#9 Dance in America by Lorrie Moore
Released: 1998
Available in: Birds of America, The Collected Stories
Influenced by: Margaret Attwood, Alice Munro, John Cheever, John Updike
I first read this story in a writing class in 2004. What struck me was the combination of humour and compassion within, an intricacy of emotion beneath what seems like a simple story.
And what is Dance in America about? I think it's probably best to go the story itself for that answer, where in the first par Moore describes dance as "the heart's triumph, the victory speech of the feet, the refinement of animal lunge and flight, the purest metaphor of tribe and self. It's life flipping death the bird."
What ultimately sets this story apart from so many other melancholic literary digressions is its spirit, its undeniable life. As a meditation on "small" things, it is both beautiful and eloquent.
The Story
An unnamed narrator visits her old college friend Cal at his home in Dutch country, Pennsylvania. She's a dancer now, and he's married with a son. His son, Eugene, has cystic fibrosis. He's likely to die before he reaches adulthood.
The two get reacquainted and then share dinner with Cal's wife Simone and Eugene. From there, the story touches upon life, restriction, and celebration in unique and quite touching ways. And, despite nothing really happening for much of the story, by its end the reader feels as if they've travelled fair distances with most, if not all of the characters.
Why it Sticks
Dance in America is a great example of a small-scale story that, in focusing in on the minutiae of life, says much about greater topics. The story's humour diffuses the potential for melancholy, and each character is refreshingly humble in facing their own personal catastrophes.
To me, at least, this story feels "like life." And rather than providing doom-and-gloom scenarios, or band-aid endings that release the reader unscathed, Moore chooses instead to welcome her readers into an uncertain but intoxicating world, in all its extremes of emotion.
Read once or twice, or as many times as required... and I guarantee that you will feel better in the morning.
