An interesting discussion. I haven't read "Gabriel" yet either, just the New Yorker article.
Reading that article reminded me of another piece of elegiac writing that also first appeared in the New Yorker--not as a profile like the piece on Hirsch, but just a straight excerpt from a longer book. It was prose, a piece called "The Wave" by Francisco Goldman, taken from his book Say her Name. The excerpt described the death of his young wife in a swimming accident.
And it was such an extraordinary piece of writing. In writing about his wife he achieved an amazing thing, he brought her to life on the page. So vividly, so beautifully, so individually, that when I got to the description of that dreadful day, and her death, I felt physically and emotionally shocked and bereft. (Even though it was clear where the narrative was going from the start). He brought her "back to life" so well in the writing that you felt you knew and loved her too, and when she died, mourned her bitterly. I bought the whole book as soon as I could. It is amazing.
I say all this because I am thinking that if Hirsch has vividly evoked his lost son on the page, that is an amazing achievement and worth the doing in itself. I think the New Yorker essay implied this was the case. And therefore I would think that there would be "emotional charge."
But I haven't read the book myself and so cannot judge the work as poetry.
|