Dept. of Speculation

Dept. of Speculation depicts a married couple. It is also a seductive meditation on the enigmas of closeness, trust, knowledge, faith, and the state of global shipwreck that binds us all together.

The heroine of Jenny Offill, known in these pages as just "the wife," once sent love letters to her husband that were returned with the postmark Dept. of Speculation—their code word for all the uncertainty inherent in life and in the very ambiguous boundaries of a long-term partnership. The woman examines her situation and draws comparisons to a variety of ordinary tragedies, such as a colicky newborn, a failing marriage, and delayed aspirations. She also mentions Keats and Kafka, the Stoics' thought exercises, and the lessons learned by the tragic Russian cosmonauts. As she faces the conflict between the demands and seductions of art and household life, she reflects on the all-consuming, expansive feeling of maternal love and the almost complete loss of the self that results from it.

Jenny Offill has written a wonderfully intriguing love tale with the swiftness of a train speeding through the night, written with a cold precision and language that shimmers with wrath, humour, and strong need. Dept. of Speculation is a book best read in one sitting due to its exceptional slimness and compactness, yet its sharp emotional insights and thought-provoking reflections on love and despair will stick with you long after you turn the final page.