Abstract

Each of the stories in the collection, What’s Left Behind, is shaped by death. Yet within the narratives themselves, the feared event does not come to pass. This detachment from the central drama offers the characters time and distance to reflect upon the encounter between everyday living and death. Against each backdrop of time and place and circumstance, characters struggle to understand and articulate their positions in a reality altered by a reflection on loss.
Rural life, and the type of familiarity which stems from long-term relationships in a smaller community, is the root of most character interactions and experiences. Because individuals have an awareness of everyone else’s story, relationships may present the illusion of deep intimacy. Exploration of these relationships comes about most frequently through dialogue: what is or is not voiced. Conversations, both idle and urgent, play an important role in how characters reveal themselves and their “truths”.
The collection touches upon a range of situations, from the catastrophic death of a child, to what is more commonly considered a “natural” end, such as the passing on of someone who has lived almost a century. These narratives explore what is left behind when death enters lives and consciousness: the mystery of what cannot be understood when characters are pushed to reflect upon their own mortality and that of others.