'When Nam Le's debut short story collection The Boat landed in 2008 it was so freighted, a big deal, that comparisons to Joyce’s Dubliners felt modest (as did suggestions the book would be read “for as long as people read books” – a little breathless even by blurb standards, of which there are none). A hot minute or two of radio silence followed. Then, in 2019, we got Le’s analysis of David Malouf. Recently, with sightings of Le in bookshops and at literary festivals, signs of something were afoot.' (Introduction)