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PodCastle 134: Corinthians
Dec. 7th, 2010 12:50 pmAround thirty years ago, I saw a sketch comedy show where every once in a while Bonnie Franklin would be alone on camera, the spotlight hitting her just so, and she'd say something to God. They were these short cutaways between the sketches proper. One time, she told God that it was time for them to "go steady." This is to say that the premise of Corinthians is at least decades old. Sam Schreiber runs with it though. He doesn't flinch and comes up with a short story that is both funny and thoughtful as it conflates two ostensibly different sorts of intimate relationships.
[Note: There's a huge difference from a 30 second blackout joke and a full-fledged short story. I'm obviously not charging anyone of copying anything. The conceit has been around forever, but that's not important. What's important is that Sam Schreiber has written terrific story around that conceit.]
The story's structured beautifully. The opening line sets up the gambit. The rest of the story follows through, going stage by stage through the aftermath of a break-up. The protagonist is a theology scholar so that the story can underscore the unique nature of the relation. He finds apt analogies every step of the way. It's one of those stories where you can take it apart and understand exactly what ever word is doing, but it never feels rote.
Tatiana Gomberg has given it perhaps the best of all possible readings. Second person narrative might have been really annoying heard (rather than read), but she inhabits the narrator so entertainingly that the story flies by.
Incidentally, this also strikes me as one of those stories would be considered literary when published in a literary venue (as it was originally), and fantasy when published in a fantasy venue. It works either way. I'm a big fan of those. (This shouldn't be that surprising. My one sale (so far, I hope) is a piece of fantasy to Boston Review written in 3rd person future.) If nothing else, it shows that genre distinctions, at times, can be completely arbitrary.
[Note: There's a huge difference from a 30 second blackout joke and a full-fledged short story. I'm obviously not charging anyone of copying anything. The conceit has been around forever, but that's not important. What's important is that Sam Schreiber has written terrific story around that conceit.]
The story's structured beautifully. The opening line sets up the gambit. The rest of the story follows through, going stage by stage through the aftermath of a break-up. The protagonist is a theology scholar so that the story can underscore the unique nature of the relation. He finds apt analogies every step of the way. It's one of those stories where you can take it apart and understand exactly what ever word is doing, but it never feels rote.
Tatiana Gomberg has given it perhaps the best of all possible readings. Second person narrative might have been really annoying heard (rather than read), but she inhabits the narrator so entertainingly that the story flies by.
Incidentally, this also strikes me as one of those stories would be considered literary when published in a literary venue (as it was originally), and fantasy when published in a fantasy venue. It works either way. I'm a big fan of those. (This shouldn't be that surprising. My one sale (so far, I hope) is a piece of fantasy to Boston Review written in 3rd person future.) If nothing else, it shows that genre distinctions, at times, can be completely arbitrary.
