The Velvet Horn

THE VELVET HORN

by Andrew Lytle

 

Nomination: National Book Finalist 1958

 

Date Read: March 12, 2021

 

The Velvet Horn is not what I had thought it would be about based on the cover. I had assumed it would be an idyllic tome about nature and how nature makes humanity whole, but I would have been completely wrong. This work is indeed about man’s search for wholeness through all devices available to mankind – marriage, incest, statutory rape, lying, you name it.

 

Mankind’s desire to merge with what we feel in our bones completes us, apparently, knows no shame. While I in no way condone incest, my inner wisdom allows that all things are possible within the realm of human experience, including being in love with your sister. Should Duncan and Julia act upon it? No. Is their love for each other any less real than other love? No. Is it gross? Definitely.

 

The reigning voice of wisdom through these pages is Jack Cropleigh, the only character not striving to complete himself but seems to be entirely whole by his own merit. Called a “spiritual hermaphrodite” by Lytle himself, Jack assumes the roles of father, mother, brother, counselor and leader of the Cropeligh family. Bringing the hermaphrodite theme home includes Jack dressing as a woman in order to breed a rather stubborn mule.

 

Lytle infuses his work throughout with Biblical symbolism and references, including opaque imagery of the Tree of Knowledge which became Adam and Eve’s downfall. Similarly, it is a tree which ends the life of Joe Cree upon his learning of Julia’s transgression with Pete Legrand. And as each of these characters strive for wholeness, in the end this futile pursuit still leaves everyone separate in the cold light of day.

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