The Spinning Mind is an exploration of the creative process, of the mind as it plots a narrative and builds characters. The thirteen stories included in the collection are divided into two parts, Awake and Dreaming. The six that make up the Part I, Awake, explore how the human mind creates a story in its waking state. Several of the tales in this section take off from the author's own experiences-walking in the woods in Vermont, a phone message from his brother, a stray item of lingerie-while others are based on critical social issues-the plight of refugees in the US, human trafficking, the plight of homeless veterans. The stories in Part II, Dreaming, are based on dreams the author had and managed to capture upon waking. These fully reflect the zany manner in which dreams can spin off in new directions, often bringing in new seemingly unrelated characters, some of which are sometimes non-human, others clearly from a non-contemporaneous past or future. Yet it is also evident that these stories, too, the first "draft" of which were "spun" by the mind in its dreaming state, are based on the author's experiences. For example, a good part of The Crossing, one of these stories, starts out in what appears to be Budapest where the author spent his early years and ends with a phone call from his brother with some surprising news as he wakes up. Reading the stories in the two parts of The Spinning Mind side by side provides an interesting window into how the mind works. As a further element in this exploration of the creative process, the author introduces each part and each of the stories with one of his poems that is relevant to that section, or might add an interesting perspective or contribute to the interpretation. Dreams are in themselves short stories that just need to be captured and set down, and it is partly this that I was trying to do in this volume, as well as to contrast how they may differ from stories that emerge from the "spinning" of the mind in a state of wakefulness.
Author Biography:
Born in Budapest, Geza Tatrallyay escaped with his family from Communist Hungary in 1956 during the Revolution, immigrating to Canada. After attending the University of Toronto Schools and serving as School Captain in his last year, he graduated with a B.A. in Human Ecology from Harvard College in 1972, and, as a Rhodes Scholar from Ontario, obtained a B.A. / M.A. in Human Sciences from Oxford University in 1974. He completed his studies with a M.Sc. from London School of Economics and Politics in 1975. Geza worked as a host in the Ontario Pavilion at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan, and represented Canada in epée fencing at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. His professional experience has included stints in government, international finance and environmental entrepreneurship. Geza is a citizen of Canada and Hungary, and as a green card holder, currently divides his time between Barnard, Vermont and San Francisco. He is married to Marcia and their daughter, Alexandra, lives in San Francisco with husband David, and two sons, Sebastian, and Orlando, while their son, Nicholas, lives in Nairobi with his Hungarian wife, Fanni, and his granddaughters, Sophia and Lara. Geza is also the author of five novels, three memoirs, four poetry collections and a children's picture storybook. His poems, stories, essays and articles have been published in journals in Canada and the USA.
