Van Gogh's Ear is such a treat, a book containing two dozen short -story snappers by the Brazilian master of the craft - Moacyr Scliar.
I'm so excited to be sharing a taste of this collection, as per -
VAN GOGH'S EAR
The narrator, age twelve, a boy I'll call Pedro, tells us his father, as per usual, is on the brink of ruin. Poor dad runs a grocery story, owes a huge wad of money to one of his supplies and there's absolutely no way he can pay.
But, continues Pedro, if his father was short of money, he was never lacking in imagination, intelligence and good cheer. A plan was needed as this supplier he owed money to was a particularly boorish and insensitive man, never the type of person to give his father a break.
Forever creative, Pedro's dad conducts his own investigations and finds out his odious supplier, let's call him Sam, has a particular fondness, bordering on obsession, for the artist Vincent Van Gogh. Matter of fact, every single wall in Sam's house is filled with reproductions of the great artist's work.
Accordingly, dad goes to the library in order to hunt down books on Van Gogh. Again, always the creative type, dad discovers a fact about Van Gogh that will save him: in a fit of madness, Van Gogh cut off his ear and sent it to his lover.
Here's dad's scheme: tell Sam that he, a humble grocer, is the great-grandson of the man who was the lover of the woman Van Gogh had fallen in love with. And his great-grandfather received the ear from the woman as a token of his love for her. And, in turn, his great-grandfather bequeathed the mummified ear to him. Thus, a simple solution: father would trade this rare treasure to Sam for the cancellation of his debt and some additional credit.
Dad asks Pedro what he thinks. Pedro, in turn, asks Dad where he's going to get the ear. No problem, Dad answers. He has a friend working at the local morgue who will gladly turn him a favor.
The next morning, Dad returns home with his prize - a small jar filled with formaldehyde and floating in the formaldehyde, a small, dark object of indefinable shape: the ear of Vincent Van Gogh. Just in case anybody might have any doubts, Dad stuck a label on the jar: Van Gogh - His ear.
So, away they go off to Sam's house, Father and Son. Pedro waits outside while his father ventures in, jar in hand. Five minutes later, Pedro's dad comes out, disconcerted, furious. Turns out, Sam not only rejected his proposal but snatched the jar from his dad's hand and hurled it through the window.
His father snaps, "Of all the gall!" "Of all the gall!" "Of all the gall!"
Eventually, when he settles down, his dad asks: "Did Van Gogh cut off the right ear or the left ear?" Pedro says he doesn't have a clue, that his dad should be the one to know since he did the research.
More walking and Pedro asks if the ear in the jar was the right ear or left ear. His dad admits, he never thought to find out.
Moacyr concludes his tale with Pedro's reflection: "Then we continued to walk, headed for home. If you examine an ear carefully - any ear, whether Van Gogh's or not - you'll see that it is designed much like a labyrinth. In that labyrinth I got lost. And I was never to find my way out again."
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And here's one of the author's fable-like tales in its entirety -
THE MESSAGE
The king used to order that the heads of the messengers that brought him bad new be cut off. In this way, a process of natural selection was established. The incompetents were gradually eliminated until there was only one messenger left in the country. He was, as one can easily imagine, a man that had mastered the art of imparting bad news surprisingly well. your son died, he would announce to a mother, upon which the woman would start chanting jubilant hymns: Hallelujah, Lord! Your house burned down, he would inform a widower, upon which the man would break into frenetic applause. To the King, this messenger would relay the news of successive military defeats, epidemics of the plague, natural catastrophes, the devastation of entire crops, stark poverty, and famine. The King, surprised at his own reaction, would listen to such news with a smile. So pleased was he with the messenger that he appointed him his official spokesman. Acting in the important capacity, the messenger soon won the support and the affection of the public. Concomitantly, hatred for the monarch started to grow until he was finally deposed by the people, who had risen in rebellion, and the former messenger was crowned King. The first thing he did upon assuming office was to order the execution of all candidates for the position of messenger. Starting with those that had mastered the art of imparting bad news.
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*Note to readers of English: All of the stories Van Gogh's Ear are included in The Collected Stories of Moacyr Scliar published by University of New Mexico Press, translator: Eloah F. Giacomelli. This is the book to purchase.
Brazilian author Moacyr Scliar, 1937-2011
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