I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 19, 2024] “Chris Cornell”

This year my wife ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my seventh time reading the Calendar–it’s a holiday tradition!  Here’s what H&O says about the calendar this year.

Ten years of stories! Yikes, where does the time go?
When the first Short Story Advent Calendar launched, in 2015, we frankly had no clue we’d still be sitting here today, continuing to offer up batches of tasty stories fresh from the oven. To celebrate this milestone, we’ve packed the 10th SSAC with a mix of new and familiar names—ideal company for those chilly winter nights ahead.

The author of this story was Damian Tarnopolsky.  Each day has an online component with the author with a brief (or in this case lengthy) interview.  This blurb starts things off:

It’s December 19. Damian Tarnopolsky, author of Every Night I Dream I’m a Monk, Every Night I Dream I’m a Monster, can solo just as well on an acoustic.

This story has an unusual title to be sure.  It’s even more unusual because Chris Cornell doesn’t really have anything to do with the bulk of the story.  He’s more for setting the story in time (the narrator was listening to Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog and Nirvana on CD when the story takes place).

The narrator worked for a family friend as a secretary and translator. The friend, George, was married to a young and beautiful woman named Francesca and boy did the narrator have a thing for her.

She was an actress and a model but she wanted to be a writer,  And one day she asked the narrator to help her with some translations that she had been working on.  He thought her writing was good but not great, but he still praised her highly which endeared him to her.

The story is one of seduction, as she works on translating the powerful words of Isaac Babel.

Cornell does come into play (or at least his lyrics do) at the end of the story.

I felt like the whole story was something of a tease–intriguing but ultimately a little unsatisfying.  It turns out that this is a rewriting/adaptation of Isaac Babel’s “Guy de Maupassant” which I haven’t read.  The author makes it sound pretty amazing though.