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Introduction: David James Duncan's The Brothers K
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20600 |
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BOOK WORLD
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10 / 1992 |
356 Words |
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Audaciously invoking Dostoevsky with his title, The Brothers K, David James Duncan nevertheless lives up to the challenge. His meganovel translates the struggles of nineteenth century Russia's revolutionary youth into the countercultural war waged by America's youth of the sixties. Though comparable in size and scope to The Brothers Karamazov, Duncan's work is neither somber nor angst ridden: It varies from riotously funny to agonizingly sad.
Duncan weaves a complex tapestry of family tensions to show the warp and woof of America's soul. Along the way the reader is offered the combined insights of two great American religions: Seventh-Day Adventism and baseball.
Set in a dark, smelly milltown in rural Washington, the story centers on four strikeout brothers born to Hugh and Laura Chance. Hugh is a washed-up, worldly wise, minor league pitcher, and his wife, Laura, takes her fundamentalist brand of Seventh-Day Adventism just as seriously as he does his baseball. Each son struggles with and rejects his parents faiths and culture and embarks on a spiritual odyssey to discover himself, his purpose in life, and what he believes in.
The pivotal chapter, featured this month in Book World, portrays the deep affection the brothers Chance have for each other and the other family members. It also shows the subsurface tensions. Though they chafe at the yoke of their mother's fundamentalist faith, the fireworks do not begin until Hugh is absent from the dinner table. When the oldest son, Everett, questions the existence of God as he says grace, all hell breaks loose. Though the other brothers are not as radical in their expression of doubt, Everett typifies
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