I experienced a remarkable collection of short stories titled TRAVELIN’ LIGHT: Stories and Revised Memories by the author Mary Lois Timbes.
I’ll not beat around the bush in my usual mode of essayistic preambling but will cut straight to the chase: this book is written with an exemplary prose style and evokes a lingering resonance in the reader.
Creative Writing
This first story swallowed me up instantly and whole. Having lived in unhurried Arkansas all my life and having traveled little, my being allowed to “eavesdrop” on the bustling, exotic, refined, and literary idea of New York City in the 1980s was a trip. This story for me is almost hallucinatory, facilitated by Timbes subtle and persuasive prose. With economy and precision, she characterizes both her protagonist and the other “players” in this brief theater of poignancy and epiphany. I felt like I was there in the restaurant and apartment. The cat, as consoling presence and feline Sancho Panza, was well-realized.
The Opening Curtain
All I can say about this remarkable story (with its three divisions) is that, while reading, my auditor mode fell away. Instead of trying to notice things good or bad I might bring to light in review, I became simply an absorbed reader. The effect is similar to how I lose track of myself while experiencing a Dostoevsky novel. Well, maybe I can say an additional thing: this extended short story brings to life a 1950s Southern US college world, situating the reader among characters imbued with optimism and discovery, as well as uncertainty.
Travelin’ Light
A vivid and affecting slice of an earlier life. This reverie of remembrance glides with a written, lived-in grace.
Breaking the Guitar
A compelling tale of romantic awakening and sexual discovery, brought forth in the context of unspoken intrigue and bold self-awareness. But that sounds a bit cliched and annoyingly arch. The fact is that the author creates a delightful written ambience and a remarkable verisimilitude. The story segues into a second titled part — Four Days in a Diary. I found myself liking this section better. Stephen has become even more the vivid character, in all manner of personality and propensity. So it was fascinating to behold him in this later decade with Margaret, in a similar way that strange objects in an eccentric curio shop are visually magnetic. Timbes’s granular and experienced descriptions of Paris are like living postcards.
A Better Life
This vignette of seemingly unremarkable characters in an Alabama town is only that on the surface. The author conveys something subtler. We find ourselves slipping into the complex emotional and psychological depths of these apparently simple people. I’m reminded of the natural way Steinbeck has of using the ordinary, the commonplace as a structure for revealing human depths, as in The Wayward Bus. Like that novella, these characters stay with you.
‘Adagio
A reminiscence, deftly conveyed. From the self-approval of the innately talented dancer Tommy Blankenship to the protagonist’s intrepid embodiment of an acting role, this piece entertains. Especially pleasing is Timbes’s wry description of the office flirt and his snappy “philosophizing”:
“The trick is, baby,” Marty would say to her, “Don’t get in deep. Love is all around you. Dig it — but don’t make it something ominous. The happily-ever-after stuff is just a lie. It always was.”
~ Tim Buck
Spectral Lyre 