Those unfamiliar with the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy on November 22, 1963 are unlikely to perceive much substance beyond the “getting the band together” dynamics in Regarding the Matter of Oswald’s Body #1. Dates, names, and appearances linked to the assassination (and abundant conspiracy theories surrounding it) fill the issue and provide notes of foreshadowing and irony for those who know a bit of history. The assassination remains a focal point in American history and culture, though, continuing to evoke powerful sentiments and reactions nearly 60 years after Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy’s assassin, was murdered and the Warren Commission closed their investigation of the event. And so this debut steeped in historical references and signposts for the era feels familiar, even as it displays a setting most readers have no ability to recall. It speaks to the power of the cultural memory it examines and how that memory continues to reflect our present moment.
