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Wednesday, March 26,2008
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Fantastic Fiction
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Whether exploring
the constructs of an overwrought imagination or the disorienting
results of an alien visitation, the fantastical collides with the
mundane in the works of two young writers coming to Milwaukee this
week. View From the Seventh Layer is a new collection of solemn and
often beautiful short stories by award-winning writer Kevin Brockmeier.
Like much of his work, it straddles the boundary between fantasy and
literary fiction. “My perspective is that the best of science fantasy
and fiction has every bit as much complexity and character depth as the
best literary fiction does,” Brockmeier says. “It’s never seemed
obvious to me that there needs to be a hard and fast divide between the
two forms of writing.”
The title story concerns a young woman who clings lightly and somewhat reverentially to an increasingly slippery present. We are offered little snatches of a more rooted existence she enjoyed prior to a visitation she received from an unknown entity. In “The Year of Silence,” Brockmeier’s words tread almost as lightly as the characters seeking to cocoon themselves in the strange swaths of silence that befall them. In the last story, a character inadvertently acquires God’s overcoat and is surprised to find slips of paper in the pockets, each carrying a prayer. “There was a tone of quiet intimacy to the notes, a starkness,” the narrator says. The same might easily be applied to Brockmeier’s own slender and solemn prose. Meanwhile, Tod Wodicka’s debut novel couldn’t be more removed from Brockmeier’s hushed tones. The munificently titled All Shall Be Well; and All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well is named after a chant uttered by a medieval mystic, Julian of Norwich, and captures the deluded and desperate optimism of the main character, Burt Hecker, who bears an uncommon vice: He increasingly seeks to disengage himself from his 20th-century present in favor a medieval past.
“I wanted to write about a medieval re-enactor…and basically rip apart 20th-century America through the eyes of someone who doesn’t belong,” Wodicka says about the initial impulse behind his novel. However, as the character develops, he gradually becomes as tragic as he is ridiculous, imposing his elaborate rituals on his family and gradually alienating them entirely as he seeks solace in the past.
“I can identify with that quite a lot—kind of an American rootlessness … where I grew up, I felt a real disconnect, and no sense of history at all,” Wodicka explains. He says that the displacement suffered by his characters is endemic to contemporary American society.
“We’re all stuck in a weird present,” Wodicka says. “Everyone tries to form their own niche, to hold onto something, and people can get lost in that.” Both Wodicka and Brockmeier will be coming to Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop on Downer Avenue, March 27, at 7 p.m. You can read interviews with both of the authors at www.expressmilwaukee.com—just click on the Books tab in the Arts and Entertainment section and scroll down to Author Interviews.
The title story concerns a young woman who clings lightly and somewhat reverentially to an increasingly slippery present. We are offered little snatches of a more rooted existence she enjoyed prior to a visitation she received from an unknown entity. In “The Year of Silence,” Brockmeier’s words tread almost as lightly as the characters seeking to cocoon themselves in the strange swaths of silence that befall them. In the last story, a character inadvertently acquires God’s overcoat and is surprised to find slips of paper in the pockets, each carrying a prayer. “There was a tone of quiet intimacy to the notes, a starkness,” the narrator says. The same might easily be applied to Brockmeier’s own slender and solemn prose. Meanwhile, Tod Wodicka’s debut novel couldn’t be more removed from Brockmeier’s hushed tones. The munificently titled All Shall Be Well; and All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well is named after a chant uttered by a medieval mystic, Julian of Norwich, and captures the deluded and desperate optimism of the main character, Burt Hecker, who bears an uncommon vice: He increasingly seeks to disengage himself from his 20th-century present in favor a medieval past.
“I wanted to write about a medieval re-enactor…and basically rip apart 20th-century America through the eyes of someone who doesn’t belong,” Wodicka says about the initial impulse behind his novel. However, as the character develops, he gradually becomes as tragic as he is ridiculous, imposing his elaborate rituals on his family and gradually alienating them entirely as he seeks solace in the past.
“I can identify with that quite a lot—kind of an American rootlessness … where I grew up, I felt a real disconnect, and no sense of history at all,” Wodicka explains. He says that the displacement suffered by his characters is endemic to contemporary American society.
“We’re all stuck in a weird present,” Wodicka says. “Everyone tries to form their own niche, to hold onto something, and people can get lost in that.” Both Wodicka and Brockmeier will be coming to Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop on Downer Avenue, March 27, at 7 p.m. You can read interviews with both of the authors at www.expressmilwaukee.com—just click on the Books tab in the Arts and Entertainment section and scroll down to Author Interviews.
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AP - The Army will substantially reduce use of the unpopular practice of holding troops beyond their enlistment dates and will pay $500 to those still forced to stay in the service, defense and congressional officials said Wednesday.
AIG head shares US anger of bonuses but backs them
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AP - The chief executive officer of failed insurance conglomerate AIG acknowledged Wednesday that the company's multimillion-dollar bonuses were "distasteful" to many and had provoked a firestorm of wrath. "I share that anger," Edward Liddy, chairman and CEO of the American International Group Inc., said in testimony prepared for Congress.
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AP - For the first time since last fall's election, Democrats and the Obama administration are backpedaling furiously on an issue easily understood by financially strapped taxpayers: $165 million in bonuses paid out at bailed-out AIG.
Pence: Return AIG donations
(Politico)
Politico - House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence is urging politicians from both parties to strongly consider returning campaign contributions from AIG.
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AIG head shares US anger of bonuses but backs them
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Obama seeks greater rein on financial institutions
(AP)
AP - President Barack Obama says he wants Congress to pass legislation giving the government greater regulatory authority over financial institutions like American International Group.
Consumer prices rise by largest amount in 7 months
(AP)
AP - Consumer prices rose in February by the largest amount in seven months as gasoline prices surged again and clothing costs jumped the most in nearly two decades.
Crude
