Odd Thoughts
- The other morning I began my day in a most delightful way: I read a deft and satisfying story in my current copy of the Virginia Quarterly Review. You can currently find the story in its entirety online; I recommend it, even though it did delay my shower, and consequently the productive start of my morning, by a good twenty minutes. I even found myself wanting to write to its author, a man named Peter Walpole. According to his VQR biography, Walpole “has worked as a letter carrier for the US Postal Service for the past twenty years.” (He is in good company.) Though I am often so charmed by a piece of writing that I—taking a leaf out of A.’s book—kiss its cover upon having finished its final word, I don’t often want to say anything in particular to writers. This time, though, I did. I quite wanted to tell Mr. Walpole that he had captured most handily the rhythm of dispute between people who know each other well, and to say that even a young woman who finds herself in an altogether joyful, harmonious, and mutually affectionate marriage can recognize (especially if she is a certain kind of young woman) the truth in a sentence like the following: “He did not sigh, having finally absorbed in the course of their marriage that sighing was, in Margaret’s book, a deeply problematic thing for him to do.” I was unable to private-eye my way to Mr. Walpole’s email address, so say so I did not. But I thought it.
- This evening we attended, quite on the spur of the moment, a play at an excellent theater company located not 10 minutes walk from our apartment. The play itself was not what Ross and I had imagined it would be, since we had not read its description with sufficient attention before leaping upon the moment’s spur. Still, Radio Macbeth was—I thought—extremely effective: it was a dark and authoritative staging of Macbeth, built upon the conceit of a group of radio actors meeting in an old building late at night to rehearse their performance. Walking home, I was very grateful that I happened to remember the details of the play surprisingly well from my reading of it in school 15 years ago (!). Ross felt less fortunate, and our post-play conversation included a meditation on how terribly incomprehensible some bits of Shakespeare are unless you have help. (But then again, the sense of other speeches sounds, even with no preparation, as clear as a bell.) Apropos of which, Ross told a story about how when he was in 7th grade he decided to read Hamlet on his own, not understanding about the phenomenon of Shakespearean language. He says he labored for quite some time under the impression that he must be very dumb indeed to find the play so difficult. My poor Ross. Still, I’m sure the fact that by this time he was writing his own computer programs went some way towards making up for his feelings of inadequacy.
- Do you find that, when you are sleepless in the middle of the night, the plans and ambitions you form for yourself are far grander than usual, and your sense of confidence about fulfilling said plans and ambitions is far greater?
I do.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:03 am
As you do not write of them, I assume these grand plans and ambitions shall be kept mum until actualization. I am excited to see what you come up with next.
My sleepless moments overflow with grand fears and worries, unfortunately. I wish I was more confident, if only in those moments, when it doesn’t cost anything.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I think you should write to the author. What writer wouldn’t want a chance to be recognized? To answer question #3, yes.
November 24th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I am so excited that you got to see Radio Macbeth. I would love to fly to Chicago just to catch it! It was made by the SITI company, who I trained with in NY at their training institute several summers ago. I’m so glad you liked the play - they are really dedicated artists who are as much the “real thing” as anyone I could imagine in the theatre. I feel like you met some of my heroes/mentors/friends, and I’m beaming that you liked them.
November 25th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
That was a very good story! The ending is sweet and set-up really well. I remember undone things more than ambitions when awake. Time to do something!