Tangled Web She Wove
I was excited to read Connie Corzilius' story "
Mary Beth" in the current issue of
Small Spiral Notebook because her other stories all are remarkable for their narrative vulnerability. Each of the narrators is quite different and yet Corzilius successfully develops a language system that reaches into the character's authentic core. I read a lot of stories and this ability to capture a character's essence with unique language (rather than common language merely arranged differently) is a rarer feat than you might imagine.
"Mary Beth" is a mood piece, a story that maps emotional terrain, and one that uses form to create in the reader the same uncertainty and unsettledness the narrator expresses. The most obvious technique Corzilius uses is the fragmented backstory which mimics to some extent the missing and damaged girls and women from the news reports; and, of course, the ending, where we are left hanging, not knowing whether the narrator is paranoid or about to become both a parent of a victim and a victim herself. No substitute for real worry, but as close a proximation as literature may achieve.
I love the way the ending casts back to the spider in the swing set, and also the way it highlights the webby tendrils of backstory Corzilius has spun throughout the story.
Be sure to check out her other stories online: "
Slut Wisdom" in
The Mississippi Review, and, of course, her two
Storyglossia publications, "
The Interminable Yes" from
Issue 8 and "
Shut-ins" from
Issue 10.
