Apparition and Late Fictions

A novella and stories by Thomas Lynch

“Mortality weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep.” As mortality ever weighed heavily on Keats it positively burdens American undertaker, writer and poet Thomas Lynch. In his latest book, Apparition and Late Fictions, Lynch glides delicately through the realms of anguish, bereavement and grief. The result is an accomplished expose mapping the fragile terrain of human mortality.

Lynch first found acclaim with a collection of essays entitled The Undertaking: Life Studies from a Dismal Trade”. This featured Lynch’s playful assertions regarding how the deceased feel about traditional posthumous procedures and rituals, combined occasionally with his own philosophical musings on our treatment of death being greatly reflective of our perspective on life.

Offering vivid irreverence balanced with unrivalled sensitivity and perspective all wrapped in stylistic elegant prose, The Undertaking was the bare bones; a triumph, unpretentious and brilliant.
It becomes instantly apparent that the same traits are present in Apparition. The first narrative opens with the story of a Michigan fishing instructor whose endeavours to come to terms with the recent loss of his father find him transporting his ashes down the river Pere Marquette.

Greif-stricken Danny visits fishing spots that provoke memories of his late father, rich natural imagery helps convey the comfort and sobering clarity that Danny finds in the familiar solace of nature. Characterisation here is aided by a lengthy preamble, framing the character with earthy honesty and genuine affection. The scrupulous articulation of Danny’s grief oozes Lynch’s trademark tenderness and humility.

Matinee de Septembre, however, sees Lynch dip into unfamiliar territory. A nod to Mann’s Death In Venice, the tale is of a dying window who gradually becomes obsessed with a young Jamaican waitress at an island resort. Here Lynch offers us an entirely different yet wholly engrossing character, far removed from his own experiences. He demonstrates his versatility with this unfamiliar dynamic; emotionally unfulfilled, driven, terminal career woman’s intense homosexual infatuation. Portrayed brilliantly with undertones of dry parody, Lynch observes that although the middle aged poet could “wax eloquent on the subject of beauty, in the presence of it she was smitten to silence.”

The ending novella which lends its name to the title of the collection doesn’t have quite the same elegance as its predecessors. Apparition is the story of a Methodist minister whose wife has left him for a younger man. In a witty ironic career change Adrian goes from Minister to self help guru, writing books to advise people on marital issues. There is however constant ellipsis in the narrative which impedes the flow.

Unlike the other stories, Apparition is heavily reliant on flashbacks which whilst being extremely detailed in portraying the depth of love between Adrian and his ex-wife seem to stall the novella and prevent forward movement. Also notable here is the vague implication of metafiction – writing about writing which feels unnecessary and contrived.

Despite its flaws Apparition would be an admirable novella in its own right and the minor foibles don’t detract at all from the quality of the collection.
Death and love are writer’s fail-safes. Emotive, engrossing and mysterious they have bared their fruits for countless works of great drama, poetry and fiction but Lynch’s themes are unique, masterful and crafted around the flesh.

From macabre imagery of a young girl lying exposed on a steel table to a lonely gentleman moved to tears by gentle intercourse with his children’s babysitter, Lynch has created a collage of frailty, from the weakness and devastation induced by raw bereavement to the onset of isolation and loneliness brought on by the aftermath of loss. He praises the desires of the flesh and his characters spend their lives condemning, showing how intimacy has the ability to lift us from despair.

His mainly Christian protagonists find no asylum in their faith, instead it is found in the profane simplicity of human consolation. Lynch’s exploration of the battle between the aspirations of the sole and limitations of the body is prevalent throughout, the former being implicitly infinite and the latter horrendously short, the book fraught with these tenuous contradictions that seem ultimately futile. His precise understanding a of all aspects of death has informed his calm collected perspective on life and one is left with the feeling that Lynch must be a master of both his trades.

Author:  Thomas Lynch

Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd; (Feb 2010);

Best Price:  ₤8.57 Sprint Books (Hardback)