TRAVELOGUE THROUGH APPEL'S SHORT STORIES

We have passed the midpoint of this collection, so about three weeks remain before we try to glean what we might have learned from this experiment. I proposed to my young writer friend that we examine Appel's collection of stories, EINSTEIN'S BEACH HOUSE, together, and blog about our observations of his narrative techniques, and perhaps detect elements that comprise his style. All of the stories in the collection were printed earlier in various journals. 

It seemed clear to me that these were among Appel's first published attempts at story telling. What made these stories effective enough to be accepted for publication in journals? Do these stories hang together as a collection?

What can we learn from reading and discussing the stories? What is the "languaging" of the author Appel? Is it distinctive? What is the relationship of plot to character development? In this small group of stories, is there enough coherence to say Appel has a particular style?

Maybe there are better questions to be asked. I'm sure there must be. But I'm a strong believer that it can be fun to just dive in and start looking at what is before you. 

Looking ahead to "The Rod of Asclepius."

IT'S ALL ABOUT RELATIVITY: EINSTEIN'S BEACH HOUSE

This beach house story is a tale told by an eleven year-old girl, Natalie Scragg, who lived with her parents and younger sister Nadine at 2467 South Ocean Avenue in Hagers Head, New Jersey. The American Automobile Association posts that Albert Einstein spent his summers at that address. Even though at the outset, the first sentence indicates (with no authority) that Einstein spent his summers at 2647 South Ocean Avenue. Appel's opening paragraph is a succinct setting for the entire story as seen through the eyes of the older daughter.  Natalie speculates as to whether this statement by AAA was a typographical error, or that maybe the editors had some basis to think it was the correct address. 

Right away, we learn through Natalie that her parents, Bryce and Delia, are mismatched. Her father is a dreamer, and her mother is an unrepentant realist. When strangers appear asking for a tour of Einstein's summer cottage, the mother angrily tells them to get lost, but Bryce sees it as a cash cow to alleviate their dismal financial circumstances. As the consummate dreamer, he had been laid off work at Bell Labs working on a translation device to understand cats and dogs that had no traction with his employers. 

Bryce devises a plan to hold tours of Einstein's Beach House for twenty-five dollars a head. Delia will have no part of it, and spends her time fuming at what she regards as Bryce's ineptness and fuzzy thinking.

The Scraggs believed the house had been in the family as a summer home, and then the crash of 1929, forced Bryce's grandfather to give up his townhouse in Washington Square Village and move to the beach house as a permanent residence. It had been in the family for years.

Bryce bumbles along with the tours, inventing stories about Einstein and enjoying revenue growing to the amount of $2200 a week. It was enough to warm the cold heart of Delia, causing her to admit that the money had made it possible to pay their taxes on time for the first time in their life. Natalie sees her parents kiss "passionately" and remembers this as their happiest moment.

Of course, paradise unravels when Einstein's niece from Germany, Dora Winterer, visits them at the Beach House to claim her inheritance from uncle Albert: the beach house that Bryce thought had been in his family for years. Checking his safe deposit box, he fails to find a deed to the property.

We last see the Scraggs with Bryce changing a flat tire as they are on the road, without a home, on their way to live with Aunt Claire in her Virginia row house.

Here is a story of a relative of Albert Einstein, evicting the relatives of the Scraggs from Einstein's Beach House, a house they believed had been in the Scraggs family for generations. 

Maybe the real story is how did Grandpa Scraggs end up in the wrong house?

Appel writes a tight narrative, but there are a lot of loose ends. What is convincing is his sharp delineation of many characters that appear in the story: family members, boarders renting the lower floor, many visitors to the museum, and finally the dagger in the heart: Einstein's niece, Dora Winterer, sporting her memory of visiting uncle Albert in that very home and clutching the official deed to the property.

Whatever. This story has lots of relatives. Clearly adhering to a theory of relativity.

THE QUESTION OF STRINGS

FIRE MAN succinctly asks about the story "STRINGS" resonated with me, but I think I already covered that in my Blog "NO STRINGS." 

The situation of playing truly new music is always a conundrum for musicians with traditional training. When composers such as Charles Ives present totally new concepts, it is difficult to find musicians who can articulate those ideas for the first time. Consequently Ives made his living selling insurance. We didn't learn of his genius until after he had passed away, and scores of new music were found in his studio. 

John Cage solved the problem by mostly performing his own scores with like-minded colleagues. Today it is a bit different as musicians today are generally eclectic in styles, having been exposed to so much new music. 

I still do my electronic compositions mostly for my own amusement and edification. I seldom post any of my electronic dabbling.

I do wish FIRE MAN would get in the habit of using Verdana font, medium, so we have consistent style to this Blog. I guess this is the third time I've mentioned it, so maybe FIRE MAN is not as serious about this Blog as I am. I thought it would be an opportunity to learn together, and maybe in some subtle way it is.