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Framed by two resonant stories about men in mid-life coping with terminal illnesses and impending death, this volume speaks also to the concerns of (mostly) male protagonists in settings across the American South. An Alabama native, Corwin writes with the assurance of an author steeped in the grand Southern writing tradition. As he mentions in “Biloxi: A Return Home,” the final novella-length tale, “Writers such as Faulkner, Percy, Crews, Styron, Harper Lee, and Capote, among others, had transformed the values and traditions of the South into great literature.” The collection’s tone is decidedly literary, with most stories containing a preponderance of narrative with occasional short scenes featuring bursts of dialogue.
“A New Orleans Life,” one of the most appealing and more conventionally written stories, explores a romance between two Tulane University students with very different backgrounds. Tess hails from a bigoted, conservative family from Montgomery, Alabama, and Gabriel, a New Orleans native, is a mixed-race orphan passing as white. He holds a more liberal and worldly outlook than Tess after studying in Boston and New York. The unlikely match seems destined for a breakup, but the couple are determined to salvage whatever harmony can be resurrected from their opposing viewpoints. The story explores Gabriel’s revelations of his humble origins as the child of a prostitute and his later connection with a temporary but loving stepmother, a confident Cajun woman and devout priestess in a Catholic-influenced Voodoo congregation. Manon, fearful for Gabriel’s future, helps the lovers find their way forward.
In essence, Corwin’s character-driven stories reflect the human determination to live a positive life or create redemption after a less-than-stellar life. There is a good bit of historical research melded with imagination in these tales and much thoughtful examination of how the Southern historical influences stimulate character growth.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review