"Hakim Bey: Real and Unreal is a compelling and spellbinding exploration into the enigmatic world of Hakim Bey. Metzger's unique non-narrative approach in recounting his relationship with Bey unfolds with a mesmerizing quality, skillfully intertwining earnestly playful anecdotes. As I navigated the pages, the narrative's immersive nature reached a point where the boundaries between reality and fantasy dissolved, leaving me captivated by the spellbinding allure of Bey's existence."
Garret A.
This tome, eleven years in the writing, is one of the less expected productions from Metzger's eminent pen. It is a narrative history, a docudrama. It is written entirely in the first person voice of the main character, Charles Flaherty, Roman Catholic priest, boxer, amateur physician and abortionist, who lived in early twentieth century Rochester.
Over the years, Metzger has written a number of essays and books dealing with the Burnt Over District of western New York State, which was home to so many utopian religious and social experiments in the nineteenth century: the Mormons, the Shakers, the Spiritualist Fox Sisters, and the Electric Chair. Flaherty's Wake is the magnum opus and masterpiece of Metzger's many excursions into this weird regionalism.
Every detail here is authentic, every event described is real. Metzger, writing in Flaherty's literate. but unpolished voice, has connected the minute particular facts into an account which is oddly credible and meticulously matches the (mostly newspaper) records. It is truer than an actual first person account could have been - for Metzger has no personal interests to protect.
This is a style of history writing that would have seemed natural to Livy or Thucydides, but which has fallen far from favor since the nineteenth century. But unlike most history written in the days of Carlyle and Michelet, Metzger's is scrupulously unbiased. Here you gain a true view of the beliefs, ethnicities, and social circumstances of early twentieth century Rochester and environs. It could not be bettered by the most impeccably dull academic account. And one does not have to pay the dues of boredom which is the usual price of such fine detail. This is a compelling, page-turning read.
It is, however, a little bleak. It made me think of Scorsese's film, The Irishman, which is similarly a docudrama, but focused on an associate of Jimmy Hoffa. There, as in Metzger's book, the narrative was weirdly compelling albeit grim throughout. The chronicles of men whose lives are full of somewhat illegal action tend to have a gloomy glamor.
In the life of Flaherty the abortionist priest, you will not find a hero of feminism or of faith. The only real faith he seems to have had was faint in himself.
Metzger has created here a valuable work of history, which raises more questions than it answers, but which one thanks him for asking.
Mildred Faintly
96th of October