A Robert Johnson crossroads story with an agenda, the title story “Beluthahatchie” tells of a vice-ridden blues musician from the early 20th century who meets an untimely end and finds himself on the train to hell. But it's when encountering the devil and learning about his new living conditions that the reader really gets to thinking. Written in fabulous prose, Duncan sets the tone for the collection by drawing the reader in with rich character and dialogue, and leaves them pondering over the substance.
A brief but incisive piece, “Fennemen’s Mouth” looks at the subjectivity of memory through a television show that edits classics to insert bloopers that never happened. Groucho Marx mutters off-kilter one-liners and slapstick is inserted into bandstand where none existed before. The real question is: what sticks in the aftermath? (For some odd reason, the story is reminiscent of a Harlan Ellison offering…) Simply put, “Senator Bilbo” is the best piece of Tolkien satire I’ve ever read (not that that’s a long list…). Duncan plays off the racial (species?) dynamics of Lord of the Rings in political fashion. He presents an ultra-conservative hobbit legislator who wants to keep Hobbiton for hobbits, everyone else—orcs, trolls, elves, etc.—unwelcome . Playing off the hobbit love for pipes and beer, Duncan builds a scenario both humorous yet relevant. The end is a touch forced, but it doesn’t take away from the message or quality of the Tolkien echo.
A ghoulish, macabre affair without graphic violence, “Grand Guignol” looks at a troupe of actors in a turn-of-the-century theater, and the tension and angst that drips from their interaction. Through the gallows humor a lot of blood drips. “Liza and the Crazy Water Man” is the beautifully told story about a woman with a ‘magical’ voice who comes down from the hills of Depression-era North Carolina to the ‘big city’ of Charlotte to sing for radio advertisements. A very touching story, it defines heart and soul in fiction. A tale of the Catholic macabre, “From Alfano's Reliquary” looks back to the Carolingian era and tells of the disinterment of a buried pope and the posthumous trial he is put to, all of which makes for perhaps the most blackly humorous story in the collection. Papicide is a thing, and a thing.
A love story without any maudlin, James-Cameron ornamentation, “Saved” tells the story of Dorothy Gibson, her survival of the sinking of the Titanic, and the silent film she released shortly thereafter. I ordinarily dislike romance per se, but Duncan—with his King Midas' touch—makes this story work through subtlety. I have not investigated whether Duncan’s story is a reaction to the film or just a coincidence (they were released the same year), but his few pages (compared to the 2.5 hours of film) wields a more mature storyline, the real-world history just the icing. Immaculately unraveled and emotionally-charged, “The Executioner’s Guild” tells of capitol punishment in small-town Mississippi circa 1941, and the traveling executioner who brings the electric chair to do the job. A story that could have been several things (overt commentary on capital punishment and discussion of racism in the South, among other things), it aims higher. Duncan a born storyteller, he instead lets the lives of his characters, as colorful and unique as they are, present the personal and social realities of killing a man in the name of the law. Great story. (Longer review, here.)
With something of Tim Burton's miasma trailing it, “The Premature Burials” tells of a man and woman for whom partnership has a special relationship with mortality, and interestingly enough, with procreation eventually. While having a tall tale feel, there is still a drop of humanity allowing it to linger. “A Map to the Home to the Stars” captures high school nostalgia and cars in a way entirely different yet not unlike Jack Cady’s “The Night We Buried Road Dog”. It takes two high school friends, their love of girls, the dog days of summer, and spins them into one of those poignant stories about the passage of time that touches something deep inside but you don’t know exactly why.
I gush and rave about Duncan’s ability to generate VOICE, and with “Lincoln in Frogmore” we have another phenomenal example. Told through the eyes of a young man who defies his mother’s command to stay home while she goes to a secret Abraham Lincoln rally, he gets caught, but a whole lot more. Skillfully structured and extremely well told, “Fortitude” is the semi-biographical story of George Patton. Part proud cowboy and part bulldog, his was, in many ways, the face of WWII in Europe for Americans—a fact glorified in the 1970 film titled simply Patton. A hallucinatory, prognostic, and poignant look into the seemingl unyielding façade of the famous general, Duncan’s novella takes a look at where he might have gotten his grit. Wikipedia may be the go-to source for biographical information today, but reading “Fortitude” gives Patton’s life a vitality the grassroots encyclopedia simply can't. (Longer review, here.)
In
the end, Andy Duncan is one of the true gems of literature in short
form regardless of genre, and Beluthahatchie and Other Stories
is one of the reasons. Utterly unique, Duncan has the power to take
ordinary material and apply a distinct authorial voice and vivid
imagination to convert them into something entirely of its own.
“Beluthahatchie”, “The Executioner’s Guild”, and
“Fortitude”—these are some of the best short stories written in
the 90s. Not a dud among the rest, just go read Andy Duncan if you
haven’t—and if you can; Duncan collections are not easy to come
by cheap as they are out of print.
The following are the eleven stories collected in Beluthahatchie and Other Stories:
Beluthahatchie
Saved
Grand Guignol
The Executioners' Guild
The Premature Burials
Fenneman's Mouth
Lincoln in Frogmore
The Map to the Homes of the Stars
From Alfano's Reliquary
Liza and the Crazy Water Man
Fortitude
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