The Correspondent
Gilbert’s dying. It became the whole thing. You, Bruce and Fiona, my brother, our friends, my work, the house, our life, all of that was sitting on the sidelines, but I was in the ring wrestling, bloody, half-dead, with Gill’s death. Parenting the other two, trying to help them with their own grief, was like acting. I could say what needed to be said, but I was only thinking of myself in the ring with Gill’s death. I have asked Bruce and Fiona about that period of time. I was surprised to learn they’re both in therapy. I think neither of us was able to shepherd them in those first crucial months, submerged, completely, in the swamp water of despair. We were needing the same thing, you and I, a temple in which to tuck away and disappear from the earth, to mourn at the altar of our desolation, but we had the children, so we could not. Could we have held onto each other? I’ve wondered. We did the best we could and it was not enough. The four of us came away injured, but is there any other way for a person to come through? Oh, Gilbert. I do hope there is an afterlife as I have always believed, a heaven. I hope I will see him and know him there. I believe I’ve been looking forward to death on one hand.
From the archives
·
1942
Now, Voyager
·
1942
The untold want by life and land ne'er granted,
Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find.
The film takes it's title from Walt Whitman's The Untold Want (complete above), and the voyager of the title is played by Bette Davis.
The nature of her voyage is perhaps less obvious. There are a number of journeys throughout the film, including much real travel by ship, but there is also her mental journey from a psychiatric hospital to a confident young woman, and at least one other possibility of a societal nature; Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) represents the wave of independent young women not defining themselves in relation to a man.
One disappointing aspect of the film is that Charlotte's happiness isn't due to her discovering her independence or ability to control her own destiny (pulling away from both a controlling mother and various suitors), but results from a lowering of her expectations; expectations that sit well within traditional norms.
The much quoted line of the film sort of captures this in a bittersweet way:
Read more of this excerpt...
Now, Voyager
The untold want by life and land ne'er granted,
Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find.
The film takes it's title from Walt Whitman's The Untold Want (complete above), and the voyager of the title is played by Bette Davis.
The nature of her voyage is perhaps less obvious. There are a number of journeys throughout the film, including much real travel by ship, but there is also her mental journey from a psychiatric hospital to a confident young woman, and at least one other possibility of a societal nature; Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) represents the wave of independent young women not defining themselves in relation to a man.
One disappointing aspect of the film is that Charlotte's happiness isn't due to her discovering her independence or ability to control her own destiny (pulling away from both a controlling mother and various suitors), but results from a lowering of her expectations; expectations that sit well within traditional norms.
The much quoted line of the film sort of captures this in a bittersweet way:
Read more of this excerpt...
WORDS TO LIVE BY
2011 ·
NON-FICTION
NEW MUSIC