Melodramatic Fools

In the essay, "Maps and Legends of Hell: Notes on Melodrama," Charles Baxter defines it as, "about, among other things, the failure of explanations." He goes on to describe the ways that melodrama interfaces with emotion, pulling us as readers in directions that we do not expect to feel the way we do. This conflict between emotional and logical responses is a critical part of the human condition, and its value in a literary space is often overlooked as juvenile and not worthy of the same kind of consideration as other, more distinguished driving forces for stories. We don't always feel the way we think we're supposed to, and those moments can tell us a lot about who we really are, as people. This trio of selected stories all have some element of this failure of explanation of emotions. "Table for Two" centers around a couple whose anniversary dinner ends with their landing in Hell. "Melodramatic Fools" is the story of a bad night out that results in a fantasy battle that the narrator cannot believe he is seeing. Finally, "Throwin' Slop" is about a minor league ballplayer past his prime, who can't understand what it was that held him back, in all aspects of his life. All three interface with the unknown in a way that explores it, tries to understand it, but ultimately fails to do much beyond notice it's there. The collected stories seek to explore the human condition through a mixture of the aforementioned melodrama, comedy, and surreal elements.