Short but very funny intro

Robert McBryde Author: CBC radio, literary non-fiction, vignettes and sketches, creative memoirs, satire, autobiography, family relations, raising children, aging, travel, social commentary, love and marriage, immigrant experience, living in Quebec and in France, translation: English-French; French-English

Funny, manic, and wistful… self-deprecating creative nonfiction…The author, Robert McBryde, a professional translator, has been compared to David Sedaris for the sometimes-snarky autobiographical satire characterizing his literary sketches. Many of the stories in his book have been featured on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio network.

Author Robert McBryde

I’ve written a new book of creative non-fiction entitled My Time with You Has Been Short but Very Funny, recently published and on the market for a couple of weeks now. The book is based on stories that I told over the years as a writer/ broadcaster and host on CBC radio based in Quebec City, Canada.

The book is available via this website. The purchase links are at the bottom of the home page.

I will post blogs twice per week, normally Wednesday and Friday afternoons at around 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Time). Stay tuned!

Here is the introductory sketch from my book.

Short but very funny
Even before my Slovak father in law reached my age, he would repeat with ritualistic regularity, “In a short time I be dead.” (Za krátky čas budem mŕtvy.)

His refrain has become especially meaningful for me over the last three or so years, and particularly since I reached the age of 70. The series of measures imposed from March 2020 onward served to shatter the mental and physical health of all members of our little family and to foreground the haunting fragility of life.

These days, each time that I listen to a favourite piece of music, re-watch a beloved film, or re-read a personally meaningful book or article, I’m acutely aware that this may be the last time around. A bizarre and unsettling experience, which is both profound and strangely banal.

Memories are of course consciously prompted by a sort of mental rewind button, or arrive on their own, stimulated by sights, sounds, or smells. Rewinding memories is part of my ritualized last lap.

I once had a student who wrote at the end of term, “My time with you has been short, but very funny.” A fitting epitaph for me to share with you.
Dijon, France, October 2023

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