In March I posted on this blog a review of a short novel that I greatly admired. It mixed visual images within the text, and its subject matter concerned seeing at several different levels. I have recommended the book since, especially to people who want innovative and creative novel structures and approaches.
We mostly find these in foreign fiction, but I was thrilled to find an English language writer who was exploring the limits of fiction in a new way. Douglas Bruton was pleased enough with that initial review to offer me a copy of his next novel, Hope Never Knew Horizon , published earlier this year.
I was pleased enough with that first novel to accept his offer, and here, somewhat delayed, are my reactions. Thank you, Douglas Bruton, for the copy. First the structure: the novel consists of three stories, braided so that the reader moves from one to the next and then back again. The focus of each story is a creative act, in science, poetry or painting.
The three stories are not narrated in the same way. The first has several narrators, as the events stretch over many years and many locations.
The second narrator is writing as if from that day and follows the love letters of Emily Dickinson. The stories are linked by creativity, in which is embedded the idea of hope. Each story concerns a different form of desire, love and disappointment. And although many of the characters are based on real people, the author is at pains to point out in his epilogue that he has fictionalised his account.
