cover image The Divinity Gene: Stories

The Divinity Gene: Stories

Matthew J. Trafford. Douglas & McIntyre (PGW, dist.), $18.95 trade paper (200p) ISBN 9781553656036

In Trafford's debut story collection, he reveals a satirical 21st-century Gothic sensibility as his protagonists struggle to come to terms with grief: a boy is forced by his abusive father to watch the dissection of a mermaid; angels descend from heaven to go clubbing in Brooklyn; a rotting corpse joins a group of men on a camping trip. In "Thoracic Exam," "iFaust," and "The Renegade Angels of Parkdale," bereaved protagonists navigate a surreal world whose bizarreness reflects and even mocks their sadness. Meanwhile, in "Past Perfect" or "Forgetting Helen," Trafford attempts a Joycean correction of literary tradition, making room for the experiences of gay men who love and suffer, even if the Western canon neglects their lives. Despite very similar characters, Trafford's work is formally innovative, such as in "Victim Services," which takes a kaleidoscopic view of a school tragedy and its aftermath by means of gerunds and long, descriptive, appositive phrases. While Trafford's experiments risk becoming gimmicky, the collection is saved from pretentiousness by his persistent wit, which punctures the abundant pessimism and heartbreak. Disturbing and perhaps too self-consciously literary, this series of thought-experiments is nonetheless eminently readable, shot-through with moments of genuine pathos and even brilliance. (Aug.)