Sunshine after Rain by Elspeth Leigh (NC-17)

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE PROFESSIONALS
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Unknown

Why this must be read:

That's a difficult question if, like me, you love the Old Man and don't much enjoy pain, or hurt without comfort. The first reason and the less convincing is that I have announced I intended to focus my recs on the character of Cowley; I already presented him in various predicaments, only discarding stories where he is shown as ridiculous or evil. So, I couldn't avoid to pick at least a text where he is taken from our affection.

So, this is another death story, and contrary to the previous one, not funny at all. The author doesn't play nice. All the cruelty and absurdity, even the sordid side of our mortal condition is confronted here, by the writer but, first, by his character, who has decided he won't let himself being passively engulfed in the wreckage of physical and mental decay. So, he dies as he has been living, like a warrior but in absolute loneliness. This kind of ending is only too likely for a man such as Cowley, more likely than the miracle of a belated love relationship, though I allow me to dream about possible miracles.

That's maybe the second and the main reason of my choice; it meets one of my deepest belief about our fate as human beings: Alone we were born, alone we will die, alone we have to live in between. And anything else is literature (something we are aware somehow: why all these stories about everlasting friendship and loyalty between mythic partners, if not to counteract in our mind the depressing effect left by the everyday's observations of continuous misunderstandings, abuses and deceptions between real lovers and friends?)

By the way, this consideration is perhaps why I so much like this character; he is for me the perfect personification of loneliness assumed with the highest degree of lucidity and dignity, "in the service of public interest".

There is a third reason: the writing. The author knows how to make her reader get a feeling of loss, of grief, of weariness, of helpless revolt before the tragic "irremediability" of certain events, without having to speak too loud.

If I have not dissuaded you to read the following text, well, that is you are a brave heart! Do it, however; it's worth the effort.

Sunshine after Rain

Comments

[twigged.livejournal.com]

Please add rating info to your subject line.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Done!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

This has always been a favorite; so glad you rec'd it. I agree in seeing Cowley's end as something that could easily happen, sort of the price he's paid for the choice he's made as far as what's the most important thing in his life.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

That's exactly how I take the significance of this story and also why, in a way, I find the character of the Old Man more interesting and moving than his agents' but, of course, "whoever we are, you made us!"

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Thinking more about it, I realised that I had not a single word for Bodie and Doyle; All their behaviour in the story, their exchanges, including the sex scenes are mere reactions to the central fact of Cowley's demise. I sensed the title as unfitting; there is no sunshine after rain, only deep darkness...

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I get the impression that Bodie and Doyle's behaviour, their exchanges and especially the sex scenes are their sunshine, a reaffirmation of life and their importance to one another in the face of Cowley's death. And while his death may have been the catalyst, that's all it was. "Lived their lives and let him live his. Separate, but equal." So, ultimately, I think they were thinking more of how they had dodged that particular bullet in finding each other than that Cowley hadn't.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Oh, you are right, of course, but that's precisely what I was meaning by "mere" reactions to Cowley's death and especially its conditions of loneliness and maybe despair (or simply the feeling of his inutility); the term of catalyser is very appropriate because the catalyser is what makes the chemical reaction possible without being affected by it (actually, it is affected, if I remember my lessons of chemistry correctly, but is reversed to its initial state at the end. It appears as the cenral part nonetheless, as is Cowley in the story and, for me, that was an illustration of this (gloomy) idea that, in life, loneliness is essential and love just a more or less effective remedy.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

You see that quite a bit, that "we're born alone and die alone," no matter that others are with us because they're not experiencing it. But watching my own parents' situation (divorced and never having found a new partner,) love does seem to be an effective remedy to the type of lonliness that only seems to appear later in life.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

A belated message I address to a few readers of my "Pros" recs, OT regarding the thread but not our common interest in "Pros":

As you must have noticed, "Pros" has been written off the list of the regular fandoms; I have done two months and proposed to keep on reccing for a third , to fill the gap before another volunteer would sign up but it was refused, to give place to more active fandoms. That's a pity, really; how do you think we could awaken the lists members and motivate them to take part in the game? pesonally, I am too young in the fandom; I know almost nobody and I suspect my calls would fall in a pit of indifference.

Could you ring the alert bell? Thanks.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I'd already mentioned the problem to the few Pros fans I correspond with. I think a couple were thinking about it but apparently decided against it. It is too bad; there's certainly plenty of stories out there to rec. Unfortunately, you can't force people to participate. And the one thing that does seem to keep a fandom going, encouragement from the older fans, not just in regular participation but writing, too, appears to be sadly lacking in Pros. It's a real shame.

[metabolick.livejournal.com]

I think this author writes the best "older Lads" stories out there. I love their relationship as she portrays them.

Cowley's meticulous preparations for what he is about to do remind me of Ray's own thoroughness in Heat Trace.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

I must admit I didn't pay much attention to the B/C relationship in this story, outside their reactions to Cowley's death. I didn't watch "Heat Trace" yet.

[metabolick.livejournal.com]

I must apologize for making they assumption that every Pros fan knows that Heat Trace is a fic by helenraven. It has been rec'ed on Crack Van before. It is probably one of the most well-known Pros fics out there and I have to say despite its faults is certainly one of the most memorable reads I've ever had.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

I had noticed the title and even perused the Helen Raven's site while looking for stories to rec but thought it was taken from an episode I didn't watched yet (I suppose I simply made a confusion with "When the Heat Cools off"). My knowledge of "Pros" fanfiction is still rather short, and biaised because of my B/C kink.

[metabolick.livejournal.com]

There is so much Pros fic out there to discover. Isn't it grand?

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

And I just realised this story had already been recced! Yet, I thought I had checked the list a hundred times. I apologized to the previous reccer. Hope the present discussion will stay here, though.

I feel embarassed about the blunder; very stupid of me, really.

[metabolick.livejournal.com]

Well, that just goes to show that the story is worth reccing and that you have good taste.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

As you must have noticed, "Pros" has been written off the list of the regular fandoms; I have done two months and proposed to keep on reccing for a third , to fill the gap before another volunteer would sign up but it was refused, to give place to more active fandoms. That's a pity, really; how do you think we could awaken the lists members and motivate them to take part in the game? pesonally, I am too young in the fandom; I know almost nobody and I suspect my calls would fall in a pit of indifference.

Could you ring the alert bell?

[alinewrites.livejournal.com]

That's maybe the second and the main reason of my choice; it meets one of my deepest belief about our fate as human beings: Alone we were born, alone we will die, alone we have to live in between. And anything else is litterature (Something we are aware somehow: why all these stories about everlasting friendship and loyalty between mythic partners, if not to counteract in our mind the depressing effect left by the everyday's observations of continuous misunderstandings, abuses and deceptions between real lovers and friends?)



Bon. Ce que je vais faire maintenant, c'est me flanquer par la fenêtre, OK? ;)

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Est-ce l'effet de la nouvelle ou de mes considérations pascaliennes?

[alinewrites.livejournal.com]

Plutôt tes considérations pascaliennes! LOL! Je ne suis pas sûre de lire la nouvelle.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Je ne suis pas sûre de lire la nouvelle.

Dans ce cas, lis plutôt mes revues de "Lest these dark days" et "Step we gaily". Je trouve ces deux textes fascinants; c'est à leur lecture que je suis tombée raide amoureuse de Cowley, moi qui dans la vie réelle ne regarderait même pas deux fois un homme qui paraît plus de 40 ans!