Lives of the Mind Slaves: Selected Stories

Bruce Meyer teaches English at Trinity College, University of Toronto.

Included in this selection of stories by the vastly underrated Matt
Cohen is one of his finest, “The Sins of Tomas Benares.” The story,
which concerns an elderly Spanish émigré doctor in Toronto who is
grappling with the losses and tragedies of his life, is a sensitive
testament not only to human endurance but to the depth of human memory.
Followers of Cohen’s work will be pleased that he has included
“Mirrors,” along with the title stories from his two collections of
short fiction, Cafe Le Dog and Living on Water.

The collection ends with the superb “Trotsky’s First
Confessions.” This story about a literature professor nursing another
through the final stages of cancer is one of the most moving and
delicate pieces of writing to appear on the Canadian scene in recent
years. What begins as an address to a faculty association on the topic
of Virginia Woolf ends with a subtle reminder of the life that pulses
beneath the masks and protective identities that individuals assume for
themselves.