 | A WRITER'S WIT |
New Yorker Fiction 2016
Carucci | Brand April 4, 2016, Kevin Canty, “God’s Work”: Sixteen-year-old Sander helps his evangelistic mother deliver door-to-door colorful pamphlets about God’s salvation. ¶ Canty’s narrative about the abstractions of religion is rooted in the concrete of our world: hot summer days more like spring because of clear skies and beautiful flowers, the incessant heat, cool creek water in the park where a young girl reveals the flesh of her thigh to Sander. Heat, in particular, Canty emphasizes, especially as poor Sander’s body does what adolescent bodies do best: become tumescent when stimulated. This Sander is fractured into two persons:
“‘I’ll pray on it,’ Sander says and his mother radiates approval, and at that exact moment he splits into two people, the one he has always been and some itchy, wayward newborn” (71).
The former Sander belongs still to his mother, is faithful to all she holds dear. The “newborn” Sander contrives to obtain his mother’s consent to meet alone with Clara, a girl with a very Eve-like snake rising over her shoulder in the form of a tattoo. From here to story’s end, one feels what has been present all along, two invisible but opposing forces fighting for dominion over this lad—most of the conflict beneath the surface of his everyday life. It may be one of the most revealing stories concerning the power of religion that I’ve ever read. Many of us likewise have been split into two personages: one who believes and one who simply cannot. Kevin Canty’s forthcoming novel, The Underworld, comes out later this year.
Photograph by Elinor Carucci
Design by Christopher Brand
NEXT TIME: My Book World
“‘I’ll pray on it,’ Sander says and his mother radiates approval, and at that exact moment he splits into two people, the one he has always been and some itchy, wayward newborn” (71).
The former Sander belongs still to his mother, is faithful to all she holds dear. The “newborn” Sander contrives to obtain his mother’s consent to meet alone with Clara, a girl with a very Eve-like snake rising over her shoulder in the form of a tattoo. From here to story’s end, one feels what has been present all along, two invisible but opposing forces fighting for dominion over this lad—most of the conflict beneath the surface of his everyday life. It may be one of the most revealing stories concerning the power of religion that I’ve ever read. Many of us likewise have been split into two personages: one who believes and one who simply cannot. Kevin Canty’s forthcoming novel, The Underworld, comes out later this year.
Photograph by Elinor Carucci
Design by Christopher Brand
NEXT TIME: My Book World
READ MY ‘BEHIND THE BOOK’ BLOG SERIES for My Long-Playing Records & Other Stories. In these posts I speak of the creative process I use to write each story. Buy a copy here!
Introduction to My Long-Playing Records
"My Long-Playing Records" — The Story
"A Certain Kind of Mischief"
"Ghost Riders"
"The Best Mud"
"Handy to Some"
"Blight"
"A Gambler's Debt"
"Tales of the Millerettes"
"Men at Sea"
"Basketball Is Not a Drug"
"Engineer"
"Snarked"
"Killing Lorenzo"
"The Age I Am Now"
"Bathed in Pink"
Listen to My Long-Playing Records Podcasts:
"A Certain Kind of Mischief"
"The Best Mud"
"Handy to Some"
"Tales of the Millerettes"
"Men at Sea"
"My Long-Playing Records"
"Basketball Is Not a Drug"
"Snarked"
"Killing Lorenzo"
"Bathed in Pink"
Also available on iTunes.
Introduction to My Long-Playing Records
"My Long-Playing Records" — The Story
"A Certain Kind of Mischief"
"Ghost Riders"
"The Best Mud"
"Handy to Some"
"Blight"
"A Gambler's Debt"
"Tales of the Millerettes"
"Men at Sea"
"Basketball Is Not a Drug"
"Engineer"
"Snarked"
"Killing Lorenzo"
"The Age I Am Now"
"Bathed in Pink"
Listen to My Long-Playing Records Podcasts:
"A Certain Kind of Mischief"
"The Best Mud"
"Handy to Some"
"Tales of the Millerettes"
"Men at Sea"
"My Long-Playing Records"
"Basketball Is Not a Drug"
"Snarked"
"Killing Lorenzo"
"Bathed in Pink"
Also available on iTunes.
RSS Feed