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Metaphysical Tales, about whose author Joyce Carol Oates said “a writer of extraordinary skill and vision.” An estimation, we believe, prophetic.
In our last post we (an instance, perhaps ill considered, of the “royal first person”) noted the difficulty that Alice, habitué of the House of Nordquist, has in telling her story.
An inconsiderate respondent has offered that Alice did not have any more trouble than the author himself. The author parries.
It is unnatural to relate a story in chronological order. One does not remember one’s first romance thus: there was the first coffee together, then a longish phone call, then a dinner etc. No, one immediately remembers the blow-up, recalling unfortunate miscues, words spoken in anger. One remembers the failed reconciliation, the pain, the warning signs unheeded.
In short, one goes straight to the evil blossom, then back to the seed, the toxic irrigation, ahead to the withered flower dewy with tears, a doleful tapestry of misfortune.
So, there is an horrific fire at the House of Nordquist. What was going on before the fire? Who was there? What now motivates a strenuous remembering of the fire? Are the memories of the witnesses credible? Where are the witnesses now? What do they want? What are they doing? The fire is the center. Everything radiates from it, not in clock time but the way a blossom unfolds. That is the special pleasure
The House of Nordquist offers, not sequential discovery but a tessellated mosaic. Take up the tiles, dear reader. Fit them together. You are the artist of this mosaic.
The Author
Next time: The Secret in the Cave
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Fiction by Eugene K. Garber
The House of Nordquist
O Amazonas Escuro
Vienna ØØ
The Eroica Trilogy: Selections
Metaphysical Tales
