Heidi Julavits, “Dark Resort,” in xo Orpheus: fifty new myths, edited by K. Bernheimer (Penguin 2013), 349 – 58.

An anonymous newlywed couple suffers permanent separation during an off-season honeymoon visit to a summer-time beach resort.

From the story: “If the husband believes the wife is fine, and is waiting for the perfect wave on which to bodysurf back to shore, well, it’s hard to imagine how he’s reached this conclusion. Absolutely nothing supports it.” p. 355

Julavits offers this modicum of commentary: “I decided to write a story with an additional constraint; yes, my story had to be inspired by a myth (Orpheus, in my case). But I also decided to write a story that obeyed the rules listed in the Dogme filmmaking manifesto. How would the Dogme prohibitions against artificial lighting and music, for example, translate to writing? I wanted to find out.”

Reading between these lines, perhaps we can surmise that Julavits — and also all authors in this book? — answered an invitation to craft a new narrative upon an established myth. Bernheimer’s introduction does not clarify the process by which the 50 narratives were commissioned. But, clearly, Julavits is working overtly with Orpheus and Eurydice.

From Bernheimer’s apparatus: “Julavitz is the author of four novels, most recently The Vanishers. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous Best American collections and have been widely anthologized. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a founding coeditor of the monthly culture magazine The Believer.”