Picture source: www.fantasyfiction.co.ukOver the last one week, I have been exceptionally enraptured by Ursula Leguin's surreal works and I attempt to review a short story by the American authoress, "April in Paris".
The story starts of in "modern day" paris. In 1961. April 1961. The 2nd of April 1961. The 2nd of April 1961 with unseasonably cold weather. It starts with Barry Pennywither, a professor from Indiana on sabbatical in Paris. Barry Pennywither continues to moan and mope as a result of the raw deal his life had dealt him. He is nontenured in the throes of penury as his published works that detailed the mysterious circumstances under which french poet, Francois Villon, had disappeared in 1463, was not really "appreciated" by Munson college in whose employ he was.
Meanwhile, in mid 1400 AD Paris, Jehan Lenoir, an alchemist, continued to moan and mope over the failure of his book, "On the primacy of the Element fire over the Other Three Elements". Circumstances similar to which Pennywither was floundering in. Only separated by three centuries, were these two men.
Jenas Lenoir out of sheer desperation and hopelessness brought about by the raw deal his life had dealt him incants snippets of spells. Black magic. He summons into his company Barry Pennywither, quite by accident. The rest of the story details the time spent by these two erudites, from two different centuries, under the same dilapidated roof. Lenoir, the stereotypical french man. Pennywither, a run-of-the-mill American. Both scholars. Both objective, yet linked together by the incongruity to reason that Black magic provides!
To add to the current crowd of "chronological co-existence gone wrong", Lenoir further summons Bota, a medieval naked slave girl from the B.C era, Jolie: a lost white puppy from the street close to his and Kislk: a tall, beautiful and perfect interstellar archeologist from the 21st century who worked on the star Altair.
Finally it is shown that this motley crue can actually co-exist, hand-in-hand (quite literally!) in early 18th century Paris without the shadow of a doubt! All the characters wanted was to be somewhere else or with someone else, less monotonous than their previous existence.
Ursula Leguin's surreal imagery is stunning. She has woven many a yarn and I intend to imbibe as much of her breathtaking art as I can.
