Reviewed by: House of the Ancients and Other Stories by Clifford Garstang Voyo Gabrilo (bio) house of the ancients and other stories Clifford Garstang Press 53 https://www.press53.com/short-fiction/house-of-the-ancients-and-other-stories-by-clifford-garstang 184 pages; Print, $17.95 Tethered to one another via male character iniquities, Clifford Garstang’s collection of short stories in House of the Ancients and Other Stories methodically traces the steps and missteps of the contemporary man for better or worse. Whether in a dreary former bloc of the Soviet Union, where murder is nonchalantly dismissed as nothing more than “an accident, unavoidable, completely forgivable,” or charging down the mountainous side of a dormant volcano in Hawaii, where physical pain pales in comparison to psychic pain, the collective voice is constant. There persists the struggle for self-acceptance, self-assurance, but, perhaps more crucial and demanding, there is the struggle for outward acknowledgment, for societal acceptance. Divided into four parts—“Nick & Alexis,” “Oliver’s Travels,” “The Great Valley of Virginia,” and “Midwestern Gothic”—House of the Ancients systematically confronts the problems, both real and imagined, that the modern man faces. The singular male figure that is constructed by the multitudinous men Garstang has sketched is drawn against a twenty-first-century milieu that harrowingly reminds the reader that in the contemporary globalized world, man cannot run away from his problems. In the book’s titular story, this inescapability is present as the main character, Nick, finds himself reminded, at every juncture, of his woes, of his home: “The train hurtles through the tunnel, a passage in time for Nick, back to his Chicago commute, images of Alexis flickering on the black windows, their future together, healing the strain of faded newness, feeling their way toward something solid and lasting.” Garstang’s placement of “House of the Ancients” at the book’s outset reminds the reader that the world is closing in on itself. The problems man may face in one arena of life can no longer be sequestered. They are carried, like Casa de los Ancianos, in man’s heart everywhere. [End Page 103] The problems, though, are often brought about from within. While “place” is increasingly becoming obsolete in the face of globalization—it matters little where the characters are, their quarrels and dilemmas follow them—perhaps it is not the homogeneity of the world that forces Garstang’s men to act in self-destructive ways. As part 1 continues, and Nick and Alexis further traverse the world, Nick’s inability to continue to simultaneously suppress and dictate Alexis’s every move is perpetuated not solely by their location but by Nick’s own behavior: “On the beach, Nick watched Alexis through the lens of his camera. . . . Nick lowered the camera. Alexis was laughing, the guy—a tanned, muscular life-guard type—was grinning an impossibly white smile. Sickening. But Nick wondered if they’d had enough of the beach. Couldn’t they find something else to do?” It is Nick’s own behavior—his voyeurism—that engenders his jealousy. He is watching Alexis slip from his grip. And immediately Nick wonders if it is their location—“enough of the beach”—that is causing the growing divide between them. Rather, it is this interrelation of “place” and “self ” that dictates the ways in which Garstang’s characters either resolve their issues or not. In “The Open Book,” in part 2, it is more pointedly the interrelation of “place” and “learning of self ” that is sought. Oliver, whose travels are the subject of part 2, finds himself dealing with his own sexuality in Thailand, learning with himself about himself. The locale of Thailand is crucial to Oliver’s understanding of his own sexuality: Oliver meets Praja, a local monk, and it is in meeting him that Oliver’s initial plans change. To begin, Oliver went to Thailand for nothing more than “to relax, to read, to recharge.” However, upon meeting Praja, Oliver “cannot swallow. He can barely breathe. With this one act his life will change.” The “beautiful” monk had awakened something in Oliver that had hitherto been dormant. However, it is in Oliver’s eventual resignation...
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Apr 2, 2024
Maliha Safri + 2
Open Access