Morra (Editor). #ChroniclingtheDays #NetGalley

[Stephen Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories are a bit too short for my liking, but a great snapshot of last Spring