Mate

MATE: a novel in twenty games deals with marriage as a chess game. What distinguishes MATE from other stories and novels about the life and death of a relationship is its radical correlation of the actions of a husband and wife to chess moves. The logic of the novel suggests: chess is war reduced to a game; marriage is chess; marriage is war. That is the tragedy-marriage, as a human institution and human desire, is innately tragic. In marriage, one or the other partner feel obliged to annihilate the other in a struggle for…what? This is the central question and riddle of MATE.

Author Biography

After attending Columbia University School of the Arts for a brief time, Robert Castle traveled around Europe and lived on and off in Florence, Italy. He taught American History, Film Criticism, and Sociology at a small academy outside Trenton, NJ. His most recent published novel was The Hidden Life (Atmosphere Press, 2020). In 2006 he had three books published A Sardine on Vacation (fiction, Spuyten Duyvil, 2006), The End of a Travel (Memoir, Ravenna Press) and Odd Pursuits (short stories, Wild Child Press). Since 2000, he has published over 50 articles in Bright Lights Film Journal and over 160 other pieces on movies. Since 2005, he has written many plays, some performed in NYC, Great Britain, and Philadelphia. He is married and has no children.