A Dead Language

The British Rushforth (1945-2005) wrote just three novels: Kindergarten (1979), which won Britains Hawthornden Prize; Pinkerton's Sister, which appeared 25 years later to acclaim; and this follow-up to Pinkerton's, finished but unpublished at his death. It's a sprawling, stream-of-consciousness sequel that chronicles the school days of that title's namesake, Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton-the same Lieutenant Pinkerton who abandons Madam Butterfly in the Gilbert & Sullivan opera. Ben is a sensitive, smart boy growing up in an upper-class upstate New York household in the waning 19th century. His sisters, his mama, his kind headmaster Dr. Crowninshield and his best friend Oliver Comstock (another misfit like himself) provide solace from a cruel father and world of manly men (or ""Beards""), all shown through a time-hopping, kaleidoscopic lens of thoughts, digressions, 19th century pop culture references and witty deconstruction. As Ben and Oliver transfer from the haven of Crowninshield's school to his father's former stomping grounds, Otsego Lake Academy, each scene slows to a hilarious, manic crawl. Though comparisons to history-obsessed, stream-of-consciousness masters like Joyce and Pynchon are inevitable, Rushforth has the unique ability to draw a chapter out like a rubber band-digressing for 20 pages to, say, describe an imaginary confrontation between the town gossip and the local Reverend-and then to let it snap back with a satisfying sting. In Ben, he has crafted a character mesmerizing in his thoughtfulness and fear, setting the stage not only for Ben's heartbreaking betrayal of Butterfly (which Rushforth cleverly couches at the beginning of the story) but also, ultimately, of himself. For those who can abide repetition and Pynchon-esque disquisition, this is a novel to savor page-by-page.