Joel Ohren

Genre, Shelter, and other places of Exile Joel Ohren

Exiled. Man is exiled. Even if the surroundings pleasant, food and shelter seldom in jeopardy, man never quite feels at home. He is an acquaintance among acquaintances. His existence may be blunt, face to face, his nose pressed hard against experience; just so, he knows life from just that one angle, straight on, all other perspectives oblique. See! See! We see, but try pulling up a chair and see where that gets you. Genres of art too are exiled. Exiled from the source of Art. Indeed, genres are an admission that Art harkens back to a Theme and Structure that cannot be created, produced, shown to the public. An artist's work aspires, but never achieves. In short, a yearning without end. Here then are three genres -- novella, play, short story -- playing man's exile as theme. A novella, The Stowaway, delves into the nature of exile. Stationary yet in transit, the Stowaway embodies exile. Whether lived on a wayward ship or in a common area of a stylish apartment high-rise, the Stowaway's life is but fleeting. Once, however, he becomes a figment of a ghostwriter's work, does the Stowaway become real. Real and terribly at home. A one-act play, Seeking Shelter, is a comic allegory of purgatory. On the pretext of seeking shelter, MR., the main character, finds himself checking out an apartment in an apparently fashionable side of town. Unfortunately, the apartment has one major problem: Mr. Karcowsky, the prior tenant, has hung himself in the living room. Moreover, suicide notes, mostly in the form of aphorisms, are everywhere; the characters (many of whom are there for reasons other than seeking shelter) are knee deep in them, and not reluctant to read them. A detective questions the motives of the characters: had Mr. Karcowsky taken his own life or was he a victim of foul play? Are the suicide notes merely final good-byes or clues to a mystery? Or is a greater mystery at play? A Soviet-period short story, "Pavel in Exile," finds Pavel's yearning for companionship and freedom wanting. Suicide beckons as the only and proper solution. Intersecting all the stories is the ghostwriter, weaving stories within stories, in perpetual exile from self and work.