David Callahan Illustration from Photography by Leo Goates.

40 ⚫ EDGE May 13, 1987

BOOKS

Narrow Rooms

by James Purdy Gay Modern Classics 185 pages; $7.50

I can't recall ever having read a tale of such intense obsession as Narrow Rooms. It is an examination of idolatry in the extreme, told within the setting of small town in which nothing this drastic has ever happened.

In it we have the story of a young man named Sidney De Lakes, aged twenty, who has just been released after serving four years in prison for killing his lover in a tavern.

This murder-how it was committed, why it was committed, and its ramifications on the principals involved, weave into an extremely complex set of relationship between four young men (the dead lover included, as it is his hold and influence from the grave that determine the climax).

It seems that Sidney has been pursued since the eighth grade by another young man named Roy, the grandson of a soap maker whose trade was called 'rendering.' Throughout the novel this man, Roy, is referred to as 'the renderer' and 'the scissorsgrinder.' These names have the effect of making him ominously larger than life, and adding a needed impersonality to him (his behavior through the story is abhorrent, and the more I think of him as 'the renderer,' rather than as a young man named Roy, the better).

What ensues almost immediately is the development and culmination of lifelong obsessions between these characters and a fourth boy named Gareth a psychosomatic invalid whose own fixation with Sidney is crucial to the climax. It gets complicated beyond description as we learn that Roy is both master and slave (emotionally) of Sidney. His manipulations brought about the murder to begin with, and the action that resulted in Gareth's accident with a train (the external excuse for his status as a cripple). Gareth, meanwhile, longs to be bound to Sidney as deeply as Sidney is bound to Roy, and on and on. All of his confusion leads to fatal jealousy, pathetic submission equaled only by pathetic and cruel domination, resulting in a naturally tragic ending.

Now for a reaction. The emotional and physical sado/masochism the characters

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engage in became overwhelming for me. This is a very dark story that takes obsession for another and pushes it to the limit. Everyone is excruciatingly in love (read obsessed here) with everyone else.

My opinion of the book is one of ambivalence. James Purdy is a great writer, and my first reaction is to get in line and offer accolades for this novel (originally published by Arbor House in 1978). It is brilliant in its prose, its pacing and its tone. The emotional and psychic violence of the characters is exquisitely portrayed, and the climax is one of the most original bits of conclusion I've read (involving the symbolic setting free of Sidney and Roy, each from the other, through a literal crucifixion). Nonetheless, my gut response was that it was too much of a good thing.

If you have a taste for tragedy, this is a book for you. If you like fine writing, ditto. But the story is a relentlessly dark one, and spending the hours necessary to read a novel in the company of such thoroughly warped individuals left me drained. I was relieved, as they must have been, when each met his fate accordingly a fate and a destiny none could avoid.

I won't pretend to know what Purdy was trying to say with his book (all too often critics and others attempt to imbue fiction, film and theater with meanings the authors never intended). I will say he accomplished whatever he was aiming for. Narrow Rooms is a beautifully and painfully told story, destructive as it is. It is not a celebration of life. If anything, it is an unflinching look at the bleakest sides of our natures, the neediest and the hungriest found in the psycho-sexual realm, a sad, sad story about emotional bondage without redemption (Sid and Roy are not extricated from their obsessions in the end, which for me rules out redemption; disagree if you want).

The book was a pleasure to read for the quality of the writing, but ultimately disturbing.

-Mark McNease

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'Norman, Is That You?' Opens May 7

Studio One's Backlot Cabaret Theatre in West Hollywood is the site of the revival, hitcomedy Norman, Is That You?, scheduled to open Thursday evening, May 7th at 8:00P.M.

Written by Ron Clark & Sam Bobrick, Norman, Is That You? misaligns the mirth-filled misgivings of an Ohio drycleaner, visiting his son, after his wife has run off with his brother, only to discover that Norman is involved in a gay relationship with a flaming young man with a penchant for bright colors, vivid fantasy, and a perception of the human condition that is guaranteed to wrap you up in yards and yards of lavender laughter. Other shows by this successful writing team include "Walley's Cafe" and "Murder At The Howard Johnsons".

SBW Productions produces Norman, Is That You? with Steven Brooks directing the talents of a cast that include Bill Handy and Karin Carmichael. The Set Design and Lighting is by Patrick Hughes, and the fun runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday evenings through June 14th, with selected Sunday brunch performances.

Admission for Norman, Is That You? is $12, plus a 2 drink minimum for the evening curtains. Brunch prices will be announced.