Ancient Greek myths resonate across millennia for their keen yearnings, tragedies, and refrains on human fragility. The contemporary short stories of David Beaumier’s collection, The Mourning Fields, echo these myths in both symbol and pathos.
Ranging from homage to magical realism, The Mourning Fields keeps a loose relationship to its Ancient Greek inspirations. These are fresh and intimate stories of trauma, loss, survival, and desire, rooted in modern life. These page-turning stories deliver genuine catharsis, drawing readers into characters whose struggles feel both timeless and urgently contemporary.
The Mourning Fields approaches violence and bigotry with a careful mix of social commentary and mythic allusion. The collection thoughtfully handles difficult subject matter including sexual assault and domestic abuse.
“Charon’s Crossing”, “Medusa”, “The White Pine”, and “Siren” confront violence against women, casting mythical powers as manifestations of trauma or justice. But even as Beaumier re-interprets these ancient myths, his stories don’t shy away from the more grounded subject matter. Their central characters hold readers close with the gravity of their fear, hope, and anger.
Where allusion lays thinner, The Mourning Fields maintains its own thematic coherence. “Just Say Yes” and “The College Experience” emphasize self-deception’s capacity for harm, as in each story the hero blinds themselves to sexual assault under their own roof.
Much of this collection’s tragedy springs from those characters who paint an ideal mirage over the real people around them.
“Kalanchoe” shows the violation of autonomy inherent to anti-queer bigotry, but also how difficult it can be to leave an abuser whose love has been genuine in the past. The collection’s titular story mirrors the form of a classic Greek tragedy, its hero driven to pursue someone who seems so perfect for him if not for her polyamory and his own irrepressible jealousy. Each piece appreciates the nuances of its characters, even around those motivations that drive them to hurt others.
Beaumier draws mounting pressure from the fault lines in close relationships. Characters warp love into frightening forms, calling into question what they might do when reality finally crashes down on them.
Fitting for its chosen pantheon of myth—and especially its particular namesake—The Mourning Fields illustrates many facets of desire.
Selfish and unchecked, desire burns through the heroes of “The Mourning Fields”, “Just Say Yes,” and “Hera”, leaving a painful emptiness in its wake. But shared freely between people, desire can bring light and even peace to their lives. In the darkness between an alley and balcony, two men welcome each other’s trespass (“Juliet on His Balcony”). The gift of music illuminates a father’s lost memories of reconciliation with his daughter and her wife (“Orpheus”). An adopted son’s academic passion helps him accept the love his parents offer (“Last Wish”).
Many of these stories explore the terrible consequences of a person trying to possess someone else in the supposed name of love. The Mourning Fields shows that true connection can only be made with an open hand.
Beaumier’s prose builds a strong sense of place, rooting characters in their moment.
Sensory description flows through them, taking on the weight of their emotion. The perpetual stickiness of a dive bar that glows in strange orange light, its signature drink stained by the taste of decay. Familiar streets and hallways become an exhausting labyrinth. Whether drawn from locations real or mystical, these settings feel lived-in, as if they’ve seen the cycles of their myths play out before.
Rich in its contemporary setting, mythic parallel, and characters walking between the two, The Mourning Fields by David Beaumier stirs empathy and delivers catharsis. Readers of mythology and contemporary fiction will find each of these short journeys affecting both in their own right and as a collection.
