Shortlisted for the 2022 The Stella Prize, Anwen Crawford’s beautiful essay reflecting on a beloved friendship cut short due to death, it is a powerful read about friends, love and loss.
It is also short so if you are looking for something to get your reading groove back this beautiful reflection of a friendship through time and shared events is one that might just switch you back on to reading.
And if you are seeking reading inspiration I always include The Stella Prize shortlist in my annual search for a new read as there is always something to challenge you, surprise you and bonus, the stories are from Australians. Crawford herself is best known as a critic, winning the Walkey-Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism in 2021 and her work has appeared in The Monthly, The New Yorker (also available as an eMag), The White Review and Sydney review of Books.
"Any of us who have suffered grief knows that it can be unending and it would be easier to hold yourself back from caring because to lose someone you love is painful but there is always the joy of remembering and Crawford remembers how they became friends."
- Jane Cowell
There was certainly no agreement on No Document from literary critics with some reflecting on its failure to resonate, with her prose being criticised as opaque and performative. While others praise her work and the transformative power of sadness that pervades the essay recognising the loose braid of narrative and thematic threads that explore a friendship across time, focusing on the ordinariness of their friendship and how much the friendship meant to Crawford.
I am definitely in the camp of those critics who love the writing, connecting profoundly with the theme of loss and love of a friend. Any of us who have suffered grief knows that it can be unending and it would be easier to hold yourself back from caring because to lose someone you love is painful but there is always the joy of remembering and Crawford remembers how they became friends.
The structure of the work is layered, with sentences appearing to be out of sync with the narrative – written to her friend and creative collaborator who has died. You can find out what the judges from The Stella Prize commentated on this work here. You can also watch Anwen in conversation with Declan Fry via Giramondo Publishing here; discussing No Document and the friend who inspired it.
While No Document is about a personal deeply felt grief for the loss of a dear friend, we are treated to a poetical spray of remembrance of that friendship with climate activism, loss of innocence and creative collaboration sprinkled throughout which ultimately brings the joy of having a wonderful friend, even though they have left us. Well worth considering for your next library loan.
