632
MICHAEL ANANIA
The less conventional stories here deal with madness or derange–
ment and begin to allow the characters some play against the form.
A number are institutionalized, and O'Connor nicely works their sense
of the expectations of their keepers. They know the game - the kinds
of problems that have to be exposed, withdrawn from, then slowly
solved with psych-ward rhetoric. Powers in "Powers Being Himself'
considers such a deception a t length, and Michael in "Bla ther" turns
the whole business to his advantage by telling his mother what the
hospital Freudians wanted him to say about her. There are less playful,
more deeply disturbed characters here, as well. In "The Thumping of
the Grass" and "Gerald's Song" the level of dissociation in the narrators
leads O'Connor's style to a lyricism that escapes the ordinary, expedient
short story language that fills most of the collection. The last story is
written in this manner. The character is an a rtist and teacher ; like
O'Connor's psychiatric characters he is at play with what's expected
of him, but the psychiatric expectations merge with professional and
artistic games. What is left is a spritely but desperate play against
standard play. O'Connor is beginning to edge against the rules he's
been playing by. Like the artist, Mastodon, and his canny inmates,
O 'Connor is mired in expectations he's beginning to think a:bout not
fulfilling.
Michael Anania
"Stacked with psychic time-bombs.. .one of the exciting
developments in fiction."
- Reader's Almanac,
WNYC·FM
GRIPS
or
Efforts to Revive the Host
by M.D. ElEVITCH
"Witty, zany... in love with language."
- SANDRA HOCHMAN
"Outlandish and funny ... refers to the shackles
our social existence places upon us."
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"... delightful, moving, highly intelligent, and
(because of the conventions) very brave. Pay
attention to books like
Grips.
There aren't very many."
- RUSSELL BAN KS,
San Francisco Book Review
GROSSMAN PUBLISHERS
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