LA CREME DE LA CREME. Edited by Gordon Jarvie and Cameron Wylie Canongate pound;7.99
La Creme de la Creme, an anthology which celebrates the best of Sixth Year Studies creative writing over the past 10 years, proved most enjoyable.
Some of the highlights are humorous pieces. Craig Warrack’s Speak of the Devil is a sophisticated monologue with a wonderfully original twist at the end, while My Lewis Nanties, by Margaret Graham, is rich in detailed observation. Jennifer McGeouch’s The Bennet Bunch and 04.37 by Marc Rice were also highly entertaining.
Because being funny in print is actually rather difficult, it is a tribute to the skills of these young writers that there were so many genuinely amusing pieces.
With some commendable exceptions, such as Johanna Kershaw’s Three Cumbrian Poems, prose was stronger than poetry; hardly surprising, given the emphasis on prose writing in secondary schools at Higher and Standard grade.
The reflective essay is a form which appears rarely in anthologies, but here it provides for stylish writing, such as Sadaf Din’s wonderful Brownie Points.
The requirements of the examination board, can, however, be restricting, limiting willingness to experiment with forms such as prose-poetry. Mr Gunn’s Fish Shop by Matthew Wraith, a brilliant piece of writing less than 150 words long, is a notable exception.
Whether the comparative rarity of writing in Scots in this anthology is due to a tendency to play safe in the certificate exam I cannot say, but the few Scots pieces were of high quality and Clare J Yuille’s Soor Plumes is superb.
I was disappointed that drama was not included in the anthology. I would also have preferred to see the work arranged thematically rather than alphabetically.
However, for the most part the editors deserve great credit.
Anne Donovan is assistant principal teacher of English at Hillhead High, in Glasgow. Her short story collection, `Hieroglyphics’, was published this year by Canongate.
