The Divinity Gene
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A mob of teens descends upon Paris in the thrall of a self-help author; a grotesque yard-sale statuette frees a dying man from his silence; the hottest club in town is staffed by angels. This is the uncanny world of The Divinity Gene, Matthew J. Trafford's debut story collection, and it bristles with humour, pathos, and imaginative power.
Skewering urban culture even as it conjures up the magic in the mundane, the stories of The Divinity Gene map the frailty of the human heart. Caught in the crosshairs of faith and science, its characters-bereaved, sidelined, cast adrift-journey forth to undiscovered places, in search of something to believe in, someone to love, always with disarming results. A passionately devout scientist clones Jesus Christ from the DNA contained in holy relics; a man makes a Faustian cyber deal with the devil for the sake of his family; bereaved parents sign on for an unorthodox government reparations project following a school tragedy.
Masterfully original, deeply human, The Divinity Gene introduces a bold and evocative new writer.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Trafford's debut story collection, he reveals a satirical 21st-century Gothic sensibility as his protagonists struggle to come to terms with grief: a boy is forced by his abusive father to watch the dissection of a mermaid; angels descend from heaven to go clubbing in Brooklyn; a rotting corpse joins a group of men on a camping trip. In "Thoracic Exam," "iFaust," and "The Renegade Angels of Parkdale," bereaved protagonists navigate a surreal world whose bizarreness reflects and even mocks their sadness. Meanwhile, in "Past Perfect" or "Forgetting Helen," Trafford attempts a Joycean correction of literary tradition, making room for the experiences of gay men who love and suffer, even if the Western canon neglects their lives. Despite very similar characters, Trafford's work is formally innovative, such as in "Victim Services," which takes a kaleidoscopic view of a school tragedy and its aftermath by means of gerunds and long, descriptive, appositive phrases. While Trafford's experiments risk becoming gimmicky, the collection is saved from pretentiousness by his persistent wit, which punctures the abundant pessimism and heartbreak. Disturbing and perhaps too self-consciously literary, this series of thought-experiments is nonetheless eminently readable, shot-through with moments of genuine pathos and even brilliance.
