The Bear Bryant Funeral Train by Brad Vice
2007 by River City Publishing 200 pages
1579660754
(Uncorrected Proof supplied by River City Publishing)
I don’t know that you can discuss The Bear Bryant Funeral Train without at least a minor nod to the issues the prior version was saddled with. I do know that I’m not nearly well versed enough in the ideas of plagiarism, fair use, and/or intertextuality to be the one to make a grand statement about it. What I can say is no matter the rules, I believe that by publishing the book with a list of Acknowledgement of Sources makes absolute sense.
I think by breaking the collection into two sections of stories, and moving all five of the Bear Bryant related stories into the final section, is a great move. The collections opens with “Stalin,” a very strong story within which Vice links aspects of Stalin, Krushchev, the plague, lice, and the protagonist’s relationship with his father into a very cohesive piece – really incredibly so considering just how much he’s tossed into the mix.
Of the other non-Bryant stories, I thought “Chickensnake” was also excellent. While these stories get the reader into the book, I do think it’s the second section, the tales that bring the spectre of Bear Bryant into play, that is where Vice shines the most.
“Tuscaloosa Knights,” with passages from Carl Carmer’s work embedded within, is actually a solid look at the juxtaposition of the manners and gentility of the south in contrast with actions such as Klan rallies. Adding the bit about people knowing who each other were under their robes due to their shoes, and thereby implicating a younger version of Bryant seemed to me a playful means of looking at some truths – it may not have been shoes, but people generally know who is doing what. “Return to Junction” is a fine re-telling of the now fairly common tale of Bryant taking over the Texas A&M Aggie football program.
And last up is the title story. The plot is a bit unwieldy and to be honest, I’ve not read a quick re-cap of it that felt enough to me, so I’m not going to try. However, there’s a line in it that I think captures much of what Vice is doing with his writing. That is:
“My movie is based on a true story,” he tells us, but “the truth is not enough.” In many of these stories Vice has taken some form of truth, frequently using other sources as starting points for his imagination to spread from. In these cases, the stories or works from before didn’t end up being enough for Vice. His own imagination was able to take them further. And fortunately, the imagination of the folks at River City Publishing was also able to take things further, bringing this book back from the grave – hats off to them.
4 stars
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