History of Art

by Margaret Luongo

The stories in History of Art examine the definitive, yet paradoxical, preoccupations of humankind -- namely art-making and war -- and the emotions that underpin both: passion and sentimentality, obsession and delusion, ambition and insecurity, fear and envy.

Luongo casts the infamous, famous, and unknown in these sublime vignettes, from Marie Antoinette and John Lennon to the designers of fictional typefaces and the painted soldiers in Stanley Spencer's Great War Memorial. Drawing each work together through the dichotomy of art and war, Luongo also presents a mother who leaves her family so that she can illustrate the war for civilians who have no understanding of it; a Canadian artist who sketches the beach at Normandy while a German sniper observes him; and the daughter of a World War II veteran who struggles with his troubling legacy.
In addition to the collection's subjective focus, the structure of History of Art works to build creative tension. Luongo's use of nontraditional forms -- flash-fiction sequences, a bird-watching guide, a word problem -- are expertly deployed to heighten the sense of trauma and inventiveness found in these stories. In both content and construction, Luongo approaches the ageless themes of creation and destruction with striking novelty, humor, and mastery.

Genres: Short Stories

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 4, 2016

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the great fortune to be introduced to Margaret Luongo's writing back when her first collection debuted in 2008. I was offered an opportunity to write a review for an online journal and ended up reading one of my favorite books of the year. When I learned that this book had come out nearly seven years ago and I had missed it, I had to get myself a copy and read it right away. The stories here show Luongo's already considerable talent with the short story have increased and deepened with time and work. Many of the stories here are knockouts. My favorite is "Three Portraits of Elaine Shapiro," the longest story in the collection, but a close runner up is "Word Problem," which is a story about music conservatory students structured like the aforementioned title. "Three Portraits of Elaine Shapiro" is a more traditional narrative, but even then the story is about looking at a character's life in three distinct segments. There's nothing traditional like rising and falling action or a denouement. Instead, the power of the story comes in realizing the fullness of the character in the moment depicted in each of the three sections. It's wonderful to read these stories that display such mastery and patience with the form, creating everything from sweeping canvases of characters to tiny vignettes, almost like miniatures or profiles in cameo. I could write about every story in the collection (including the last entry which is a play on the "Note on the Type" entry included in many books, with each note functioning as both a vignette, but also contributing to a larger conceptualization of what both notes on the type can mean and how stories emerge from the unlikeliest of places), but rather I encourage you to seek this out and read it for yourself. It's different and it's excellent. It's must read.

[emma rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

we love margaret