#continuous thunder

Japandroids • Continuous Thunder

Day 62: J is for Japandroids

If I had all of the answers And you had the body you wanted Would we love with a legendary fire?

“Do you take pride in your hurt? Does it make you seem large and tragic? ...Well, think about it. Maybe you're playing a part on a great stage with only yourself as audience.”

John Steinbeck, East of Eden

My current literary pursuit is John Steinbeck's epic novel/family history East of Eden, that was published in 1952. It's an homage to Steinbeck's homeplace, the Salinas valley in California and charts  the intertwined histories of two families, one of which is based on the author's own mother's family. Over the course of the tale, all of human life is covered; love, family, religion, farming, prostitution, Chinese migrant workers and the price of canned beans during the First World War are all dissected and ruminated over. Steinbeck himself considered it his Magnum Opus, and as I approach the end of the book I would have to agree that it is definitely a very good book. However, coming in at over 700 pages, one thing it is not is short.

The short story is a completely different kettle of fish. From my own limited attempts to construct them, I know that a good one is a slippery beast to catch hold of. There's more than one way to do it; this book, covering short stories from all over Europe, translated into English, shows how rich and diverse the form can be. One thing that can make a great story is the presentation of a snapshot of a relationship between two people, leaving the back story unexplained, and instead using the story to allow the reader to fill in the blanks.

Continuous Thunder is an example of a song that would make a great short story. It sketches a situation and relationship in a minimum number of words, with broad brushstrokes, leaving the listener's curiosity to supply the rest. (Why were they out in the rain in their finery? The last time I did this was at a funeral, which is perhaps a suggestion that I need to get out more.) The relationship is painted in three succinct lines: "If I had all of the answers/ And you had the body you wanted/ Would we love with a legendary fire?" Dissatisfaction, boredom, insecurity all suggested in just a few lines. The best writing is sharp and tight with no wasted words, and here Japandroids show especial lyric craft.