A Three-Day Journey
Just added to STORYGLOSSIA Issue 20 is "The Swans of Tuonela" by David Michael Wolach. I can't say too much about this one without giving away the story's powerful ending, so I will instead enumerate three of the story's other virtues. Notice the tight three-act structure, done here as a triptych. The conflict happens scenically, character against character, and doesn't require character interiority for us to appreciate the dynamics of the relationships. The use of myth (in Finnish mythology Tuonela is similar to Hades) and symbolism to deepen the story's meaning.
David Michael Wolach teaches Philosophy and Art at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He's the managing editor of the literary magazine Wheelhouse. "The Swans of Tuonela" is from a collection, Electrical Fires, parts of which have been published in Heartlands Magazine, The Missing Fez, The Peralta Review, and others.
And don't forget, the STORYGLOSSIA Fiction Prize 2007 is now open for submissions. First prize is $1000. Deadline for entries is July 15, 2007.
David Michael Wolach teaches Philosophy and Art at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He's the managing editor of the literary magazine Wheelhouse. "The Swans of Tuonela" is from a collection, Electrical Fires, parts of which have been published in Heartlands Magazine, The Missing Fez, The Peralta Review, and others.
And don't forget, the STORYGLOSSIA Fiction Prize 2007 is now open for submissions. First prize is $1000. Deadline for entries is July 15, 2007.
Labels: Storyglossia Issue 20
posted by Steven J. McDermott at
8:55 AM
3 Comments:
A beautiful balance (or battle)
of the elegant and grotesque,
such racing deterioration
to a finish line of death.
its amazing how this story provides so much with so little - minimal dialogue and descriptions are just enough to reveal the tension between the characters and the subtle progession to the startling finale. beautiful!
"Swans of Tounela" has a kind of musicality to it without being in any sense beautiful. Wolach's prose style is not just sparse -- it's unrelenting. The story withholds everything we want to know, while telling us things we aren't ready to hear. The combination of this attack on the reader with the rhythmic, almost hypnotic pacing of the narrative is particularly effective in this piece.
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