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From the Editor
When we invited work on the theme of temptation for this issue, we felt our own ‘perverse’ compulsion to say less rather than more in the way of an explanation. As a result, we looked for and found within each submission a tendency toward something difficult to resist. We hope readers of this issue concur with our sense that all good writing addresses itself to temptation of one or another kind. Take, for instance, James Vescovi’s story, “La Leche is Good For You,” which concerns a certain workplace lunchroom, a communal refrigerator, and breast milk. Or Andrea Bates’ poem, “Live Feed,” where lovers slither from their bed to watch a snake in its glass box takes its pleasure with its prey. In Emma Wunsch’s “Fingers” a small, privately owned discount store becomes a playground for two amorous employees, one corruptible and one seemingly beyond redemption, both of whom find it irresistible to act with impunity under the eye of video cameras and daily training tapes dealing with shoplifting. Temptation is a tendency toward imbalance, a sort of opposite of equanimity, and a true antipode of understanding. Love is a seemingly tangible incarnation of temptation, the one we are willing to accept as a credible result of letting go, seeking to disorder, or reorder, our lives. Debbi Urbanski’s story, “Want,” offers a harrowing example of searching for love as a cure for disappointment, by revisiting a past temptation. To our delight, Charles Baxter’s “The Untranslated” dares to look at the afterlife, finding that what is there is not always intelligible (what language is spoken?), and that, while revision is out of the question, one’s life is still open to interpretation—and critique. Wherever the unfulfilled exists, temptation will follow. “The Tag,” Matthew Quick’s memorable treatment of a young couple trying to agree to marry, questions our ability to behave according to someone else’s protocol, whether it be a wedding planner or the manufacturer’s warning on the tag beneath the sofa cushions. We begin this issue with a brief story of sizable accomplishment and in memory of the author, a friend we lost recently, Dale Denny. In “Big Aquarium,” his perfect pitch is equal to the muted disappointments of his characters who, despite the impossibility of achieving their desires, are tempted to stay awake yet another full night making lists of the things they want for themselves. When Dale died, only one person knew how to find the work he’d left behind, since he owned no computer, preferring instead to record his writing when he came to campus to direct the tutoring lab. Dale’s dearest friend, Gina Keckritz, rescued the work from files and from Dale’s home; among his many finished pieces was the irresistible “Big Aquarium,” published here for the first time. This brief mention of only a few contributions to the issue aims to tempt you, to leave you wanting more. Give in. —Steven Schreiner |
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