Listening to Minnesota humorist
Kevin Kling tell a story is pure pleasure. Whether we hear him on
National Public Radio or as a keynote speaker, we smile at a masterfully-told
tale that takes a whimsical, capricious or increasingly wise twist
on reality. He observes, he reflects, he connects different elements
of his experiences growing up, traveling around the world, recovering
from his motorcycle accident, conversing with characters of every
flavor. He shares his own wry take on “that’s different” (Minnesotan
for “what are you thinking?”). He introduces “the moments
one feels the tingle that he is about to do something he ought to know better
than, perhaps requiring stitches.” He assures us that “everything
has its reason even though I’m not sure on which side of calamity the
reason sits.”
The
Dog Says How collects 29 of Kling’s stories. Their comic
timing on the printed page may make you think he’s in the room
with you, spontaneously reenacting them. I feel I have heard some of
his scenarios (e.g., his wiener dog, his childhood friend who ran like
a girl, Dick the Tird, and others) in different configurations before.
Perhaps that is just because the stories play with the reader’s
memory as they play with his own memory, and each emergence is fresh – the
mark of an exceptional storyteller. As Kling says, “Often when
I ask memory to serve me, it doesn’t always bring what I ordered.
But luckily I’m from Minnesota so I figure it’s probably
what I really wanted anyway.”
Perhaps folks with connections to disabilities gravitate
naturally toward Kling’s perspectives on “dis” and the realm
of stories that flow between people in order to help each other cope.
Or maybe it’s his ability to make us “feel at home among
fellow fools. In these days where the news has become entertainment
and entertainment, news, we get the truth where we can find it. A story,
or a place of solace.” Here, in 29 different stories, we feel
and are consoled by the truth and our own humanity. What a wonderful
gift!
Published by Borealis Books,
an imprint division of Minnesota Historical Society Press. More information: www.borealisbooks.org or
www.kevinkling.com, $22.95,
cloth, ISBN 0-87351-582-X,
224 pp. Phone: 1-800-621-2736
P.S. By the way, Kevin Kling and Nancy Donoval (who
has chemical sensitivity disabilities) are presenting a “Theatre Storytelling and Solo
Performance” class during the Winter/Spring 2008 semester at
the University of Minnesota. http://onestop2.umn.edu/courseinfo/. ![]()
