He was buried in January, in an icy fog, at eight in the morning—about the time when they shoot those condemned to death. There were quite a few people there—from society, from his former world—who followed the hearse while talking of business. The hearse of a poor man, badly chipped, rattled over the gleaming cobblestones. Imagine that long journey to the cemetery at eig (...)
Fiction
Misery Will Never End
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It's wonderful to have Commonweal publishing fiction again, and lovely work like this story and Alice McDermott's "We Are Awake." I have a weakness for spare, parable-like tales like these. This one reminds me of Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych," except that here the central figure's epiphany occurs in time for it to change the rest of his life and enhance the lives of others. Come to think of it, that is something it has in common with "We Are Awake." Both excellent choices, so thanks to whoever on the staff selected them.
Thanks also of course to Joe Cunneen who first introduced us Gannons to Jean Sulivan's work long ago, and to whom we are forever indebted for his and Sally's eye-opening, mind-changing "Cross Currents."