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Under the Dam: And Other Stories
In the middle of a speech a businessman realises his soul has just left his body. In an Athens marketplace, a jealous lover finds himself staggering through a vision of hell. High in the Alps, a young woman’s body re-appears in the glacier, perfectly preserved, where she fell 50 years before.
Entering Constantine’s stories is like stepping out into a wind of words, a swarm of language. His prose is as fluid as the water that surges and swells through all his landscapes. Yet, against this fluidity, his stories are able to stop time, to freeze-frame each protagonist’s life just at the moment when the past breaks the surface, or when the present - like the dam of the title - collapses under its own weight.
WINNER of the BBC National Short Story Prize 2010
David Constantine's Under the Dam was chosen as one of their Books of 2005 by both The Independent and The Guardian.
"FLAWLESS AND UNSETTLING" - Boyd Tonkin, Books of the Year 2005, The Independent.
“I started reading these stories quietly, and then became obsessed, read them all fast, and started re-reading them again and again. They are gripping tales, but what is startling is the quality of the writing. Every sentence is both unpredictable and exactly what it should be. Reading them is a series of short shocks of (agreeably envious) pleasure...” – AS Byatt, Book of the Week, The Guardian
“A superb collection” – Nicholas Royle, The Independent
“This is a haunting collection filled with delicate clarity. Constantine has a sure grasp of the fear and fragility within his characters.” – A. L. Kennedy
'I reviewed David Constantine's wonderful stories, Under the Dam (Comma Press), for the Guardian, and am still thinking about the quality of the writing." - AS Byatt, Books of the Year, The Guardian.
'The description of the estuary is one of the best descriptions of the surface of the Earth I have ever read' - AS Byatt, Book of the Week, The Guardian.
'A superb collection'- The Independent. Read full review.
'Absorbing, incantatory poetic rhythms and startlingly lucid images... admirable control and precision. - T.L.S., 14 Aug 2005.
Entering Constantine’s stories is like stepping out into a wind of words, a swarm of language. His prose is as fluid as the water that surges and swells through all his landscapes. Yet, against this fluidity, his stories are able to stop time, to freeze-frame each protagonist’s life just at the moment when the past breaks the surface, or when the present - like the dam of the title - collapses under its own weight.
WINNER of the BBC National Short Story Prize 2010
David Constantine's Under the Dam was chosen as one of their Books of 2005 by both The Independent and The Guardian.
"FLAWLESS AND UNSETTLING" - Boyd Tonkin, Books of the Year 2005, The Independent.
“I started reading these stories quietly, and then became obsessed, read them all fast, and started re-reading them again and again. They are gripping tales, but what is startling is the quality of the writing. Every sentence is both unpredictable and exactly what it should be. Reading them is a series of short shocks of (agreeably envious) pleasure...” – AS Byatt, Book of the Week, The Guardian
“A superb collection” – Nicholas Royle, The Independent
“This is a haunting collection filled with delicate clarity. Constantine has a sure grasp of the fear and fragility within his characters.” – A. L. Kennedy
'I reviewed David Constantine's wonderful stories, Under the Dam (Comma Press), for the Guardian, and am still thinking about the quality of the writing." - AS Byatt, Books of the Year, The Guardian.
'The description of the estuary is one of the best descriptions of the surface of the Earth I have ever read' - AS Byatt, Book of the Week, The Guardian.
'A superb collection'- The Independent. Read full review.
'Absorbing, incantatory poetic rhythms and startlingly lucid images... admirable control and precision. - T.L.S., 14 Aug 2005.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
192 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2005
About the author
David Constantine
103 books32 followersBorn in 1944, David Constantine worked for thirty years as a university teacher of German language and literature. He has published several volumes of poetry, most recently, Nine Fathom Deep (2009). He is a translator of Hölderlin, Brecht, Goethe, Kleist, Michaux and Jaccottet. In 2003 his translation of Hans Magnus Enzensberger's Lighter Than Air won the Corneliu M Popescu Prize for European Poetry Translation. His translation of Goethe's Faust, Part I was published by Penguin in 2005; Part II in April 2009. He is also author of one novel, Davies, and Fields of Fire: A Life of Sir William Hamilton. His four short story collections are Back at the Spike, the highly acclaimed Under the Dam (Comma, 2005), and The Shieling (Comma, 2009), which was shortlisted for the 2010 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. Constantine's story 'Tea at the Midland' won the BBC National Short Story Award 2010, and won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award in 2013 for the collection (Comma Press, 2012). He lives in Oxford where, for ten years, he edited Modern Poetry in Translation with his wife Helen (until 2011). David's short story 'In Another Country' has been adapted into 45 Years - a major Film4-funded feature film, directed by Andrew Haigh and starring Tom Courtenay & Charlotte Rampling. This film won two silver bear awards at the Berlinale International Film festival in February 2015. David is also the author of the forthcoming novel, released by Comma Press, The Life-Writer.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 5, 2009
These stories are so good you want to start re-reading them immediately. Although set in the present they have a timeless quality, and dig deep into character's motivations and self justifications. The writing is always brilliant. Stories like The Red Balloon and The Necessary Strength will have you wondering about them for days.
(from my amazon review)
By the way it says in the blurb above it's his first book of stories but in fact there's an earlier collection called 'Back at the Spike'.
(from my amazon review)
By the way it says in the blurb above it's his first book of stories but in fact there's an earlier collection called 'Back at the Spike'.
May 26, 2018
A fabulous collection of short stories. Constantine has such a rare insight into the fragility of life and human relationships and the twists and turns that can cause a change in life's direction. He is also a master of the first line - always hooking the reader from the beginning and then rapidly drawing them into the story.
June 25, 2016
I'd like to give three and a half stars but not liked it as much to rate it with four stars. But it was a good collection of stories. My copy is a translated one so I would probably enjoy it more if I had read it in its original language. David Constantine seemed like an author with a solid writing to me even with the barrier of translation. I am definitely planning to give chance and read more of his work, preferably in English.
December 3, 2016
I've had Constantine's collection in my bookcase, dipping into his stories time and again, for some years, but Under the Dam has just attracted attention because In Another Country, a story from the collection has recently been turned into the film, 45 Years, starring Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, directed by Andrew Haigh. Haigh has elongated the story a little, but the essence is there. A couple married for 45 years think they are having a comfortable retirement and will complete their happy lives together, when a letter arrives through the past and changes everything.
Short stories sometimes to this - use a catalyst to drive the action, and this works extremely well in Constantine's work.
In a second great story from Under the Dam, The Loss, starts like this:
…Nobody noticed. Apparently they never do. Or if they do, the Misunderstand. It might be one of those sunder pauses – a silence – a gap – and somebody will say: An angel is passing. But it is no such thing. It is the soul leaving, flitting ahead to its place in the ninth circle…
Pow! I really want to read on with a start like that!
As a writer of short stories myself, I understand that the opening must compel capture the reader’s attention, establish where you’re taking them and make them long to know what happens next. I want a great opening paragraph, but I don’t want to get bogged down with it. The first lines in a short story are the most difficult – it can vary enormously, depending on the mood, tone, style – even genre – depending on what the author wants to impart. It might be zany, intriguing, enchanting or a simple, uncluttered statement. It might be long, convoluted, or intense, even abrupt.
In The Loss, Constantine first sentence has two words, 52 overall in the first paragraph. That's snappy! In total contrast, In Another Country (or 45 Years as the film is called) the first paragraph takes up the entire first page.
Short stories sometimes to this - use a catalyst to drive the action, and this works extremely well in Constantine's work.
In a second great story from Under the Dam, The Loss, starts like this:
…Nobody noticed. Apparently they never do. Or if they do, the Misunderstand. It might be one of those sunder pauses – a silence – a gap – and somebody will say: An angel is passing. But it is no such thing. It is the soul leaving, flitting ahead to its place in the ninth circle…
Pow! I really want to read on with a start like that!
As a writer of short stories myself, I understand that the opening must compel capture the reader’s attention, establish where you’re taking them and make them long to know what happens next. I want a great opening paragraph, but I don’t want to get bogged down with it. The first lines in a short story are the most difficult – it can vary enormously, depending on the mood, tone, style – even genre – depending on what the author wants to impart. It might be zany, intriguing, enchanting or a simple, uncluttered statement. It might be long, convoluted, or intense, even abrupt.
In The Loss, Constantine first sentence has two words, 52 overall in the first paragraph. That's snappy! In total contrast, In Another Country (or 45 Years as the film is called) the first paragraph takes up the entire first page.
April 1, 2022
This collection of short stories had been sitting on my shelves for many years. So glad its turn finally came. He writes quite beautifully, with the craft and precision of fine porcelain. Stories of life, people, experience and the meaning of meaning, so polished yet challenging. To re-read for sure.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews