Always inquisitive, never dogmatic, Paul Marcel asks both intriguing and disturbing questions in his second collection of short stories, skirting the radicalism of prevailing indoctrinations.
Can rebelliousness also be a social convention? Perhaps the answer is in the tale that gives the book its title. Are there sons and daughters of the gods walking among us, as the old Greeks professed? The protagonists of Dimitrios could not believe it may tell. Is music capable of transporting humans to other spheres? Joana shows it in Om. Is there liberation in violence? The narrator of Perfect crime sponsors that chilling theory.
Every author has recurring themes – literature itself, music, movies, religion, customs, even tennis are among Paul’s. But in Rebellious he goes farther: the new collection features a reflection on the place of mankind in the universe with a touch of science fiction (Isolation), the wedding vows of a “post-Me Too, post-millennials, post-cringe” bride (Marital bliss), the repudiation of an artist to the maniacal adoration of a fan (Idol), a medieval metaphor about the impossibility of communication between individuals and peoples (The bridge).
Going back to a genre doesn’t mean repeating oneself – and Paul proves it in Rebellious.
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