The Artificial Newfoundlander

In his first novel, The Artificial Newfoundlander, Larry Mathews explores the many interconnected relationships of a fifty-something, divorced, English professor named Hugh Norman. It’s the summer, of what the author refers to as “the year after 9/11,” and Professor Norman has two primary areas of focus: his daughter Emily and the writings of an eccentric former priest.

 

We meet Emily as the novel opens. She greets her father at his front door having just learned that the husband she left in Vancouver has followed her home to Newfoundland. Although their relationship is strained, Emily has sought refuge from her former life by returning to her father’s house in St. John’s with her two children. Immediately, Mathews successfully conveys the confusion experienced by his main character in trying to understand his daughter as well as his role in creating the distance between them. “Emily meets me in the front hall, something confrontational in her stance….” Then, he notes, “[A]ll her psychic energy beaming full blast at the enemy. Which can’t possibly be her father, can it?” As things unfold we discover that Emily has a big reason for leaving Vancouver—a reason shrouded in mystery.

 

Besides his daughter’s troubles, Norman’s research into the writings of Father Alphonsus Cleary keep his mind occupied. Cleary is, as Norman describes him, “an unread novelist.” After writing several books, Cleary disappears. Although believed dead, Norman uncovers clues that cast a doubt over this commonly held view. With two mysteries to unravel, the rekindling of a former flame, and a series of heart to hearts with his soon to be former son-in-law, Hugh Norman has a busy summer.

 

The Artificial Newfoundlander is written in the first person giving the reader full access to the main character’s perceptions and worldview. Whether describing his current area of research (“What interests me about the tone is the combination of intellectual arrogance and a genuine-seeming sense of wonder, dismissive superiority juxtaposed with naïve exuberance, though how this quality can be analyzed escapes me”) or describing his colleague (“It’s unlikely that the dangers of solipsism has occurred to him”), Norman’s thought process is, at times, weighted down by analytical detail and cumbersome terms. Although this may represent an effort to express the main character’s intellect, it may also impact the quality of the reading experience for some. Regardless, Larry Mathews’ first novel provides an interesting and, at times, humorous account of the relationships of Professor Hugh Norman and his life in contemporary Newfoundland. —Clare O’Connor