"Persephone" by @njgreenfield
Recommended and reviewed by T.
We are not limited to featuring short stories of course, but this one happens to also be one that I believe must have its place on our featured reads list, as it's so much more than just a literary short story and much more than a look at a relationship between two people. It is a profoundly allegorical surrealist abstract piece that converges with mythic symbols and encourages interpretation. Reading "Persephone" is like looking at a painting by a master artist. Or a master musician, for the short story was written with Beethoven's Symphony No.7 in A major op.92 - II, Allegretto as its background track.
Of course right from the title it immediately alludes to Greek mythology as the goddess of vegetation, who was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld, to be his wife and queen. The story starts in such a way - for the most part the woman isn't there, and we are taken through the deterioration of a man and the experiences through his mind - the consciousness and subconsciousness. "There was a man whose wife went mad on the night of their wedding" so it starts. Yet throughout the piece, we are more concerned about the man's own sanity and about our own reality. What exactly is real or unreal?
The disorientation here is brilliantly complex. We have been dropped into the middle of the painting, and are in no place to follow the usual physical mundane plane of plotline and events. Instead, we are fascinated with esoteric meaning - there is practically not much of an exoteric layer of reading. In each part of the story, symbols come to play: nature, the sea, bridges, doors, snow, the abyss and more. We are forced not to take things literally. The piece ends with a shocking finality and it is then when we reach conclusions about the man's actual reality. However, at this point, reality no longer matters. "Persephone" is definitely meant to be thought-provoking and somewhat of a spiritual enlightenment.
This review isn't meant to interpret the story for it is best to leave it up to the reader and maybe for the well-read, there may be references to or be allegory for literature, psychology, history, and onwards, but it goes without saying that this is highly recommended. It also goes without saying that @njgreenfield is a writer of immense caliber and I commend him for his literary achievements here.
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