Forms Of Devotion: Stories & Pictures

by Diane Schoemperlen

Diane Schoemperlen's acclaimed In the Language of Love expanded our expectations of the contemporary novel, using everyday words to deconstruct a young woman's life and loves. In her new short story collection, Forms of Devotion, she again tests the bounds of her craft, creating an arresting and wonderfully readable work that is also a treat for the eye.

Forms of Devotion contains eleven stories, each one a brilliant interplay of words and images. The illustrations, selected by Schoemperlen and depicting almost every subject imaginable, are wood engravings and line drawings from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In some cases, she was inspired to write the story after studying the illustrations; in other cases, she wrote the story first, then chose or constructed the pictures to accompany it. The result is a playful, sometimes surreal and often mysterious juxtaposition of a historical fascination with anatomy and classical themes with the author's contemporary exploration of everyday people, places and things.

Each story is a creative delight, perfectly formed and rich in mischievous wit, irony and multi-layered meaning. The title story, “Forms of Devotion,” is a wonderful literary cataloguing of the traits and qualities of the faithful, those who “sail off to work, perfect confident that they will indeed get on time, intact. It does not occur to them that they could just as well be broadsided by a Coca-Cola delivery truck running the red light at the corner of Johnson and Main.” “Five Small Rooms” is an intriguing, spectral journey into the narrator's imagination, with the reader left wondering, “Is it madness or a murder mystery?” In “How Deep is the River,” the author offers an innovative, completely compelling take on the ubiquitous high school math problem that begins “Train A and Train B are traveling toward the same bridge from opposite directions…”

Quite different in form, yet alike in their ability to entertain and provoke, the stories in Forms of Devotion show once again that Diane Schoemperlen's voice is as intriguing, fresh and electric as ever.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Canada, Art, Essays

228 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Diane Schoemperlen, short-story writer, novelist, teacher, editor (b at Thunder Bay, Ont 9 July 1954). Diane Schoemperlen grew up in Thunder Bay, Ont, and attended Lakehead University. After graduating in 1976, she spent a summer studying at the Banff Centre, under such writers as W.O. MITCHELL and Alice MUNRO. Since 1986, she has focused on her writing career and has taught creative writing at schools such as St Lawrence College and the Kingston School of Writing. She currently lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Reviews

[Irina Dumitrescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book at a discount outlet on a whim -- years later, I find myself suggesting it for class reading in graduate school. While the stories are playful, inventive, strange, the important thing to note is that the writing is beautiful, simply beautiful. I especially love her story, "How to Write a Serious Novel About Love," which will make you look at a teacup in a completely different way.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are fabulous in this book. And I have to give props to a writer who will dedicate an entire story to a word problem. And then another to the an alphabetical list of rules for living well: "Rules of Thumb."

"B: Be ironic whenever possible...conversations not filled with witty repartee and self-congratulatory laughter are seldom worth having."

[Geordie Korper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore this book. It is both visual and auditory masterpiece. It sounds so good that I have even read parts of it out loud to myself just so I could listen to it! I would say more but nothing I could say would be anything except faint praise.

[Sydney Des Vignes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I found on my shelf - bought it secondhand or got it for free somehow, somewhere, I don’t remember - but I think maybe this book found me? She wrote down feelings I’ve felt but never expressed in words - “Brown imparts a sense of serenity, solidity, and security. Imagine lying down on a bed of warm soil. Imagine being buried alive and liking it.” Also small treasures like “The hope of the faithful is infinite, ever expanding to fill the space available. Faith begets hope, hope begets faith. Faith and hope beget power. The faithful lean steadily into the wind.”

[kp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admire the way the playful tone and the extensive use of the second-person prove to be the foundation for contemplating the vagaries and violences of social convention. It's the kind of book you buy a second copy of even before you are finished because you know you'll want to give it to someone sooner or later.

[Mar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially wasn't sure what to expect, and didn't overly enjoy the first story, but once I was beyond that I enjoyed Shoemperlen's reflections/stories in the collection. I really enjoyed "How to write a Serious Novel about Love" and "How Deep is the River". "On Looking Further into the Bodies of Men" is also humorous. In general the illustrations/wood cuts are interesting, but I could take or leave them.

[GeeketteKathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it difficult to get into the first few stories in this book. I think it just took me a little time to "get" this author. Then I read "How Deep is the River" and am thrilled I continued reading. While a highly unusual style of writing, I will definitely be reading more by this author.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unusual and poetic collection, with uncomfortable and depressing truths and observations throughout -- I will admit that I'll probably be contemplating this more than I'd like in the weeks to come.

[Elsabe Retief · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a title! I was so looking forward to this. It was SO promising! Different size book. Interesting illustrations. Shiny award.
This seems like writing exercises that has been thrown together to deliver something /anything in order to maybe fulfill an obligation.
It is not bad to read. But man, could that title be so much more. Who ever came up with it was genius.
There are a few really really good gems:
"Time has always been the monkey on our backs. Whether too much or too little, too fast or too slow, time is still a one-way street. We can only go forward, we can never go back, except in our minds which, like the weather, the government, and love, are unreliable and frequently exasperating. Time, like gravity, is irrefutable, a clear glass ball rolling down a silver slope. Memory is nothing more or less than the persistent attempt to push that ball back uphill"
But not a book that lives up to it's title at all.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highly imaginative!. the author takes everyday objects(in this case they are visually present for us in the form of engravings) and zooms in to weave intricate possibilities about what any of us could do to make these objects more precious. I wonder if the writer is fond of miniature things herself. She describes small rooms in extensive detail although the room is close to empty. She juxtaposes impossible combinations of things almost like collages where one might paste a photo of something over top of another thing that has absolutely no relation to it. This is a book for artists and writers. Anyone looking for a plot can go elsewhere.

[Rebecca Rosenblum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is actually a re-read, to prepare for reading Schoemperlen's new collection, "By the Book," which is billed as a kind of sequel. I've read this book several times since first encountering it 15 years ago, but not in a while.

The best stories were every bit as good as I recalled--indeed, even better, because I know more about the mechanics of a story know and know how incredibly, monstrously difficult it would be to create stories so perfect they look like play. There were also a few that felt dated to me, but overall this collection retains its place in the pantheon of great story collections.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essays and short stories about diverse topics that share a edgy articulation. Like a June afternoon when the sun returns full-on after a thunderstorm, everything in these writings is three dimensional, in full color and sharp in every way. I particularly enjoy the first set of essays which gives the book it's name. The subsections are titled: Faith, Memory, Knowledge, Innocence, Strength, Imagination, Prayer, Abundance, Wisdom and Hope. They might once have started as a list of ten virtues but under the pen of the author they are now a more interesting something else.

[Dan Lalande · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diane Schoemperlen is a master of exhumation. To wit, this cheekily conceptual series of stories about the rituals, platitudes and values by which we live our middling existences (our "devotions," in her parlance) and their unacknowledged underground, an unforgiving bedrock of heartbreak, violence, mortality and hard luck. It's fairy tale v. essay. Essay, brilliantly, wins.

[Jocelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schomperlen's writing is captivating, This is a beautiful collection of short stories created around found pictures, giving each story a unique take. My favourites are, "How To Write a Serious Novel About Love" and "Count Your Blessings -A Fairy Tale."

[Pamk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of an odd book but with some great imagery. Some of the stories didn't grab my attention at all, but I enjoyed others. There are beautiful black and white images on almost every page.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short pieces of fiction and reflection and nostalgia, with illustrations. Canadian

[Kelly Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schoemperlen is an amazingly creative writer.