“Lyricism: The Fine Line between Singing and Screaming
by Alissa Nielsen
Ellis Island and Other Stories
by Mark Helprin
Dell Publishing Company, 1976
It is always very interesting when I read an author whose attributes are the same as his flaws. I think this happens when writers are too aware of their strengths and rely a bit too much on them as a crutch. This is the case in Mark Helprin’s short story collection Ellis Island and Other Stories. I like Helprin’s stories fine, but what makes them really resonate for me is his use of language. There are so many beautiful sentences that I just devour in this book. But there are times where Helprin goes a little too far with the “poetry” and it makes my guts clench.
When done right, Helprin’s sentences are not only lyrical but accentuate the story and character. In the story “The Schreuderspritze” the protagonist has decided to drop out of his comfortable, happy life and dedicate himself to climbing a dangerous mountain. The importance of this journey, which Helprin does a excellent job leading the reading through, is: when everything that matters is stripped away, what can one physically endure? Many of the lyrical lines in this story enforce this underlining theme. For example, “If the storm continued, he would die. It would whittle him into a brittle wire, and then he would snap”(29) and “The zippers on his parka, the harness, the slings and equipment, all gave off musical tones, so that it was as if he were in a place with hundreds of tormented spirits” (29). Both of these sentences have a certain lyricism to them that describes what the character is feeling and what is going on, each reinforcing the theme of isolation and endurance.
The story “Ellis Island” is full of examples of overly-lyrical, too-poetic lines. The story is written from a first person POV of an arrogant writer, so I assume many of these phrases are intentional, but it really didn’t work for me. I think writing from an arrogant character POV can work well for certain stories, Catcher in The Rye, for example, but it has to be done pretty obviously and with the right tone. If Helprin is going for this, which I’m not sure he is, I don’t think it’s being done successfully.
The setting of the story is turn-of-the century New York and the protagonist arrives at Ellis Island along with other Jewish immigrants. When he is inspected, an agent labels him as an anarchist and he is sent off with other undesirables to be deported. He is saved from his situation by a red-haired Scandinavian beauty (p.s. all women are “beauties” in this book). “An endless file of immigrants moved slowly on the stairs, but then, as the line progressed, I saw the flash of warm color – the long and beautiful red-blond hair of a young woman in a group of Norwegian immigrants. There was something so steady about her bravery in ascension that everyone who saw her took courage...This was an angel to follow, and follow we did”(133). There are times, like the above quote (which is even cut a bit in the middle), where if Helprin stopped it would be fine, but he just keeps going and suddenly these singing lines become obnoxious screams. “Snow batted down against the ship’s windows and white dragons leapt into the air as breakers struck the bow. When lightning bombarded the waves through the driving snow, its fractured light illuminated the shadowed snowflakes and made them seem like endless numbers of angels propelled and directed in a dreamlike war”(129). Some of the worst kind of telling is “poetic” telling, somehow it feels even more insulting to the reader.
Aside from some sentences/metaphors feeling a little off in this book, I mostly enjoyed Helprin’s use of language. I also think he has a great grasp on leading a reader through a story and introducing time and place in a subtle way. It was interesting to dissect the sentences that I loved and the sentences I loathed in this book, I feel like I learned a good deal from both. ”
