During this process, she realized that thought patterns emerged, resulting in echoes among many of these stories. Sometimes Ma may get stuck on writing one short story, work on a second or third story and then circle back to the first one. Not surprising to fiction writers, she doesn’t write one story at a time. “When I was writing the longer stories, I felt more confident about taking the reader’s time,” Ma said. The hypnotic story “G” about two longtime Asian American friends was written earlier. She wrote it while working on “Severance.” Six of the eight stories were written from 2020 to 2021-the height of the pandemic-and when Ma had a year of leave from teaching at UChicago.
Ma describes the first story, “Los Angeles,” as being quicker, flashier and an effort at pyrotechnics. In “Bliss Montage,” the stories at the beginning are shorter and gradually become longer, more immersive and more intricate. Through the pleasure of her brilliant narrative gifts, Ling quietly tackles the big questions of our day.” ‘Severance’ and the short stories of ‘Bliss Montage’ sneak up on the reader with their critique of capitalism or gender arrangements or friendship or immigration and globalization. But beyond her unique style, Ling has an insight into contemporary culture that has commanded attention. “Her blend of deadpan wit and surreal detail makes her instantly recognizable. Sulzberger Professor and chair in the Department of English Language and Literature and the College at UChicago. “Ling Ma is the contemporary master of the uncanny,” said Deborah L. In “Bliss Montage,” she revisits this format, using what she learned from drafting the novel “Severance” to enhance the eight stories, which reverberate with unusual echoes to one another. Her literary career began with writing short stories. In a short story, the reader sees the writer’s craft more easily.”
“I am drawn to this form of writing and always wanted to write a book of short stories,” said Ling Ma, AB’05, assistant professor of Practice in the Arts in the Department of English Language and Literature and the College at UChicago. Her second book, “ Bliss Montage,” (2022) has won three significant awards in rapid succession: the National Book Critics Circle fiction prize, the Story Prize, and the Windham Campbell Prize for her collection of short stories. UChicago faculty member Ling Ma’s first book “ Severance” (2018) received multiple accolades and funding, including the Kirkus Prize, the Whiting Award and the New York Library Young Lions Fiction Award as well earning her a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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