Mountain Devil

Recommend: Yes.

Triptych. A word I discovered thanks to Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness, a daunting film of three muddily interwoven stories. The Vigilante, a compilation of three short stories by Steinbeck, none of which are linked, is not a triptych but proves that good things often come in three.

I enjoyed Cannery Row and have vague memories of being contented with Of Mice and Men. He remains a mystery to me though, having eluded me in high school and never quite sparking joy in university in the same way F Scott Fitzgerald and Vladimir Nabokov managed to. Fitzgerald had segments of impressive prose that shone from the page and Nabokov’s command of unusual words kept my dictionary well-thumbed. Steinbeck was more reserved and therefore fell by the wayside for me. I am pleased this small collection has reignited my curiosity in his writing.

1. The Vigilante. We enter the scene as a mob disperses post-lynching. Lynching is a topic I certainly don’t usually encounter in modern literature, and I was reluctant to settle into this story as a result. We don’t witness the fury and passion of the mob in the lead up to the murder. Instead, we are on the massive come down after the rush, only seeing the murder in quick flashbacks.

“Mike filled his eyes with the scene. He felt that he was dull. He wasn’t seeing enough of it. Here was a thing he would want to remember later so he could tell about it, but the dull tiredness seemed to cut the sharpness off the picture. His brain told him this was a terrible and important affair, but his eyes and his feelings didn’t agree. It was just ordinary.”

The group, previously united in purpose, frays. Dissent seeps into the fold. The many becomes some, and then becomes one, as our main character walks from the mob to a bar empty but for the bartender and then the rest of the journey home alone.

2. The Snake. This was my favourite story. A scientist occupied with animal experiments in a small lab on the coast of Monterey has a disturbing encounter with a mysterious woman. The scene is set so crisply. I can hear the tide lapping against the pylons, I can see the snakes coiled in their cage, I can sense the discomfort induced by the nameless woman as she loiters over prey and predator in the lab. When science unfurls the harshness of nature, we watch on mesmerised. At the bottom of this link is an audio clip of Steinbeck reading The Snake. https://www.steinbecknow.com/2014/12/01/john-steinbecks-short-story-the-snake/

3. The Chrysanthemums. This story was quietly depressing. Our main character is a farmer’s wife cultivating a flower bed near the homestead, only to have her opinions and efforts dismissed by the two male characters of the story. She is not overtly mistreated so her sadness subtly grows. As we move forward in the story, what at first seems like foggy domestic placidity opens up to a sharper picture. She is no more than an add-on to her husband’s life. She is quickly discarded by the male stranger she has a brief encounter with.  This woman has begun wasting away into the ground like the flowers she tends to, with no one to care for or appreciate her variety.

Dek Addendum 27-Dec-2024: I agree with Caitlin’s reviews after having now completed this set. The Vigilante is interesting from its perspective of cooling down after the action. The Snake is uneasy as the woman seems to embody the cool, silent menace of the reptile she desires. Chrysanthemums was the least interesting to me, but Caitlin’s review captured the ethos well. All three are tightly written and don’t need much to happen to keep you engaged throughout. Recommend = Yes.