Book Notice: Masters of Technique
Howard Goldowsky, ed., Masters of Technique: The Mongoose Anthology of Chess Fiction. Boston, Mongoose Press 2010. $24.95, 286 pp.
Using chess as a metaphor or a prop is pretty typical in fiction and elsewhere, but well-crafted stories in which chess plays a meatier role are comparatively rare. Howard Goldowsky seems dedicated to changing this state of affairs, and he "has collected the best work from twelve of the most talented chess fiction writers of the past decade."
That's what the book jacket says, anyway, and who am I to argue with the publisher's promotional materials? Kidding aside, I don't take myself suitably qualified to judge the literary merits of the book's 12 short stories. They're all quite readable and could be read even by pre-teens, though I'd suggest that the themes and language make the book more like a PG-13 work.
The stories varied considerably in content, so if you don't care much for one genre or theme, the next story might better suit your fancy. There's a Sherlock Holmes story, a couple of stories with religious/mystical themes; several stories in which chess plays or played an important role in the lives of the elderly, but also stories where the (chess-playing) protagonists are very young. And so on - the stories are unified only in having chess play some role in all of them. Even that role varies considerably: sometimes it's as little as seeing a chess set and reflecting on what it meant to its owner.
As stated above, I'm not going to play literary critic. Generally speaking, it's light entertainment, so if you pick it up in search of a couple of hours of easy reading, you might enjoy it.
Reader Comments (1)
Reminds of a good book I read a very long time ago called the Radetzky March by Joseph Roth where chess played a pretty high role towards the end of the book.