Monday, February 8, 2010

Minor Key


On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 1 Corinthians, 12:22-23

For some reason that passage comes to mind, nearly every time I read a Kyle Minor piece. Minor's is a name you should go ahead and familiarize yourself with. Not long from now, you'll be wanting to tell people you've been reading his stuff for years. He wrings the purest essence of transgression out of the banality of human interaction and illuminates the dignity pulsing from each of his characters even as they sully their divine heritage in ways extraordinary and mundane.

I've been anticipating the non-fiction book about a kidnapping in Haiti he's been working on for a year or so now and when the earthquake recently devastated the Caribbean nation, the timeliness of it struck home hard. In a recent post, Kyle admitted that in the wake of the tragedy, his book is now further from finished than before, but he's published a quick essay and excerpt from the work in progress that does what I've come to expect from all of his work, produce an ache where I desperately need to know I still have the capacity to feel one and render with lyrical tenderness the stark horror of the evil that men do.

For more from Kyle, check out his book In the Devil's Territory as well as stories in Surreal South '07 & '09, and Plots With Guns.

1 comment:

Paul D Brazill said...

In the Devil's Territory is a wondeful collection. The last story in particular was very impressive.