Snow Queen (Cunningham)

The Snow Queen 
Michael Cunningham, 2014
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780374266325


Summary
A darkly luminous new novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Hours.

Michael Cunningham’s luminous novel begins with a vision. It’s November 2004. Barrett Meeks, having lost love yet again, is walking through Central Park when he is inspired to look up at the sky; there he sees a pale, translucent light that seems to regard him in a distinctly godlike way. Barrett doesn’t believe in visions—or in God—but he can’t deny what he’s seen.

At the same time, in the not-quite-gentrified Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, Tyler, Barrett’s older brother, a struggling musician, is trying—and failing—to write a wedding song for Beth, his wife-to-be, who is seriously ill. Tyler is determined to write a song that will be not merely a sentimental ballad but an enduring expression of love.

Barrett, haunted by the light, turns unexpectedly to religion. Tyler grows increasingly convinced that only drugs can release his creative powers. Beth tries to face mortality with as much courage as she can summon.

Cunningham follows the Meeks brothers as each travels down a different path in his search for transcendence. In subtle, lucid prose, he demonstrates a profound empathy for his conflicted characters and a singular understanding of what lies at the core of the human soul.

The Snow Queen, beautiful and heartbreaking, comic and tragic, proves again that Cunningham is one of the great novelists of his generation. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—November 06, 1952
• Where—Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
• Education—B.A., Stanford; M.F.A., University of Iowa
• Awards—Pulitzer Prize; PEN/Faulkner Award; Whiting Writers Award
• Currently—lives in New York City


Michael Cunningham's novel A Home at the End of the World was published to acclaim in 1990; an excerpt, entitled "White Angel" and published in The New Yorker, was chosen for Best American Short Stories 1989. His novel Flesh and Blood was published in 1995, and that year he won a Whiting Writer's Award. The Hours, Cunningham's third novel, received the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award. (From the publisher.)

More
By the time he finished Virginia Woolf's classic Mrs. Dalloway at the age of fifteen to impress a crush who tauntingly suggested he "try and be less stupid" and do so, Michael Cunningham knew that he was destined to become a writer. While his debut novel wouldn't come until decades later, he would win the Pulitzer for Fiction with his third — fittingly, an homage to the very book that launched both his love of literature and his life's work.

After growing up Cincinnati, Ohio, Cunningham fled to the west coast to study literature at Stanford University, but later returned to the heartland, where he received his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa in 1980. A writer recognized early on for his promising talent, Cunningham was awarded several grants toward his work, including a Michener Fellowship from the University of Iowa in 1982, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1988.

In 1984, Cunningham's debut novel, Golden States, was published. While generally well-received by the critics, the book — a narrative chronicling a few weeks in the life of a 12-year-old-boy — is often dismissed by Cunningham. In an interview with Other Voices, he explains: "I'm so much more interested in some kind of grand ambitious failure than I am in someone's modest little success that achieves its modest little aims. I felt that I had written a book like that, and I wasn't happy about it. My publisher very generously allowed me to turn down a paperback offer and it has really gone away."

With a new decade came Cunningham's stirring novel, A Home at the End of the World, in 1990. The story of a heartbreakingly lopsided love triangle between two gay men and their mutual female friend, the novel was a groundbreaking take on the ‘90s phenomenon of the nontraditional family. While not exactly released with fanfare, the work drew impressive reviews that instantly recognized Cunningham's gift for using language to define his characters' voices and outline their motives. David Kaufman of The Nation noted Cunningham's "exquisite way with words and...his uncanny felicity in conveying both his characters and their story," and remarked that "this is quite simply one of those rare novel imbued with graceful insights on every page."

The critical acclaim of A Home at the End of the World no doubt helped Cunningham win the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1993 — and two years later, his domestic epic Flesh and Blood was released. Chronicling the dysfunctional Stassos family from their suburban present back through to the parents' roots and looking toward the children's uncertain futures, the sprawling saga was praised for its complexity and heart. The New York Times Book Review noted that "Mr. Cunningham gets all the little things right.... Mr. Cunningham gets the big stuff right, too. For the heart of the story lies not in the nostalgic references but in the complex relationships between parents and children, between siblings, friends and lovers."

While the new decade ushered in his impressive debut, the close of the decade brought with it Cunningham's inarguable opus, The Hours (1998). A tribute to that seminal work that was the author's first inspiration — Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway — the book reworks the events and ideas of the classic and sets them alternately in 1980s Greenwich Village, 1940s Los Angeles, and Woolf's London. Of Cunningham's ambitious project, USA Today raved, "The Hours is that rare combination: a smashing literary tour-de-force and an utterly invigorating reading experience. If this book does not make you jump up from the sofa, looking at life and literature in new ways, check to see if you have a pulse." The Hours won both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and was adapted into a major motion picture starring the powerhouse trio of Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman in December 2002.

To come down from the frenetic success of The Hours, Cunningham took on a quieter project, 2002's tribute/travelogue Land's End: A Walk Through Provincetown. The first installment in Crown's new "Crown Journeys" series, the book is a loving tour through the eccentric little town at the tip of Cape Cod beloved by so many artists and authors, Cunningham included. A haven for literary legends from Eugene O'Neill to Norman Mailer, Cunningham is — rightfully — at home there.

Extras
• Cunningham's short story "White Angel" was chosen for Best American Short Stories 1989 — the year before his acclaimed novel A Home at the End of the World was published.

• When asked about any other names he goes by, Cunningham's list included the monikers Bree Daniels, Mickey Fingers, Jethro, Old Yeller, Gaucho, Cowboy Ed, Tim-Bob, Mister Lies, Erin The Red, Miss Kitty, and Squeegee. ("More" and "Extras" from Barnes & Noble.)

Book Reviews
At its best, the novel is Cunningham in his sweet spot, compassionate, emotionally exhilarating, devilishly fun.... Many things happen in this book, yet its prose is unhurried and sensuous. The Snow Queen takes hold of you in a manner that feels almost primal, the way a fragrance wafts into a room and changes your mood, before you even realize it.
Mario Russo - New York Times Book Review


For pure, elegant, efficient beauty, Cunningham is astounding. He’s developed this captivating narrative voice.... Half Henry James, half James Joyce, but all Cunningham, it’s an irresistible performance.
Ron Charles -Washington Post


Two brothers grapple with aging, loss, and spirituality in this haunting...novel.... As ever, Cunningham has a way with run-on sentences, and the novel’s lengthy monologues run the gamut from mortality to post-2000 New York City. But at its heart, Cunningham’s story is about family, and how we reconcile our closest human relationships with our innermost thoughts, hopes, and fears.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) [T]his new book by Cunningham explores the interconnected lives...awaiting deliverance from their own personal dystopia, a dilapidated Bushwick, Brooklyn, apartment.... Cunningham weaves the secret of transcendence through the mundane occurrences of everyday life. Those who enjoyed his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Hours will be pleased to see similar themes emerging in his newest novel. —Joshua Finnell, Denison Univ. Lib., Granville, OH
Library Journal


(Starred review.) Cunningham’s elegant and haunting new novel examines the complex dynamics among a couple and a brother.... Tender, funny, and sorrowful, Cunningham’s beautiful novel is as radiant and shimmering as Barrett’s mysterious light in the sky, gently illuminating the gossamer web of memories, feelings, and hopes that mysteriously connect us to each other as the planet spins its way round and round the sun. —Donna Seaman
Booklist


An apparition spotted in Central Park has a man marveling at the place of magic in our lives. Or is it all just a trick of the light?... [T]he novel [is] somewhat slight, particularly in comparison to his debut and The Hours (1998).... A drama...energizes the closing pages but feels distant from the book's central concerns. A stellar writer working on a small canvas; Cunningham has done greater work.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the novel’s title. Did your understanding of it shift throughout the book? How do the characters experience the Snow Queen’s “Mirror of Reason,” described in the epigraph by Hans Christian Andersen?

2. When we first meet Barrett, what are his impressions of his destiny? What shapes his understanding of fate and love as the novel unfolds?

3. What are your interpretations of The Snow Queen’s celestial lights? What is Barrett seeking while he watches the priest and parishioners in the Armenian church? What does he find?

4. How does Beth’s illness inspire those around her? What is her role within her circle of loved ones?

5. How were Tyler and Barrett affected by their mother’s sudden death and their father’s decision to remarry soon after? As brothers, how do they protect and provoke each other? What are the similarities and differences in their approaches to life?

6. What does the novel reveal about the many facets of addiction? How does Tyler respond to the various ways people react to his drug habit (including those who want to exploit it to support their own addiction)?

7. Which aspects of the story resonated with your own experience of love in all its forms, including kinship and the bonds of longtime friends?

8. Throughout her life, from defending her fragile sister to becoming an entrepreneur, Liz has put herself in positions of power. What accounts for her strength?

9. How were you affected by the scene aboard the Staten Island ferry? What transitions occur in the characters’ lives after that journey?

10. How has Barrett’s sense of self evolved by the time he meets Sam? Does Tyler experience a similar change in the way he approaches desire and fulfillment?

11. Discuss Andrew and Stella’s final scene. Are they capable survivors, or are they deeply vulnerable?

12. What makes the political climate of 2004–2008 an appropriate backdrop for the fears and longings of the characters? How does it echo the transformations

13. How does The Snow Queen enhance the humanity explored in Michael Cunningham’s previous novels?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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