The Metropolis Case
The Metropolis Case follows three characters: Lucien, a young, mid-19th century Frenchman who wants to be an opera singer; Maria, a young girl in 1970s Pittsburgh who also wants to be an opera singer; and Martin, a forty-one-year-old homosexual living in 21st-century New York City. Although the reader does not at first understand their connection, it is easy to see the similarity in the characters: Lucien and Martin are both homosexuals who spend a lot of time questioning life and death, love and sex, and their personal existence. Maria and Lucien both become opera stars, experiencing clarity only when they are singing. For all their differences in time period, gender and sexual orientation, the three characters seem like one character. Their thoughts follow the same patterns; their lives mirror one another; each isolates him or herself from the larger world.
The Metropolis Case is a cerebral novel, spending most of its time in the heads of its characters. The reader follows Lucien and Maria as they become adults, have relationships, and mature as artists. Martin’s life is told through flashback memories. The story unfolds to reveal the oddly magical relationship between Lucien, Maria and Martin, but all plotlines fall secondary to their philosophical ponderings.
