Rebecca by Donald Barthelme, 1975
The magic trick:
Closing a sad, strange story with a beautiful statement about human existence
Donald Barthelme during our Valentine’s Day week of love stories?
Oh yes, my friends. The SSMT website endeavors to surprise.
Is it meta? Is it sarcastic? Is it funny? Is it very pleased thank you very much with its own writing voice?
Yes, yes, yes, very much yes.
But is it cynical?
No. Decidedly not.
In fact, the ending is stunningly beautiful.
It’s not unlike a famous Barthelme story from the same era and collection, “The School,” in its format. We get narrative, narrative, narrative; weird, weird, weird; dark, dark, dark…. jaw-dropping clarity about the meaning of life at the end.
All told, that’s a terrible way to write a story. If you can pull it off.
And that’s quite a trick on Barthelme’s part.
The selection:
“Get up,” Hilda said. “I’m sorry I said that.”
“You told the truth,” said Rebecca.
“Yes, it was the truth,” Hilda admitted.
“You didn’t tell me the truth in the beginning. I did think it was beautiful. Then.”
“This “then,” the ultimate word in Hilda’s series of three brief sentences, is one of the most pain-inducing words in the human vocabulary, when used in this sense. Departed time! And the former condition that went with it! How is human pain to be measured?
As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.
Subscribe to the Short Story Magic Tricks Monthly Newsletter to get the latest short story news, contests and fun.
Short Story Magic Tricks 