Stephen Patrick Clare Defends The Republic of Nothing
Click here to read Salty Ink’s introduction to Lesley Choyce, The Republic of Nothing, and nominator Stephen Patrick Clare.
In 2006 I was working for the now-defunct Daily News in Halifax, writing weekly book reviews and hosting Canada’s first online book club. Each month readers would elect a single work of local or regional fiction and then discuss it via the newspaper’s website. The forum quickly became quite popular, and books poured into our office as publishers lobbied to have their works considered.
One title that caught my eye was Lesley Choyce’s The Republic of Nothing.
Goose Lane of Fredericton had sent me a copy of the novel’s tenth-anniversary edition, which included an insightful afterword by Neil Peart, beat-keeper for Can-Rock legends Rush.
I trusted that if the world’s greatest percussionist (and a damn fine wordsmith himself) was going to bang his drum for the book then I might make the time to read it.
And then there was the title itself – The Republic of Nothing – which stirred my existential loins. Having devoured de Beauvoir, Sartre, Gide, Artaud, Kafka and Nietzsche as a teenager (I can still hear my grade nine French professor expounding “Merde! Monsieur Clare… tu es tros jeune!”) I had a natural affinity to anything that resonated remotely nihilist.
The Republic of Nothing. Nil. Nada. It just sounded like my kind of place.
I smiled when I read the publisher’s blurb on the back of the book;
A small Canadian island declares its independence to the world and benign anarchy reigns. The island’s inhabitants are drawn into politics, the Vietnam War, and the peace movement. Sound impossible? Not on Whalebone Island, aka the Republic of Nothing. Where else can a dead circus elephant, a long-dead Viking, the discovery of uranium, a raven-haired castaway who may be psychic, an anarchist turned politician, and refugees fleeing from the United States all be part of everyday life? Where else is eccentricity embraced with such open arms? Lesley Choyce’s novel about resilience, independence, and anarchy comes alive, leading readers to discover once again that everything is nothing and nothing is everything.
Elephants and Vikings? Psychic castaways? Uranium? Eccentricity? Anarchy?
Really?
Cool.
Apparently I wasn’t alone in my attraction, as over 70 Daily News readers joined in the online discussion that month, debating the work’s spiraling narrative arc, fluid pace, regional flavor, historical context and social relevance.
And although I understood and agreed with all of those observations, there was something else about the story – something familiar that stirred just below the book’s surface – that kept me coming back.
I remember reading L’Etranger as a teenager, ecstatic to have finally found someone – Camus’ anti-hero Mersault – who felt the same way that I did. Very suddenly, with the mere flipping of a few pages, I wasn’t as alone in the world.
I had the same kind of experience with Ian McQuade in The Republic of Nothing. As with Mersault, Choyce’s young protagonist struggled with identity and belonging. And, like Mersault, McQuaid sought some sense of certainty in a time of conflict and confusion.
As such, for this reader, Choyce’s imaginary Whalebone Island became the stage upon which the fundamental human drama unfolded – a comic-tragedy that is both unique and shared; man’s search for meaning.
Interestingly, where Mersault would eventually find none, McQuaid would, over time, come to re-affirm his own.
Further to note that Camus would later resolve his dilemma in The Rebel, confronting the void (perhaps inspired by his time in the French resistance, as McQuaid is stirred by anti-Vietnam War sentiment), determined to carve something out of nothing.
Credit Choyce for bringing us there sooner, with equal style and substance.
Remarkably, even after 18 months of reading and writing about many of the region’s literary masterpieces while compiling Atlantic Canada’s 100 Greatest Books – including classic works by L.M. Montgomery, Alistair McLeod, David Adams Richards, Donna Morrissey, Ernest Buckler, Thomas Haliburton, Lisa Moore, Hugh MacLennan and Michael Crummey – The Republic of Nothing remained top of mind.
I have since read and enjoyed many of Choyce’s books (Driving Minnie’s Piano (2006) and Seven Ravens (2009) in particular are personal favourites), but his quirky coming-of-age tale on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore – with its eccentric cast of characters, homespun humour and all-too-human drama – still stands closest to my heart.
-Stephen Patrick Clare, 2010
On June 18th, polls will open for the public to vote for the book, by an Atlantic Canadian author, that they think the country should read this summer! Follow the contest here: http://saltyink.com/atlantic-canada-reads-competition/
Twitter