Richard Cumyn

In his latest collection of short stories, Richard Cumyn demonstrates, once again, his absolute mastery of the form. In these nine pieces, he presents diverse characters—male, female, old, young, of various backgrounds, social strata and levels of education—charting a wary course through life’s minefields. These are people we meet every day. They are our friends, colleagues, neighbours and relatives. They are us. Their worries are familiar and ordinary: love, work, children, parents, health, finances. But the special skill this author brings to the game is making the familiar and ordinary not just interesting, but fascinating. Richard Cumyn excels at depicting the drama at the heart of everyday life, the personal quandary in the quotidian. In these stories, he zeroes in on the point of friction chafing at a marriage, seeks out the emotionally charged backstory that prevents people from saying what they mean, gives us a moment of realization that, with the force of epiphany, blows a fragile relationship to pieces. His men are often confused and purposeless, beset by wayward impulses, looking for direction in a world that changes too fast and refuses to give them a break. Outwardly, his women appear confident, but their reality is often disappointment, lingering regret and indecision. Richard Cumyn’s fiction is undeniably challenging and has always addressed serious themes. This new book is no exception. But once again the stories are narrated in a boisterous, engaging, even playful manner. Endlessly inventive, Cumyn’s prose is filled with sly metaphors, imaginative wordplay and wry observations on contemporary life. He can be counted on to discover the comic moment in the midst of disaster. The Sign for Migrant Soul delivers proof that the short story is not just alive and well, but changing and evolving, and, further, that Richard Cumyn is not just another gifted writer of prose fiction but arguably one of the best currently working in Canada. Fans of the contemporary short story will find much to enjoy and admire in these pages.… (más)

Richard Cumyn's genius for placing his characters in odd or uncomfortable or morally ambiguous situations to great comic and dramatic effect is on fine display in his latest book, a collection of three novellas. In "Candidates" recent university graduate Adam Lerner lands a research job with the Prime Minister's Office, the parameters of which are hazy and become hazier as things go along. Adam, an innocent and not the most observant of individuals, is constantly being blindsided by people who seem to know before he does where he's going to be and what he's going to do. Adam's career ambitions and political affiliations are fuzzy at best, and so it is no small irony that he finds himself the target of other people's political aspirations, to the point where he is being pressured into running for office himself. The title story, "Famous Last Meals," chronicles the complex friendship of two couples--Colin & Beth, Max & Chandra--who meet on a semi-regular basis to re-enact the last meal of a famous person. Colin, the narrator, also recounts an early relationship with a dancer named Jane, who seems to have found freedom in pushing her body past the limits of its endurance. And "The Woman in the Vineyard" describes a case of literary jealousy in which the narcissistic writer/narrator, disappointed with how little attention his own works have received, becomes obsessed with the popular prize-winning novels of a former protégé named Troyer, to the point where he makes plans to visit the scene of the younger man's latest novel in order to prove that Troyer is a fraud. The prevalent tone here is one of regret. People are scrutinizing their lives, questioning the past, wondering where they fell short and how they ended up where they are. The stories are filled with betrayals and people turning against and disappointing and confounding one another. Cumyn's characters are often not what they seem, or even what they think they are—and certainly not what they profess to be. As in his earlier works the prose is polished and fluent, filled with apt and pertinent references, wry observations and felicitous turns of phrase. These are densely written, leisurely paced fictions; no doubt they would have benefited from some judicious pruning and tightening. But regardless, Famous Last Meals is a welcome addition to Richard Cumyn's oeuvre and adds fuel to the argument that he is among the best writers of short (and medium length) fiction working today.… (más)

Constance Hardy is a high school English teacher of early middle age, living a life that has followed the same pattern for many years. But that is about to change. While on the bus one morning she notices a Pakistani colleague from her school, Afzal Khan, and is shocked and confused to find herself smitten by him. Moments later the bus is involved in an accident. Along with the other passengers, she and Afzal are ordered off the bus only to see the lifeless body of a woman in one of the stricken vehicles. The trauma establishes a connection between them. Constance cannot shake thoughts of Afzal from her mind, and these thoughts quickly become obsessive. In class later that morning frustration with her students pushes her to act vindictively, and she reprimands a student in front of the class, rationalizing her behaviour by blaming it on emotional trauma from the accident. The next morning she learns that the student she humiliated has committed suicide and named her in his suicide note.

The story is told by Constance in the present and past tense. Months later she has left her home, her job and her family and is living in Pakistan, where she accompanied Afzal after his expulsion from Canada. The audience for her narrative is the father of the dead boy, who has travelled halfway across the world seeking answers. Constance’s story alternates between two narrative threads, one describing events that took place in Ottawa and led to her decision to abandon her life in Canada, and the other—the present day in Lahore, Pakistan—revealing her new life with Afzal and his family. The emotional impact of this novella is heightened by its brevity. At the end we are left wondering what the future holds for this woman who is forging a new identity within a culture that couldn't be more alien. Richard Cumyn has written a powerful examination of the forces that conspire to make us do the things we do, and the extremes to which we will go when pushed to the wall.… (más)

The Young in Their Country is Richard Cumyn's fifth collection of short fiction. It is the product of a seasoned writer whose talents show no sign of diminishing, who continues to create concise, compelling dramas from the stuff of everyday life. The stories are grounded in gritty, unpolished urban and rural landscapes--sketched with immediacy and precision. In Richard Cumyn's stories, grimy surfaces are left exposed, unpleasant smells linger in the air. His characters struggle with demons and delusions that push them to and sometimes over the edge: a teacher who suddenly thinks his students can see beneath his clothes to his naked skin, a husband and father nursing an unreasonable resentment toward his wife's successful ex-husband, a once-famous artist living off the grid, hiding from his failures. As each narrative unwinds, the author stands back and allows his characters to reveal their flaws and misapprehensions, to make their mistakes and express their regrets. Not much happens, but not much needs to happen. These surprising and unusual stories are more about interior lives than outward actions. Using prose that seems not so much written as uttered, with the natural rhythms of plain speech, Cumyn demonstrates a dogged determination to burrow as far inside each story as possible, to mine its dramatic possibilities. The Young in Their Country is dirty realism at its best.… (más)