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Washington and Baltimore: stories

Julian Mazor

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Jan 03, 2019 Tony rated it really liked it

Shelves: own-loanable, short-stories, project-dcbythebook

Of the six stories collected here, four first appeared in The New Yorker, and one ran in the literary journal Shenandoah. Interestingly, following the publication of this book in 1968, Mazor more or less fell out of the literary scene, only to reappear in 2004 with a new collection, Friend of Mankind. Several stories in the new collection continue to flesh out the life of John Lionel, the protagonist of the four best stories here. These have the waft of autobiography about them, as John's age an Of the six stories collected here, four first appeared in The New Yorker, and one ran in the literary journal Shenandoah. Interestingly, following the publication of this book in 1968, Mazor more or less fell out of the literary scene, only to reappear in 2004 with a new collection, Friend of Mankind. Several stories in the new collection continue to flesh out the life of John Lionel, the protagonist of the four best stories here. These have the waft of autobiography about them, as John's age and upbringing appears to parallel that of the author. The first story, "Washington", is a naturalistic portrait of John's encounter with a several black people one night in D.C. It's a kind of strange encounter as he waits for a bus in a little deli while a kind of hyper ex-boxer blabbers away at him. In the end, a story of warmth and human connection. This connection is picked up in the next story, "Baltimore", as John returns to the deli for a little party. This is all an excuse for clever piece narrated by a different ex-boxer, describing a fight he was in during his Army service.

The middle two stories stand alone, and don't work quite as well. The longest story of the collection, "Mary Jane" is about a mismatched married couple on trip to New York to try and rescue their marriage. Set during the height of the Civil Rights struggle, the titular character is a very young privileged woman from Roanoke, Virginia, married to a earnest lawyer for the Justice Department some 15 years her senior. He's kind of a classic guilty liberal type, while she's a kind of classic southern figure who recognizes that change must come, but hasn't quite figured out how to handle that. It's a brave attempt to wrestle with the issue of race, but never moves beyond the expected. "Jack Kelsey's All-Stars, 1941" is the only story not to appear elsewhere, and feels somewhat out of place. About a 14-year-old who joins a barnstorming baseball team, it never really leads anywhere interesting.

John Lionel's story continues in the final two stories, which take place in Washington, DC. "Rock Creek" is an excellent meditative piece that takes place a few years prior to "Washington" and "Baltimore." The story finds teenage John recuperating from a broken leg he suffered while hiking around Rock Creek Park. It follows him back to the park with the family poodle as he struggles to wrap his head around the death of his two best and oldest friends in a car accident several weeks previously. These two friends appear in the last story, "The Boy who Used Foul Language", set in 1940. There, John is a elementary school kid who has what would today be called "anger management issues." The story finds him laid up in bed with pneumonia after getting expelled from school, where he is cruel to his family's black maid.

The collection has been praised for it's portrayal of everyday Washington, DC. I would agree that the first story does do that well, but the others are more concerned with broader issues of race and growing up. Readers looking for the real Washington, D.C. are best advised to read Edward Jones' excellent collection Lost in the City, or George Pelecanos' genre-transcending crime novels. Still, Mazor's stories are very well crafted, and should appeal to short story fans.
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