The Merry Chase by Gordon Lish

 


By far the most influential fiction editor and creative writing teacher in America back in the 70s, 80s and 90s, Gordon Lish, dubbed Captain Fiction, also wrote dozens of short stories and a number of novels, including Dear Mr. Capote and Peru.

Since Gordon Lish is famous for his brutal editing of Raymond Carver and his equally brutal teaching methods where the likes of Richard Ford, Barry Hannah, Cynthia Ozick and Harold Brodkey are counted among his students, one might think Gordon's own fiction style would be straightforward realist a la Caver-Ford-Ozick. But this is not the case. Not even close. Gordon Lish's fiction is highly experimental, quirky and immediately recognizable. As by way of example, here's the opening for the short story under review:

THE MERRY CHASE
"Don't tell me. Do me a favor and let me guess. Be honest with me, tell the truth, don't make me laugh. Tell me, don't make me have to tell you, do I have to tell you that when you're hot, you're hot, that when you're dead, you're dead? Because you know what I know? I know you like myself, I know you like the back of my hand, I know you like a book, I know you inside out. I know you like you'll never know.
You think I don't know whereof I speak? I know, I know. I know the day will come, the day will dawn.
Didn't I tell you you never know? Because I guarantee it. I tell you, no one will dance a jig. No one will do a dance. No one will cater to you so fast, or wait on you hand and foot. You think they could care less if you live or die?"

So the question poses itself: Why write like this? An interviewer, a Mr. Don Swain, asked Gordon Lish exactly this question. Here's what Gordon had to say about his writing (I do a modest transcribing and compressing since Gordon spoke with Don Swain in a series of radio interviews from 1983 to 1988 - available on YouTube. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsYfM...). I also pepper in my own observations on Gordon's writing.

LANGUAGE OF THE HEART
"I'm trying to recover the language as it occurs in my heart, in my ear." Gordon goes on to say there's a primal, innate language in all of us that's integral to our biology and it's this language he seeks to retrieve and put down on paper - and, in this way, his novels and short stories provide a written record of his very being.

GRAB THE READER
"I want to grab the reader and force their face down on the page." Gordon wants a narrative voice that's both familiar and totally unique, a voice that's compelling, enthralling, riveting, a voice that can shock, and, when needed, a voice that can be erotic. Gordon acknowledges his writing requires concentration and certainly doesn't make for a quick read. He hones and retools his writing via multiple rewrites until he reaches a point where every single word counts.

REPETITION AND CLICHÉS
"We think in clichés; we speak in clichés, we tend to be the product of our culture's clichés." Gordon is fascinated by the phenomenon of clichés along with the repetition of language. He observes there's a calming, a soothing, a kind of magic and shamanistic effect when we use clichés and repeat words - cliché and repetition as incantation, language as a vehicle of power. With this in mind, take another look at the beginning of The Merry Chase. Notice how many times the narrator uses "I" and "me" and "you" along with, by my count, a dozen clichés.

ENSHROUD THE READER
"I want to enshroud a reader in the ambience of my voice. I want a reader to feel enclosed within an atmosphere that promotes a certain gaze, a buzzy feeling enabling the reader to drift along in the story's language. My writing is all about the WAY the story is told rather than the story itself." Tell it like it is, Gordon! To get a clearer sense for what Gordon is driving at here, read the beginning of The Merry Chase aloud, with feeling, five times over. Ah, the buzz.

MORE SENSATIONS
Thanks to the internet and other media, we're all drowning in information. According to Gordon, what we need in fiction isn't more information but greater sensations and deeper feelings. This is exactly what Gordon aims to put before the reader: the possibility of dreams; the possibility of feelings, a way for us to connect with life in all its mystery.

NOT A STORY
Gordon insists his tales are unlike a conventional story happening out there in the world; rather, his fictions occur in the moment, in one place. So true. With a Gordon Lish story, I have the distinct impression the narrator is sitting alone in a room, speaking, ranting, browbeating or spinning. A Lish narrator spinning reminds me of the narrator in a Stephen Dixon story, however, with Dixon, the action usually takes place out in the world - on the subway, walking the street, in a bookstore, in a restaurant, in an apartment or office. But with Gordon, as much as the narrator spins, the spinning is all in the head, making for intense storytelling.

FIRST SENTENCE
Here's a key when approaching any of his stories: Gordon says: "My first sentence is "the story" and everything thereafter is a kind of dilation of that first sentence, expanding and evolving that first sentence until it becomes a global event." In his novel Dear Mr. Capote, here is Gordon's first sentence: "This is the twelfth start to the letter I am sending." Are you familiar with this novel? If so, you will see the truth of Gordon's words.

I use Dear Mr. Capote as an example for a specific reason: I plan to post reviews on a number of books by Gordon Lish, this one included. My review here can serve as a coming preview.

*The Merry Chase is included in Sudden Fiction edited by Robert Shapard and James Thomas



As part of a Guardian comment thread on Gordon Lish, here's what one of Captain Fiction's former students had to say:

"I was a student of Lish's, and I worked for him at Knopf and at The Quarterly. My third book, a novel, is coming out this fall. Gordon certainly taught me, guided me, and encouraged me over the many years I knew him well. Since this article doesn't mention many names, I thought it might be useful to see a sampling of the writers he edited and/or taught. These are just a few of those not already mentioned: Barry Hannah, Cynthia Ozick, Harold Brodkey, Amy Hempel, Lily Tuck, Walter Kirn, Yannick Murphy, Noy Holland, Sam Michel, Michael Hickins, Diane Williams, Raymond Kennedy, Nancy Lemann, Richard Ford, Joy Williams, Christopher Coe, Michael Martone, Patricia Lear, Diane DeSanders, Mary Robison, Bette Pesetsky, Dawn Raffel, Jennifer Allen, Daryl Scroggins, Sheila Kohler, William Tester, Victoria Redel, Thomas Lynch, M Sarki, Janet Kauffman, David Ohle, Jan Pendleton, Don Nace, Daniel Harris, Rudy Wilson, Greg Mulcahy, Hob Broun, Peter Christopher, Anderson Ferrell, Ted Pejovich, Jack Gilbert, Denis Donoghue, Melinda Davis, Neal Durando, Leon Rooke, Mary Robison, Terese Svoboda, David Leavitt, Mark Richard, Rick Bass, Mona Simpson.