Where Past Meets Present: Modern Colorado Short Stories ed. by James B. Hemesath (review)

Reviews 191 New Historicism and overlooks its potential to contribute to an environm ental­ ly informed analysis o f power relations. DANIEL J. PHILIPPON U niversity o f Virginia Where P ast M eets Present: M odern C olorado Short Stories. Edited by James B. H em esath. (N iw ot: U niversity Press o f Colorado, 1994. 200 pages, $22.50/$12.95.) These stories have been brought together by editor James B. Hemesath because they reflect som ething “truly Colorado,” though, as I suspect Hemesath would favor, pinning down what that is can be a difficult task. Colorado is a diverse state, and these stories draw on the cultural diversity and Hispanic folklore of the south and the geographic diversity o f the entire state. There is a story of a community in the eastern plains, one set in the northwest corner near Dinosaur National Monument, stories of the ski towns, and stories o f the cities and suburbia along the Front Range. Many of the stories involve the theme of Colorado as destination, of people com ing to Colorado from somewhere else for some “reason,” as the early settlers once did. The title of the collection draws on what elem ents of its past heritage remain as Colorado struggles to define itself in an increasingly urbanized and com plex present. The “Can M en” by Robert O. Greer, Jr. is a heartfelt story of how two former and now hom eless rodeo cow boys spend a winter afternoon in Denver; Gladys Sw an’s “Backtracking” is about the remnants of dim e-fiction codes and the dreams “that sent a whole people chasing across a continent”— that seem to exist only to shatter expectations; Hem esath’s own entry, “Clare,” incorporates the form o f the westering journal in a modern tale of a failed mar­ riage and a father’s love for his son; and Steve Tern’s “Dinosaur” poignantly depicts the plight of the vanishing oilm en and ranchers amidst the backdrop of those fated reptiles. One of my favorites is “Mud Season,” by Antonya N elson, about a couple who returns to Durango during off-season (mud season) to visit the site where their daughter was killed in a m otorcycle crash— as if the “going [could] make you feel as if it’s done w ith,” as if the reality of the site was better than their illusions. Not so high on my list is Kent N elson’s “Winter Ascent” (“It has nothing to do with you. . . . It has to do with m e.”) and Dan Schoenholz’s “The Black Canyon” (“the hillside was dotted with columbine and lupine in patterns so pretty it was like they hired som eone to arrange ’em .”). But even these man­ age to capture a sense of mystery and adventure that is truly Colorado. RICK VAN NOY Case Western R eserve U niversity ...