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James Lee Burke adds to a substantial body of work
Book Review
By Derryll White
Burke, James Lee (2019). The New Iberia Blues.
“Anything you get with luck isn’t worth owning, Dave. I thought you knew that.”
-Desmond Cormier
It is hard to define James Lee Burke as anything other than a superb writer and an incredible storyteller. Some reviewers try to stick him into a genre – mystery or action/thriller. I don’t think so.
His very substantial body of work spans the swell and shrinkage of the American economy and influence. His philosophical focus tears down most of the brick outhouses of Christian and empirical thought. Someone said he is ‘the reigning champ of nostalgia noir.” That perhaps gets closer to containing Burke’s work.
James Lee Burke is now 82-years-old and has the same zest for examination and inquiry of the human spirit and mind that he had 40 years ago. In fact, it has grown, sharpened and spilled forth onto the page in sentence after sentence of unequalled clarity and passion. He revels in the concept of woman, both idealized and base, and always pays homage to the poem that each woman contains for him. I treasure that about him – whore or financier James lee Burke examines the jewel that is each woman character he brings to the page.
Burke has in the past, and again here, explored the concept of original sin. He comes down firmly on the side that declares some of us are just born evil – no nurture, just born to do bad things. The malevolent force in ‘The New Iberia Blues’ clearly fits this category.
Every one of the characters in this story delves into the essence of the American soul as Burke sees it. That essence shines bright in the eyes of William Blake’s tiger, bathes in the fomenting morass of the Vietnam war. It inhabits the Mississippi blues which also crawl enchantingly through this story. The characters are substantial men and women, but they all point to the cataclysmic loss of belief America is now experiencing.
This is no easy read although the language is electric and the phrasing is as hot as Charlie Yardbird Parker at his best. Burke wants every reader to think about the state of the world and the effects of the fundamental fallouts from greed and avarice.
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Excerpts from the novel:
TERROR – Nobody at the docks or boathouses had heard or seen anything unusual. I could have written the entire incident off, but any time three people report a scream, they’re calling not about a sound but about a memory that lives in the collective unconscious, one that goes back to the cave. When we are alarmed to the degree that we have to tell others about it, we’re dipping into a primal knowledge about the darker potential of the gene pool. Or at least this has always been my belief.
AN OLD FOOL? – Her hair was feathering on her cheek. My protective feelings toward her were the same as those I had for my daughter, I told myself. It was only natural for an older man to feel protective of a younger woman. There was nothing wrong with it. Absolutely. Only a closet Jansenist would see design in an inclination that’s inherent in the species.
What a lie.
WHITE TRASH – Unless you are familiar with the nature of Southern white trash, you will not understand the following: They are a genetically produced breed whose commonality is a state of mind and not related to the social class to which they belong. Economics has nothing to do with their origins or their behavior. You cannot change them. They glory in violence and cruelty and brag on their ignorance, and would have no problem manning the ovens at Auschwitz. That’s not hyperbole. When I looked into Axel’s eyes, I knew my slap across his face had been a slap across his soul and that one day I would pay for it.
OLD MEN – I woke hard and throbbing in the morning, filled with all the desire and longing that old men never lose, no matter how dignified they may behave. The manifestation of that desire takes many forms, none of them predictable and none of them good.
WRITING – Every literary plot is either in the Bible, Greek mythology, or Elizabethan theater. Hemingway said it was all right for an author to steal as long as he improved the material.
DEMOCRACY – “You don’t know why you hate and fear me, do you?” he asked.
“What?”
“I symbolize the ruinous consequences of America’s decision to abandon the republic that the entire world admired and loved. You see me and realize how much you have lost.”
– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them. When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.
