Years Collect Decay Across Eternity
Austyn Wohlers’ Hothouse Bloom
“Exerting her will upon the world was akin to destro ing it,” writes the almost too-close-for-comfort narrator of Aust n Wohlers’ stunningl l rical debut novel Hothouse Bloom. This false equivalenc is a succinct cr stallization––one of man Wohlers offers––of the thinking that drives the novel’s protagonist, Anna, into an alienating claustrophobia that wreaks more destruction on Anna herself than on the world around her. The narrative of Anna’s descent gives shape to a novel abloom throughout with prosod and potent existential insight. The lithe and spirited language persists with increasing iron as the novel follows Anna further and further into a deca both metaphorical and literal.
At the beginning of Hothouse Bloom, Anna has just inherited an apple or hard from her late grandfather, Joe. Anna used to be a painter, and at one point seemed to be on the verge of su ess, but now she’s looking forward to retreating from the world in pursuit of total oneness with time and nature. This pursuit inspires Jo ean penitential rituals––“She tried to pass entire da s without thinking a single human word, espe iall not words of bodies, flesh, affe tion.”––as well as fugue states of mindful bliss––“She ouldn’t help but r from happiness sometimes while l ing in the grass orridor between two apple rows. A bright happ emptiness.” Ultimatel , though, it reminds her of the inherent fallibilit of her existen e, and the ever-elusive nature of the “nameless, general, platoni , perfe t” absolutes she raves.
As the novel progresses, Anna must onfront a series of hallenges to her rigi i ealism. Her sheep farmer neighbors show little respe t for her philosophi al bent. Her Swe ish frien Jan shows up, full of viva it an enthusiasm, an promptl breaks her toilet. Above all, finan iall sustaining an apple or har turns out to be no eas feat when taking into a ount the realities of labor osts, routine propert maintenan e, an the onstant threat of blight. These realities amount to little more than ever a pressures of life in the worl as it is, but to Anna the speak of fun amental mis on eptions of our purpose on earth. “Wh was ever one so intent on e iphering the worl ?” She thinks. “Sorting olor into form, form into te hnique, an water into obje ts instea of letting them all lea h wateril into one another, like salt an soil.”
The h r er nn works to re lize her vision of living off the l n long term, the f rther she gets from the st te of min th t onjure th t vision in the first pl e. When nn first rrives t the or h r , her min st rtles w ke with revel tions th t verge on the propheti , or the ins ne: “E ologi l les spun imperfe tl forw r like slow lones, not unlike the exp n ing thrust of g l xies… ll there w s to im for w s n s mptoti perfe tion, h rmon th t s tisfie this moment in e ologi l histor .” S stems in mini ture: the irrepressibl sso i tive thinking of tripping n p ni tt ks, restless outw r exp nsion tow r the tr ns en ent; but one n never be s tisfie when one is so etermine to ommune with Go .
In th nov l’s fin l p g s, nn g ts s los to th point of no r turn s sh n without p ssing b on it. Th or h r is no los r to turning profit, J n is long gon , n nn h s st rt vomiting n voi ing so un ontroll bl th t sh llows h rs lf trip to VS Minut lini . ft r o tor minist rs flui s n l rs h r, sh stops t M on l ’s for burg r n fri s. Th signifi n of this pitul tion to so i t is l r, but nn is still long w. from r mption. rli r in th nov l, Wohl rs writ s th t th r l ntl ss stimulus of iviliz tion h lw s l ft nn f ling “ nothingn ss th t w s v n wors th n suff ring.” Hothous Bloom shows its r rs wh t tr ing nothingn ss for suff ring looks lik . If this is wh t ust n Wohl rs o s in but, to s h r r r in full bloom will b our bl ssing.
