Bear And His Daughter by Robert Stone
The stories in Bear and His Daughter cover a period of almost thirty years, from 1969 to the present, and they passionately and keenly examine the humanity that links us. A widowed librarian in “Miserere” takes on an unexpected and gory position in the anti-abortion movement while harbouring a horrific secret. A reluctant participant in a drug-running plot and the harsh and unanticipated effects of his involvement are the subjects of the terrifying story “Under the Pitons.” The title story is a gripping examination of the convoluted threads that bind a father’s connection with his grown daughter.
Bear And His Daughter by Robert Stone
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Some of his finest work is included in this collection. Nobody writes about basic psychological emotions like panic, rapture, and dread as well as Stone does. It’s that that specific confluence of nations is what’s best prepared to face the challenges of the twenty-first century. One of the best stories from the past 30 years or so is found in Bear and His Daughter and is titled “Helping.” It concerns an alcoholic social worker who is attempting to get a drink and fall off the wagon. The way the story challenges the “tyranny of the revelation,” as I like to call it, is one of its most wonderful aspects.
Typically, the epiphany is that Joycean moment of insight in a story when the protagonist and the reader, or perhaps simply the reader, learn something new about the world. The tyranny of that device and the limitations of the presumption that increased self-awareness is necessarily liberating are understood in Stone’s stories. In other words, the notion is that once we realize we’re acting foolishly or destructively, we won’t repeat the behaviour. That’s not always the case, as we can all attest from the wreckage of our own lives. Stone excels at creating complexly self-aware characters who are also masters of self-destruction. He also excels at the challenge of applying common sense and decency to situations.
The stories in this anthology aren’t the most encouraging; in fact, they’re a little gloomy. Each tale seems to make a comment on how fleeting and fragile human existence is. Readers may not detect a hint of hope in any of Robert Stone’s stories, which range from the first, Miserere, about aborted fetuses and religion, to the final, Bear & His Daughter, about the reconciliation of an alcoholic father and daughter. Readers will appreciate the beauty of Stone’s tales despite the gloomy topics in his works. He is a brilliant wordsmith, and his sentences flow intelligently and consistently. I enjoyed reading each of his sentences. The title tale, Bear & His Daughter, is my favourite among the particularly outstanding works in this collection.
