Re: JCO: Upon the Sweeping Flood

Hi, Jane. Sometimes people respond heroically to disaster. The hero of
Sweeping Flood initially tries to rescue 2 of the flood victims, but adversity
(and the victims' reluctance to be rescued on the hero's terms) pervert the
hero's good intentions, and frustration leads to an unexpected upwelling of
violence. Last summer, several Tone Cluster folks examined the stories in JCO's
first story collection BY THE NORTH GATE and found similar scenarios: particularly
the story "Swamp" about an elderly man who thinks he can single-handedly help
a wild girl but is totally defeated by her wildness. The subsequent NORTH
GATE story "Ceremonies" shows how an entire community reaches out to a
distressed family and -- in its own clumsy way -- offers effective help: significantly
"Ceremonies" is narrated in the collective first-person-plural voice -- an
interesting story-telling device. JCO stories often illustrate how unexamined
egoism defeats one's best intentions.
I recently heard that some well-intentioned people up north are trying to
help Louisiana flood victims by offering -- on Craig's List -- rooms in their
homes. That sounds like a scenario for a similar JCO story. It's natural to
want to shelter a refugee, but I hope that -- on second thought -- those
generous folks will go through organizations like the Red Cross, the Salvation
Army or the Quakers to exercise their charity.
Cyrano

In a message dated 9/8/2005 11:06:17 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
jward1108@hotmail.com writes:

<< Hi Cyrano,
That is exactly what I meant, about the unsuspected "primitive"
instincts that are experienced through her stories. The nightmarish
images of rapes and shootings, a young girl with her throat slashed, all
unthinkable such a short time ago, seemed straight out of a JCO story.
Thanks for your response. I too am feeling nostalgic for the 20th
century.
Jane >>
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