To Avenge a Dead Glacier

The Resurrection of Humanism in Tivenan's short fictions

I was attracted to Shane Tivenan's collection of stories because the catalog description made them seem very humane in their quirkinesses. I was amazed at how vast, deep and wonderful each story was in scope of humanity and compassion about the big story, namely the chaotic, quirky, and ultimately wonderful Earth. My favorite story was "Mother and Deep Blue." I identified with "Mother's" old Humanist approach to art and was very impressed at how Tivenan negotiates the son's postmodern dubiousness of a Humanist approach to art. In the end I was amazed at how Tivenan brought so many vital threads of feeling and dialogue together and with a vital message to artists and writers during the advent of Artificial Intelligence. I also deeply loved and respected "Resurrection of a Corncrake." I look forward to rereading this story many times as it has so many beautiful and sagacious human perspectives. While it made me vividly aware of how much our planet is changing in ways that are going to change us (and not in a gentle way) the story gave me a resurrection of hope in the real life of human "being". To complete this collection with "Endsong" was a stroke of genius tying the theme of human connectivity to life and to Earth to the eponymous story (which was about the vastness and vast uncertainty of human life and human passion). I look forward to reading all of Tivenan's future work. He's a writer of stunning diversity and breath taking skill. Most of all, he doesn't abandon compassion and a sort of stubborn and imperishable spark of joy throughout all the diversity and frequent tenseness of his work.