Jonathan Safran Froer and Primo Levi

 

"Love is Blind and Deaf" by Jonathan Safran Froer can be read in the June 7, 2015 issue of The New Yorker.

First Line: "Adam and Even lived together happily for a few days.

Last Line: "They wouldn't be so restless if they weren't so close."
 
I was so excited to read a tale about Adam and Eve – some of my favorite folks! And what I found here was a false story. It wasn’t just false because the facts were not accurate, but also because there was no truth to the fantasy being shared. There are no Seven Dwarves or a poisoned apple but we BELIEVE. There ARE these dwarves, and we care whether or not Snow White eats the apple. Here? This Garden of Eden? I did not believe. Nor did I care to.
photo from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Jonathan_Safran_Foer.jpg/220px-Jonathan_Safran_Foer.jpg


"Quaestio de Centauris" by Primo Levi (translated by Jenny McPhee) can be read in the June 7, 2015 issue of The New Yorker.

First Line: "My father kept him in a stall, because he didn't know where else to keep him."

Last Line: "This odd apparition swam vigorously towards the east; the sailors shouted at it, at which point the man and the gray rump sank under the water, disappearing from view."

This one was a definite contrast to Froer’s story. I actually believed in centaurs and in their feelings and living circumstances. The long backstory gave history, characters, and set-up that were truthful. I did not question the existence of a centaur living in some young man’s barn. But I did not feel the sudden, bursting ending was congruent to the beginning. It felt jarring and out of place. Like two different stories within the one tale…
photo from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7e/Primo_Levi.gif/200px-Primo_Levi.gif