Anthropology
by Dan Rhodes
Villard

Occasionally, you'll read about a writer or an artist who becomes obsessed with a very specific form, for example, Brian Eno's obsession with writing three-second musical compositions around the time he wrote the Microsoft Windows 95 theme. In the literary world, we need look no further than Shakespeare's sonnets or, on a less highbrow level, David Foster Wallace's "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men."

"Anthropology," Dan Rhodes' collection of 101 101-word short stories about modern relationships, doesn't claim to be as diverse as any of those works, and it's a good thing, too. Each of the tightly written, droll, often obscene tales is told by a straight man and many of them begin with the words "My girlfriend."

What's remarkable is that Rhodes' collection transcends this. Many of the pieces echo common themes found in all relationships — jealousy, obsession, depression, loss ... the list goes on.

While the book's press materials try to persuade you that writing a 101-word short story is on par with crafting a sonnet, it's probably not that tough. Particularly when you use the trick of alternating a name (one word) with "my girlfriend" (two words) and occasionally eschew informal contractions for the sake of making your prose hit the magic number.

Structural and logistic issues aside, Rhodes is true to his vision, and as a result, "Anthropology" is a light, quick, hilarious read. Of the 101 selections, 90 or so are at least worth a grin, and about a third are laugh-out-loud funny. Take, for instance, "Innocence:"

I thought my beautiful fiancee was innocence itself until I met her parrot. She had taught it to say terrible things. Wank. Beaver. Fist-fuck. Stick it up your Jap's eye. I was disillusioned to find she had taken such delight in training an unknowing bird to swear. My love diminished, but I didn't cancel the wedding. The parrot was in the church. When the man asked whether anyone knew a reason for us not to marry, it squawked, 'Cunt flaps.' My bride bent double with laughter, and even though we made our vows I knew that the marriage was over.

This is great, tight prose, but if the book suffers, it's from its price. Who wants to pay nearly $19 for a book that can be read in under an hour?

Well, to counteract that, the folks at Villard, the book's publisher, have published the book in a format that lends well to copyright infringement (not that we're advocating THAT). Each story fits neatly on one page, plus they're short enough that you can type one into an e-mail in moments.

So yeah, pick up a copy of "Anthropology." Just make sure you loan it to friends and pass it around to get your money's worth.

— Eric Wittmershaus (ericw at flakmag dot com)