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By Lynette G. Esposito
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The Wreckage of Eden by Norman Lock has a storyline that includes literary giants such as Emily Dickenson, Thoreau and Emerson. Written in the first person narrative, the reader becomes deeply involved in this semi-confessional fiction
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The pre-chapter introduction uses a love letter to Emily (Dickenson) written to her before she secluded herself. When the writer (Robert) asks Do You Blush? He states he hoped for intimacy and speaks of only being welcome in her ante room where the lights are dim. When the first chapter opens: After Chapultepec, I succumbed to vainglorious fantasies unworthy of a man of the cloth, Lock has set a complex scene of introspection and observation, pleasure and regret, understanding and confusion into motion.
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Lock uses literary convention and technique to reveal the human side of a man who both admires and loves Emily, the poet and the woman. For such a legendary seclusionist as Emily, the fiction here is very believable and realistic. Presented in plain language, the suggestions pop as do questions of how far did this love affair go outside the conjectures of the narrator’s mind.
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Mixed in are references of historical events discussed in letters between the narrator and Emily and in the narration of the story. The literary convention of letters to and from each other is used throughout the 278 page novel. The characters of both are revealed as politics and conflicts of the day are discussed with conversations included about Abraham Lincoln, the Mexican War and the Mormon Rebellion. Lock is excellent at giving detail of time, place and situation. Even though this is fiction, it is artistically presented as real. Lock uses references that work historically. For example, he quotes “The day of compromise is past… There is no peace for the South in the Union?” decried the Charleston Mercury. He references events in history throughout the book as an effective tool for place and time.
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In traditional literary technique he uses the “letter” convention. The novel begins with a letter and it ends with a (post script) letter written, of course, to Emily.
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I have wronged you in this effusion as often a I have shamed
myself. To my mind, one cancels out the other, and by the
arithmetic of compensation, we are acquitted—you by me
and I by you.
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It is as if Lock has framed the story with book ends This novel is both interesting in technique and storytelling. Lock quotes Emily Dickenson::: She dealt her pretty words like blades– . Lock does much the same in this novel.
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You can find the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Wreckage-Eden-American-Novels/dp/1942658389
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Lynette G. Esposito has been an Adjunct Professor at Rowan University, Burlington County and Camden County Colleges. She has taught creative writing and conducted workshops in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Mrs. Esposito holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois and an MA in Creative Writing and English Literature from Rutgers University. Her articles have appeared in the national publication, Teaching for Success; regionally in South Jersey Magazine, SJ Magazine. Delaware Valley Magazine, and her essays have appeared in Reader’s Digest and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Her poetry has appeared in US1, SRN Review, The Fox Chase Review, Bindweed Magazine, Poetry Quarterly, That Literary Review, The Remembered Arts Journal, and other literary magazines. She has critiqued poetry for local and regional writer’s conferences and served as a panelist and speaker at local and national writer’s conferences. She lives with her husband, Attilio, in Mount Laurel, NJ.
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North of Oxford 