The Foreseeable Future (Magill Book Reviews)

At a glance:

In three long stories gathered in THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE, Reynolds Price demonstrates again the mastery of language and the acute perceptions for which he is justifiably celebrated. The stories have the quirky originality of his best writing, and they serve as good introductions to his oeuvre for those who have yet to discover him.

In “The Fare to the Moon,” Kayes Paschal, a white man, leaves his black mistress for the uncertainties of World War II. Having hurt his wife and son by his desertion, he weighs the morality —the humanity—of his actions now that he is forced with leaving behind a situation he has created. In the title story, Whit Wade leaves his family for a week of traveling on his job as a claims adjustor. Whit “died” on a battlefield in France and was resuscitated—only partially, he believes. He knows that he has every reason to begin life anew, but the war, the deaths of his companions, and his own mortality interfere with the actual living. Seeking temporal salvation, he finds redemption in what Stendhal referred to as his “semblables,” those men and women he finds along the way, struggling with him to foresee the future and deal with the present. In “Back Before Day,” Dean Walker allows jealousy and rage to turn his ordered world upside down. He escapes with his son only to discover that he can’t get away from the obligations an ordinary man assumes as long as he breathes.

Short on plot heroics, these stories are models of character development, solid narrative, and effortless style. Reading them is like a visit from a wise and generous spirit. The reader doesn’t want the visit to end but finds that he or she has perhaps learned enough to get on with life.

Sources for Further Study

America. CLXV, August 31, 1991, p. 120.

Booklist. LXXXVII, March 1, 1991, p. 1283.

Chicago Tribune. June 2, 1991, XIV, p. 6.

The Christian Century. CVIII, July 10, 1991, p. 678.

Kirkus Reviews. LIX, March 1, 1991, p. 280.

Library Journal. CXVI, April 1, 1991, p. 154.

Los Angeles Times Book Review. June 16, 1991, p. 7.

The New York Times Book Review. XCVI, July 7, 1991, p. 5.

Publishers Weekly. CCXXXVIII, March 15, 1991, p. 44.

The Washington Post Book World. XXI, June 2, 1991, p. 1.