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Number 70 of One Story is “Baton Rouge: A Doctor Story” by Matt Clark. It’s a collage story, in the sense that the author dispensed with transitions and the paragraphs, representing individual observations, are taken as a whole to see the story, and in fact there is no story at all until one character, in the very last paragraph, steps back and looks at the observations and asks what the real story is. That almost sounds conventional, except that the multiple points of view in the story include a bunch of snails, collectively, and an old oak tree. Hmm.
“The garden’s snails have heard the doctors’ wives talk about planting bromeliads in the garden. This sounds like a very good idea to the snails. The snails look forward to the coming of the bromeliads. Exotic. Sturdy.”
Hmm? It’s a refreshing story. Matt Clark died in 1998 and One Story provides an interview about him and his work.
Next up: Hudson Review
