"McGuane has never been a proponent of the easy answer. A fish moving by
“force of blood” may be “exactly noble,” but people get no such pass. At
best, they achieve a craftsman’s expertise—guiding, riding, fishing.
And expertise is a guarantee only of itself. Wider knowledge or
continued growth may not be in the cards. “The bonefisherman has a
mildly scientific proclivity for natural phenomenology insofar as it
applies to his quest, but unfortunately he is inclined to regard a flock
of roseate spoonbills only in terms of flying objects liable to spook
fish.” A writer’s style—a similarly practicable craft in McGuane’s
world—holds no promise of ongoing improvement. Michael Wood, in his
introduction to
On Late Style, points out that it “can’t be a
direct result of aging or death, because style is not a mortal creature,
and works of art have no organic life to lose.” Style does not grow,
like a plant, based on soil and rainfall, or like a fish or a horse,
based on breeding and instinct and environment. It is a willed thing.
Post–
Gallatin Canyon, McGuane may choose to bring back elements
of high comedy to the work—the pranks and tricks, the goofy names, the
far-out characters. His novels have been reliably entertaining and
always worth a look. It’s rare that someone this far along manages to
raise expectations, however. McGuane has managed to upset the norm. He
has become, in this sense, unreliable. Which means we have in his case
something other than more of the same to look forward to."
