Voices of the Xiled: A Generation Speaks for Itself

Writers and filmmakers, the editors decided to take a stand against all the criticism aimed at the twentysomething generation. What they came up with is an exhilaratingly diverse and honest collection of short fiction by 20 young writers. Although the voices in this collage are undeniably unique, certain themes bind the stories together: a search for self; innocence and experience; slow-dripping desperation; discontent; disillusionment; restlessness; altered states of consciousness; and a general feeling of being on shaky ground. These writers, both new and established, have mined the margins where the psyche begins to fray. The characters vary considerably from the haunting voice of a baby not yet conceived in Tamara Jeffries's ``Black Tea'' to the scathingly bizarre sick puppy in David Foster Wallace's ``Girl with Curious Hair,'' (a fitting cellmate for Alex in Anthony Burgess's, A Clockwork Orange). Bryan Malessa's letter to Raymond Carver called ``Looking Out for Hope'' interjects the one shadow of hope amidst the despair. After paragraphs drenched with desperation he ends up by saying, ``I'll try to keep the loose ends from fraying too badly.... We're going to find it out there, somewhere.'' Although the characters are striking, the revolutions are not, really, because everyone is confused when they're young. In this sense, the compilation is more about Everygeneration than Generation X, which is probably the point Hulme and Wexler want to make. (Oct.)