Varieties of the Fantastic in Fiction

“Eisenheim the Illusionist” although it comes off an objection nonfiction, but has hints of the playful and fantastic. I see this in small details such as the fact that he is a mysterious magician. It is also interesting to point out that this sort of fantastic element of illusion happening to a magician-type character which are typically known to be the masters of illusion is a nice touch. We also have this lovely parallel of these illusions being reflections and in the end we have this reveal that it in itself is an illusion to others and partly to himself of a reflection of different parts of himself.

We also then have how Millhauser has trickled in parts of illusion throughout his stories, in “The Disappearance of Elaine Coleman,”was in part the illusion of a real person, someone that had been so thoroughly overlooked that she had to disappear. And then we have “Dangerous Laughter,” were we see what could be the illusion of happiness, but rather an addicting and deadly game. So really the theme or idea of illusion extends far beyond “Eisenheim the Illusionist.”

Being a collection which examines, through the lens of the fantastic, a myriad of issues which plague women today, Her Body and Other Parties would be incomplete without a story discussing body image and disordered eating. What was interesting to me was the choice made to approach this issue with a protagonist being an older woman, as eating disorders tend to be thought of as a “teenage girl problem.” However, according to ANAD, 13% of women over 50 struggle with eating disorders, and I’m glad Machado chose to explore this underrepresented issue.

The most intriguing relationship in the story is not to the protagonist and the bit of herself she wanted gone, so much as that of the protagonist and her daughter, Cal. We don’t see Cal much through the story, and when we do, it’s only through phone calls. She has a “roommate” she refuses to admit is a partner, she doesn’t perform “daughterly duties,” and she doesn’t have any empathy for her mother’s decision. The decision to get an unnecessary surgery in an attempt to be thin is one suggestive of a warped body image, but instead of trying to help her mother, Cal simply gets upset and lectures. The narrator tells us she’s never understood Cal’s needs, so we can assume the relationship has always been tense. Maybe our narrator did something in the past to warrant Cal’s treatment of her.

In the end, the narrator’s body comes back for her, taking care of her on her deathbed the way that most people hope their children will. Her unwanted mass could be viewed as a foil to Cal; Cal wasn’t outright rejected (that we know of), but the body was, and only the body came back for her in the end.

As always, Millhauser toyed with genre in writing “In the Reign of Harad IV.” It finds itself in the category of “Impossible Architecture,” as opposed to “Heretical Histories,” despite my (and others’) initial assumption that it had taken place in the far past. I had assumed this because of its references to a king who lived in a palace and a master craftsman whose entire duty was to make art for the king. Does this have to imply the past, though? There are still kings, and kingdoms, and presumably master crafters within them. A contributing factor to the impression of taking place is not just the setting, but the style; Millhauser clearly evokes a fairy tale.

Here’s a the opening line of the story, with five words changed:

Once upon a time, there lived at court a maker of miniatures, who was celebrated for the uncanny perfection of his work.

The original opening words are “In the reign of Harad IV.” If you, like me, assumed based on kings and courts that this work took place in the distant past, it might as well be “Once upon a time, in a faraway land.” This voice continues throughout the story, with an omniscient, uncaring narrator, who has access to all of the characters’ thoughts without much dialogue.

The story’s ending is also an allusion to a classic fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” In that story, clever tailors convince the fashionista king that his new suit is only visible to those who aren’t foolish or who are well-suited to their position. The twist, of course, is that there are no new clothes, and everyone was playing along to keep from looking stupid. The Master’s apprentices do something similar, but this story brings a new element to the tale: there is something there, and the Master isn’t intentionally trying to fool anyone. In fact, he’s disappointed no one understands his work. (Once again, someone needs to check on our friend Steven.)

All of these factors combined, “In the Reign of Harad IV” is possibly the closest we can get in adult literature to a fairy tale.

When I was reading this story, I was interested in how the fantastic corresponded with the fashion designer creating clothes. I couldn’t find anything that was actually impossible, though there were several things unlikely to happen. The story was strange, in true Millhauser fashion. One of the things that was strange was the overall fashion that the designer, Hyperion, was making for women. These dresses and ideas he had were not normal, considering women had been dressing without much coverage for so long. However, even though these ideas were not normal, I thought it really showed an example of how the fashion industry is in real life. Most of the things we see on TV or in magazines are not anything anyone would actually wear because they are so ridiculous in appearance. Something that struck me as interesting was that these women actually took these fashion ‘trends’ seriously enough to really wear them, going so far as to cover their faces and necks. It does say, however, that in a particular instance that some of this designer’s clothing was made fun of.

“In a celebrated autumn catwalk show, he shocked viewers by bringing back a version of the Victorian crinoline, with its hoops of flexible steel, and raising it to the level of the shoulders. Although the hemi-dress was ridiculed by a number of fashion commentators for its awkwardness, its ugliness, it retro-kitsch jokiness, its air of mockery, others saw it as an expression of liberation from the tyranny of the body.”

The thing that really caught my attention was the similarity to religious clothing trends. It reminded me a lot of how religion often desires to cover the body modestly and keep it concealed until marriage. It says in the story that some considered the strange fashion to be “liberation from tyranny” so I saw the similarities.

The eighth and final installation of Carmen Machado‘s Her Body and Other Parties, “Difficult at Parties,” follows the protagonist recovering from the trauma of sexual assault, as she tires to re-discover and invent a new sexual norm after her rape.

I’ll admit this was a difficult read, as Machado’s collection of stories “use fiction to explore and examine questions about women’s lives…[with] sex, gender and…mental health;” with this account in particular focusing on the re-establishment of trust in a loving relationship.

The paranoia we experience with the narrator is the beginning to a deeper question; how can women amend and recover from the tragedies of their past, when societal ideals paint women as pinnacle of sexual objectification?  Even here, while the narrator’s lover is delineated as patient and gentle, there is still an absence understanding. We see that Paul’s desire for her starts to turn into contempt defeat.

In the bedroom, Paul sits across from me, his fingers tapping idly on the denim of his pants.
Do you remember, he says, what it was like before?

I look down at my legs, then up at the blank wall, then back to him. I do not even struggle to speak; the spark of words dies so deep in my chest there is not even space to mount them on an exhale.
You wanted, he says. You wanted and wanted. You were like this endless thing. A well that never emptied.”

For me, the emphasis of the narrator’s experience isn’t on the regaining of sexual self, but the acceptance and hope developed, “ending on a note of openness [and] potential renewal.”

Two people stumble in, my finger lifts, the rush-to-now slows. Two strangers fumble with each other’s clothes, each other’s bodies. His body, slender and tall and pale, leans; his pants hit the floor with a thunk, the pockets full of keys and change. Her body—my body, mine—is still striped with the yellowish stains of fading bruises. It is a body overflowing out of itself; it unwinds from too many layers. The shirt looks bulky in my hand, and I release it onto the floor. It drops like a shot bird. We are pressing into the side of the mattress.

I look down at my hands. They are dry and not shaking. I look back up at the screen, and I begin to listen.

I do not hate the rich. I aspire to be rich

The Semplica Girl Diaries is about a father who strives to give his children all that he can, with the emphasis of finances being access to this success. The male narrator, who never gives a name, describes their financial situation as middle class. It isn’t soon after he starts writing in his journal that he wins ten thousand dollars, spending all of his winnings on frivolous expenses, in which we are introduced to the SGs, a representation of the pinnacle of wealth.

 
We learn as time passes that this arrangement is considered manificence for those who are chosen as SGs, as these girls come from third world countries where their “opportunities are not so good.” No one questions this exhibit of wealth, except for Eva, thenarrator’s youngest daughter, who questions, “just because [others are] doing it, [does] that makes it right[?]”

 
When Eva releases the SGs, we see the burden the narrator faces; he is the provider of the household. With this burden, he comes to realize that he might not be so different from the SGs, with both sharing an aspiration and desire for a better life for their families and themselves.

SGs very much on my mind tonight, future reader

Where are they now? Why did they leave?

Just do not get.

Letter comes, family celebrates, girl sheds tears, stoically packs bag, thinks, Must go, am family’s only hope. Puts on brave face, promises she will return as soon as contract complete. Her mother feels, father feels: We cannot let her go. But they do. They must.

Whole town walks girl to train station/bus station/ferry stop? More tears, more vows. As train/bus/ferry pulls away, she takes last fond look at surrounding hills/river/quarry/shacks, whatever, i.e., all she has ever known of world, saying to self, Be not afraid, you will return, + return in victory, w/ big bag of gifts, etc., etc.

Many times throughout the story the narrator mentions he feels like he is writing for another generation. He expresses that he wants his writing to be used to show what daily life is like during this time period. At the beginning he jokes about the readers not knowing about basic things like windows, cats or demons and jokes that the reader should get an encyclopedia.  At first I read this with an “Ok Boomer” attitude and prepared to read a story I felt was going to be a fantastic version of Death of a Salesman (Middle aged man with desperate desire for wealth and social approval). However I soon realized this intro was a preparation for how we were supposed to read the story. In the end, we become that generation far down the line. Reading about this period with disgust and curiosity because we have genuinely no idea what an SG girl is, something so common to him he didn’t bother to explain what it was, like cats, windows or demons. Even the title furthers our belief that this is used as historical documentation. “Semplica Girl Diaries” places focus on something that is taken for granted in the story. That makes it feel if this was published with the express purpose  of exploring this phenomenon, like titled that by a historical society.  The author holds our attention by making us scour the text for more evidence and explanation of what is actually occurring. We are scouting out the unnatural and that’s what makes this story so riveting. Personally, I went back many times to read previous passages when I got more of an idea of what they were actually describing, making things I had kinda glossed over seem terrifying  at second glance.  This made the fist half of the story, I’ll admit, a little difficult to read because I felt as if I was missing something giant. However that makes the discovery and understanding of that giant thing even more rewarding and pleasing to read.

In the story, the narrator does not use a lot of clear language. There is an uneducated air around the sound of the writing, though it is possible that he could be writing as much as possible in the 20 minutes he sets aside for writing a day.

“Damn it. Plan will not work. Cannot get check to Discover on time. Needs time to clear.”

He is, however, good at documenting what he is experiencing in his life. He frequently talks about his children and his job and maintains a curiosity about the ‘SG’. It is also interesting  to read when the narrator does not use quotation marks. This makes George Sanders’ writing much more engaging.

Not Rich, Pam said. Richer, I said. Richer, Pam said. Damn.

Overall, I think the lack of quotation marks could make the reader a little confused at times. It makes the reader have to slow down in order to accurately interpret what the characters are trying to say. I frequently found myself rereading lines in order to understand what was happening in the story. The language in the story left little to be imagined, however. Even though the writing was not ‘proper’ in a sense, it was still descriptive enough to get the point across. The people in the story were seen through this narrator’s eyes, who is an interesting person to begin with. The language and characters really create a fascinating story regarding this man’s life. When I started reading this, I was bored for the first paragraph or so and I was even aggravated at the style of it. Once I got into it, however, the story really came to life for me.