An affair between a high school teacher and a student might sound like
the stuff of bad gay fiction, but in Matthew Stadler's Allan Stein
it is merely the launching point for an exploration of themes of sexual
obsession, the mother-son relationship, the culture gap between Europe
and America, the continuity between past and present, and the nature of
identity. Ambitious subject matter for a slim novel, but Stadler pulls it
off.
The story takes off when the teacher in question (named Matthew, like the
author), assumes the identity of a museum curator friend and travels to
Paris in search of a portrait of Gertrude Stein's nephew Allan. Instead,
he ends up spending most of his time seducing the youngest member of his
host family, Stephane. Stadler has anticipated the inevitable
Lolita comparison and has some fun with it, but Allan Stein
deserves to be read on its own terms. While Stephane remains a complete
mystery, the narrator's own emotions and motivations are dissected with a
convincing and satisfying precision. The reader cannot help but identify
with this character who is both a pedophile and a liar, and this is the
novel's unsettling power.
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