Fred Chappell (1936–2024)

Chappell has a poet’s facility with language, and I was happy to see him turn it to a fantasy tale. I love his Appalachian stories, and here he portrays an Italianate setting with vivid character, from its sly bravos and petulant artists to its society of cats, pirates and even unusual and deadly flora. With a touch of adventure and light use of the fantastic, there are echoes of Vance and Leiber here, but its very much its own thing. Sciomancy, the art of shadow mastery, is an imaginative show more and clever idea, and had me thinking more than once of the shadow I take for granted that follows me. show less

In Brighten the Corner Where You Are, Chappell returns to the pastoral setting of a small Appalachian farm town in Western North Carolina, and to his recurring character, Joe Robert Kirkman, a larger-than-life farmer, schoolteacher and prankster. (This novel is also narrated by Joe Robert's son, Jess.) But whereas Chappell's other novels were actually collections of loosely connected short stories, Brighten the Corner Where You Are has a more cohesive structure. It describes one pivotal day show more in Joe Robert's life.

The novel opens with a tall tale and ends with a dream. In between, Joe Robert has a series of misadventures. He faces down a treed wildcat on an early-morning hunting trip. He saves a little girl from drowning. He discusses philosophy with a ghostly janitor in the school basement and with an escaped goat on the roof. All of it culminates in a much-anticipated showdown with the school board over whether Joe Robert can teach evolution to the children of devout parents.

Brighten the Corner Where You Are is quite often funny on the surface, but underneath are musings on science, philosophy, lost youth, deferred dreams, doing what's right and being true to yourself. As with his other novels, Chappell sprinkles his story with just enough magic, folklore and absurdity to create an appealing, idealized world. This is my favorite of Chappell's novels, showcasing his gifts for language and imagery that reveal him to really be a poet disguised as a novelist. show less

"The bright happy days darted past us like minnows."
Jess Kirkman, is a ten year old boy, growing up on a "scratch-ankle mountain farm", in western North Carolina. It is the early years of World War II. He lives with his parents, grandmother and an, older foster brother, he idolizes. Revolving through this wonderful coming of age novel, are a cast of visiting uncles and aunts, each more colorful and eccentric than the next, keeping Jess wide-eyed and awestruck.
The prose is gorgeous; poetic, show more touching and sometimes very funny. There are also bursts of magical realism, that take the simple rural tale to unexpected places. Also the dialogue, is deft and rich, like this passage, with the foster brother bragging to Jess about his baseball finesse:
"They never got good wood on me and only bad wood when I wanted to give my fielders something to do. I had them looking every place but where the ball was. I had them hypnotized, hornswoggled, and hooligated. They prayed rain on when I was going to pitch and I prayed it off again."
Simply beautiful. show less

In a pseudo-Italian city where shadows can be removed from their owners, a shadow broker's apprentice learns the trade. Written in a 1950's sword-and-sorcery style, this book moves slowly but pleasantly through a series of loosely connected stories. Dialogue is good, but sparse. There are fights, but most obstacles are overcome with cleverness. Cats have an outsize role. Diverting, but I prefer books with more emotional weight.