FLICKERS

Missing Mr. Cheever, who would have been 100 last week.

 

“Oh, what can you do with a man like that? What can you do? How can you dissuade his eye in a crowd from seeking out the cheek with acne, the infirm hand; how can you teach him to respond to the inestimable greatness of the race, the harsh surface beauty of life; how can you put his finger for him on the obdurate truths before which fear and horror are powerless? The sea that morning was iridescent and dark. My wife and my sister were swimming—Diana and Helen—and I saw their uncovered heads, black and gold in the dark water. I saw them come out and I saw that they were naked, unshy, beautiful, and full of grace, and I watched the naked women walk out of the sea.” (John Cheever, “Goodbye, My Brother”)

 

 

 

GREAT GRAPHS: from "The Book of Daniel" by E.L. Doctorow (1971)

“Her apartment had an indescribable smell. It was the smell of a withering, unloved body. It was the smell of dust and Brooklyn air-shaft darkness. It was the smell of slipcovers on the furniture and double locks on the door. It was the smell of lights that couldn’t be turned on because it was a waste of money. It was the smell of no pleasure to be found around any corner, down any hall, in any closet. It was the smell of a stranger’s drab home, where I didn’t belong. It was the smell of a life of no account to anyone.”