Random Review
The Bliss of Hatred
Disclaimer: The author's intent is to select a literary magazine at random from a neighborhood bookstore and take from it a short story, also randomly. He will then sit in one of those comfortable chairs, read the story and make notes. With that done he will return the magazine to the shelf and take his leave. He will have already paid for something at the café, so no one should think the less of him.
If some of you are not familiar with Southwest Review, then I conclude the randomness of my review has now been fully achieved. May it no longer be doubted. If you are, then so be it. To elaborate to those unfamiliar, the Southwest Review is a quarterly magazine which features a relatively large selection of fiction, poetry and non-fiction not usually found in most literary magazines. The Bliss of Hatred by Richard Stern is one of the four works of fiction featured in their recent issue.
The story is broken into just over a dozen sections, most of which no longer than a page, all centered on the main character Dortmund and his three years of familial distress. The daughter he raised and supported for more than forty years, Melinda, has cut off all contact with him, to the point of mailing back an assortment of presents Dortmund mailed to her and his grandchildren. Dortmund is unable to rationalize any of his daughter’s misgivings, and is left mulling over the growing hatred he feels towards her. This leads him to pursue a variety of sources, all in the attempt to understand these newfound feelings of contempt.
But Dortmund is unable to be consoled by either his remaining family nor any of his analysis into his own emotions. The bulk of the story then lies in his memory of his daughter. Stern craftily brings in an Emily Dickinson poem, contained in a book Melinda had given to Dortmund for his sixtieth birthday. The poem now has a number of personal implications, embodied particularly in the phrase “Bliss like Murder.” This strikes Dortmund as both an explanation of what Melinda might be feeling by essentially murdering their relationship, and also an explanation of his own grave thoughts of vindication, which afford him a momentary satisfaction.
Stern captures the complexity of Dortmund’s emotions in a number of instances. When his wife, Dinah, chastises her stepdaughter as a terrible mother, Dortmund immediately comes to Melinda’s aid. In one case it is explained “he didn’t want anyone but himself criticizing Melinda,” which resonates with me as an inevitably truthful human contradiction. Grandparenthood also plays a crucial role in the story, and is described nicely by Stern as “closeness without burden,” which in Dortmund’s case had been true. These emotions were unlike anything Dortmund had ever felt before, and at one point he had even thanked his daughter for having the children. This only adds more personal turmoil to Melinda’s choice, as Dortmund is also being kept from the only grandchildren he has.
For all the time that is spent understanding Dortmund as a character, I still find one critical element missing. Not once in the story does Dortmund ever really try to find the root cause of his daughter’s decisions. He notices certain disconcerting characteristics of her behavior, including her disastrous house and the dismissal of anything representing Dortmund during the last years of their relationship, but treats it as though the circumstances were inevitable. I myself started questioning whether Melinda had some mental illness, like severe depression, that caused her to act out in this way, and I was surprised when Dortmund didn’t do the same himself. Since the story is essentially his own analysis of their relationship, I felt I should’ve known more behind the turmoil through Dortmund than Stern relates.
But in the end, this story is a compelling look at both the bonds of parenthood and the devastation of its disavowal. The inner conflict that is felt as a result of a loved one’s hateful actions is made painstakingly clear in Dortmund. Though I question why his two sons don’t play a more critical role in the story, since they only appear in one scene and are of little significance, I definitely understand that the important relationship is between father and daughter. And when the extent of their relationship is reached so prematurely, I too can share in Dortmund’s inescapable loss.
Brian Ellis
Brian Ellis cannot currently impress you with a list of accomplishments. He is a writer of fiction who has been sending his works out to magazines and inappreciative agents. He is also a reviewer who intends not to take out any bitterness on the works at hand, to the best of his ability. Brian takes solace in the fact that even if he could impress you, he wouldn't want to.
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