FFWD Weekly
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Books by Lachlan Mackintosh Steven Heighton has only written one novel, but he’s far from a novice. Heighton is the author of three books of poetry, two collections of stories, 1997’s collection of essays, The Admen Move On Llasa, and now a big debut novel, The Shadow Boxer. A traditional first novel in form – a portrait of an artist as a young man – The Shadow Boxer takes the reader from town to city to wilderness, from Sault Ste. Marie to Toronto to Rye Island in Lake Superior. To complete this journey, Heighton has crafted a compassionate Sevigne Torrins – the young poet, lover, drinker, occasional fighter and connoisseur of sunrises. "The technical challenge that I set for myself in this book was to create a character who would win the reader over in the first section, fall from grace with the reader in the second section, and in the third section win the reader’s sympathy back," Heighton explains during a recent visit to Calgary. He succeeds. Sevigne and his songwriter girlfriend Mikaela, are well-evoked characters that grow on the reader. Also vital to the book is Sevigne’s relationship with his hard-drinking father – a sometimes boxer robbed of his chance to make the Olympic team and perhaps meet Cassius Clay. Throughout the novel, Sevigne shadow boxes with his father’s spirit, his words, memories and dreams. Heighton writes: "No pockets in a shroud – he was always imparting that wisdom to his son." This image resounds throughout the book, especially in the novel’s final solitary section. For Heighton, the impulse to tell such a story is part of an organic creative process. "It’s when the language catches fire, when the rhythms of the prose start to feel natural... the point at which every sentence seems to lead me, rhythmically, to the next sentence, is the point where I know I’ve found my story," he says. "In Montreal, one woman came up to me after the reading and said – and this was one of the best compliments I’ve ever had – she said, ‘I didn’t really understand what you were saying, but I really loved the sound of the language, I loved the rhythms of the sentences.’" Heighton was in Calgary just days after a feature in The Globe and Mail attacked his handling of a photo shoot as well as his reticence to comment on other writers. With a laugh Heighton asks, "Am I that tough to interview?" He then continues, "Increasingly I’m becoming aware that the guy in The Globe on the weekend, being mocked with this big photo, is not really me. You know what I mean? It’s like this public persona that’s sort of out there at large in the world now – not at large, at large in a small way. Now there’s a good phrase. At large in a small way." Heighton’s sincerity comes across in his characters, which in turn makes an impression on the reader. The Shadow Boxer is at times a tough book, but one that ultimately rewards.

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