Pastoral pits divine against natural in exercise of faith
June is here and signs of summer are apparent: loud drunks yelling on patios; the omnipresent cacophony of concrete and steel clashing together; motorcycles roaring through the streets. André Alexis’ slim new novel Pastoral is an ode to places far removed from the clamour of these clatters: spring in the countryside expanses of hill and forest devoid of any noise save the mumbling of a confused brook or the drip-drop of criss-crossing bird calls.
In Barrow a fictional town in rural Ontario odd things are happening among the spruces. Gypsy moths flutter around fields in co-ordinated patterns and the mayor walks on water. Elizabeth Denny whose fiancé Robert is convinced that he is equally in love with both her and his ex-girlfriend Jane plots an embarrassing revenge for her indecisive beau. Lowther the quiet talented caretaker of the local church plans a graceful exit as he approaches his next birthday — his father grandfather and every male predecessor tracing back 10 generations died at 63. And amongst these occurrences oblivious to the machinations that set them in motion Father Christopher Pennant fresh out of seminary arrives to serve his first parish.
Like another André’s similarly miniature novel (Gide’s La Symphonie Pastorale ) Pastoral centres on a gentle kind-hearted priest struggling between his faith and an opposing primal force framed by the serenity of the countryside and its bucolic delights (and shortcomings). Transferred to Barrow Father Pennant is exposed to the old doubts he thought he had left behind at seminary; surrounded by both nature and the confounding “miracles” he witnesses on the outskirts of town he cannot reconcile the questions of his faith with a “pagan” sense of connection to the Earth.
Father Pennant’s doubts are mirrored in Elizabeth Denny’s fiancé Robert who refuses to choose between his more traditional companion and his wilder more adventurous lover Jane: he is convinced he can love them both though to what degree he cannot decide. The narrative flits between these characters in a somewhat terse manner leaving the reader unsure of their motivations and the details of their pasts; it is neither plot- nor character-driven but propelled by its themes: illusion against reality love against desire divine against natural and how these can be reconciled.
A profound love of nature is expressed by these characters throughout. Lowther whose violent history was replaced by a passion for the natural world guides Father Pennant through the countryside steering him towards interesting sites and little wonders; it’s in these places that the priest encounters bizarre happenings that begin to chisel away at his beliefs. Pastoral juxtaposes the strangely miraculous with the miraculously mundane revealing in the process how mysterious it is that the simple things we encounter every day actually exist.
This is a calm novel a measured country stroll punctuated by brief moments of the strange. Like Gide’s it is an homage to Beethoven’s Sixth (“Pastoral”) Symphony its five chapters mirroring loosely the five movements of the symphony and it builds upon a centuries-old tradition of pastoral literature offering a modern take on its themes. It’s not a treatise on any particular system of faith but a look at faith itself and the role it plays in our lives regardless of our beliefs. Reading is also an exercise of faith; we fill the gaps between what we are told with our own knowledge and histories quietly put aside reason and try to peek however briefly at the sublime.
Pastoral by André Alexis published by Coach House Books 162 pp.
