Neither the cook nor his son had ever known if Ah Gou and Xiao Dee's translation of the Mandarin was essentially correct-- that is, if she bu de literally meant "I can't bear to let go" -- but what did it matter, really? " (430)
All the world is full of the odd, the fear, the random accidents which lead to friendships, nothing of consequence, death. The danger of bear lurk in the woods, during harsh New England winters-- where at prep schools, the years spent there have unending consequences on those who've attended. Relationships are complicated, as are sexual dynamics, angels and saviors fall from the sky, and SOME CHARACTERS LEAVE SUCH A LASTING SPIRIT WITH THOSE HE TOUCHES, AND THE READER, HIS WORDS OR SPEECH IS WRITTEN ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
This is the world of John Irving, the currents of life he draws from to create some of the most original and classic novels of the last fifty years-- and it is all so real. So true, do detailed, and so lush with description-- a modern, old-fashioned way of writing which firmly established him as among the most Dickensian of contemporary writers.
"Last Night in Twisted River," Irving's most recent novel, has marked the first Irving I've read in a number of years. (And for those of you who may not have read the novel, I will be discussing the novel's ending.) Throughout his novels, Irving has proudly drawn on the same, similar themes and images, and always managed to create a new, original and stand alone tome. But in this novel, his body of work has never been more referenced, used or drawn on-- and never has it been so welcomed. All at once, the novel is his most unique plot and concept yet-- the story of what happens when a father does what he can to protect his son from this world of accidents. Yet during the flowing new story, Irving's take on a "chase novel," which takes the reader across New England, across America and beyond, what has come before is briefly referenced, and explored in new ways. Thus we are given the cook and his writer son's life-long friend, the woodsman Ketchum, who-- while nothing like him-- brings to mind memories of Owen Meany, another truly unforgettable Irving creation, firmly rooted in his sense of what is right, and speaking to his friends on the run through faxes WRITTEN ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS, as Owen used to speak.
And, with all these new situations among memories of what has come before, Irving has given us what is his most personal novel, in terms of his life as a writer. Yes, the novel is about the cook and his son on the run from a psychotic sheriff. However, the majority of the novel is about what happens to the characters in between-- their life. Danny's growth, his finding himself as a son, a writer, a father, a partner- -and, at times, the loss of those roles. And how he deals with living, dying. "'Well, writers should know it's sometimes hard work to die, Danny'..." (516-517) When the novel ends, and Danny, after it all, having lost and been found, it is no more apparent that one thing "Twisted River" can tell us is the insatiable need for writers to tell their life story, to never stop telling the tales of the characters and parts of people who have been a part of one's life. The stories of the childhoods, adolescences, the bears, THE FRIENDS, the New England where we have been, the stories we have created and the lives we have been a part of.
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| Inuksuk, Kuujjuaraapik, Canada |
He'd lost so much that was dear to him, but Danny knew how stories were marvels-- how they simply couldn't be stopped. He felt that the great adventure of life was just beginning-- as his father must have felt, in the throes and dire circumstances of his last night in Twisted River." (554)
In other words, Irving can be seen here using this novel and the others as his own inuksuk-- the Inuit stone landmark used as a point of reference, which Daniel discovers at his winter cabin in Pointe au Baril. For the Inuit, the stone structures representing people were used for landmarkers in travel, and the journeys of life that take us across great distances. For Danny, and his writer Irving, each novel appears to be its own landmark; an unstoppable need to document, the remember the life we have had through the art of fiction, the truth in the lie, that which we cannot bear to let go.
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