The Strange Case of Maribel Dixon by Charles Jensen 
2007 by New Michigan Press, 21 pages
978-1-934832-00-4 $8.00
(* The copy I'm reviewing was given to me by NMP's Ander Monson at AWP for reviewing purposes, it was not paid for)
In this short, but brilliant chapbook, Charles Jensen tells the story of Edward Dixon, and his wife, Maribel, through a series of diary entries, snippets from interviews, documents previously shredded and re-assembled, and interjections from a, well, I won't say omniscient source, as many of the entries from this point of view are loaded with questions, but a third person voice.
Why are the lives of Edward and Maribel Dixon worthy of our reading? To begin with, Edward created a physiotranslator, which, upon its debut usage, took Maribel down to the individual molecular level and transported her to the Ghost-World. Over the next 40 some years, Edward and Maribel converse, as he searches for ways to bring her back to the physical world, to be reunited with him.
As Jensen bounces back and forth between various forms of documentation, as well as through the decades,he does an excellent job of making each of the voices unique. He also allows them to develop through time. The readers gets to see Edward go from an assured belief he'll be able to find and bring Maribel back, on up to a desperate, old man, who seemingly goes to extreme levels to join her instead.
Jensen does a nice job of interjecting that semi-confused third person voice at just the right times. Shortly after the second of the "Shredded Document Recovered from the Dixon Papers, Reassembled January 2006" poems is read, the third person entry notes:
"Among his papers and notes are several shredded couments carefully reconstructed by the graduate staff of this department to the best of their ability. Puzzling, these documents seem to be trscripts of a voice unlike Dixon's. Philip Harwood, dixon's primary biographer, has theorized these documents are 'automatic writings' resulting from the extensive drug and alcohol use of Dixon's later years. Scholars of Dixon's papers have not yet explained the significance of these papers, although they number upward of 10,000 documents."
It was the reading of this paragraph, followed shortly by a subsequent re-reading of the first two 'shredded' documents that led me to believe these were not some 'automatic writings' but were indeed 'transcripts of a voice', that of Maribel Dixon, as Edward heard her through their communications through the years. Continuing through the book, and reading the other three such documents, they too, as do Dixon's writings and diary entries, evolve over time in their outlook of the couples' situation. That said, they are also consistent in phrase stylings and tone, leading one to again, assume they are from a single voice.
What Jensen has truly done is put together a unique love story, something I'm not sure I would have really believed possible. I'm not surprised that if somebody was going to find and publish an author capable of doing so, that it would be Ander Monson's New Michigan Press. Monson, as both author and editor, has been able to push the boundaries of form, style and content to fantastic results the past four or five years. This chapbook is something deserving of your time and support. I look forward to more of Jensen's writings.
4.5 stars
That sounds like a great book!
Posted by: Steffi | February 25, 2008 at 07:17 PM