Resumo de The Sunlight Dialogues

The story begins at Batavia jail where there were four prisoners. The identity of the last prisoner in?the main character?was not yet known. He was arrested for vandalism. A man named Walter Boyle who was in for theft thinks he has seen this man before. The other two were young Indians named Vernon and Nick Slater. They were arrested because they caused an accident when they tried to grab someone?s car. The car crashed. The passengers were hospitalized?a woman in serious condition.
The last prisoner refused to name himself and just wanted to be called the ?Sunlight Man?. Some think he?s crazy. Others believe he?s a genius because he knows a lot of things and his philosophy is logical. He also became known as a magician because he could make things appear out of nowhere. At one time they saw him studying white pebbles on the floor. No one knew how he produced them. At another time, he told the Slater brothers that the woman they got hospitalized will die and that they?re headed for destruction.
On his sixth day, Sunlight Man cut his wrist. The police took him to the hospital. When they were at the hospital gate, Sunlight Man told the police chief Clumly he wanted to give him some things. Then he gave the chief his wallet. Then his pistol, keys and handcuffs. Then he started walking away.
Two days later, Sunlight Man came back and offered freedom to his three co-prisoners. Only Nick grabbed the opportunity. On their way out, Nick panicked and shot a guard dead. Boyle suddenly knew who Sunlight Man was. He was once his lawyer named Taggert Hodge.
Then Sunlight Man held three hostages in Millie?s house. The hostages were Millie, ex-wife of his brother Will Sr.; Luke, his nephew, and Nick, a farm helper of Luke.
After a few days, Taggert ( Sunlight Man ) phoned police chief Clumly and asked for a meeting at a Presbyterian church. In that meeting, Taggert shared his views on culture and the difference between law and justice. Clumly failed to arrest him because of a magic trick again.
Walter Boyle, who was really Walter Benson was released. A case of mistaken identity.
Taggert asked for another meeting with Clumly. This time he told him why he became an anarchist. He also confessed to murdering several business swindlers. After that, their third meeting was to be in a cemetery crypt. This time, Sunlight Man spoke about cultural and cosmic order. Clumly failed to arrest him again.
Their fourth and last meeting was to be on Taggert?s ancestral place; in a silo. This time, Taggert predicted how and why the world would self-destruct. And this time, Clumly made no attempt to arrest Sunlight Man.
The last thing Taggert did was that he went back to Batavia jail, played a trick to the guard that made him panic so the guard shot him dead.
At Sunlight Man?s funeral, Clumly?s eulogy for him was this : ?If you heard him, you?d believe him. That?s the kind of authority he spoke with.?

Writer?s comment :
The philosophical monologues and dialogues of this book are even better than the story itself. How I itched to quote them but the website discourages writers from doing so. John Gardner?s final words in the book are almost always true :
?All these, though some may consider it strange, mere fiction, is the truth.?

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