Narrative 10

In fiction I’d have to say Elizabeth Bennet, with Clarissa Dalloway not far behind. Is this because I encountered them when I was young? Probably. Any number of Alice Munro characters could join the party. In life? I have two children, so there’s no way I can answer.

I’m going with the first thing that came to mind: “’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” This is a content rather than a style preference and as a favorite would not stand the test of scrutiny. I had to Google it to learn its author: Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Note the comma in his name: fitting to have it here, because it’s my favorite form of punctuation.

Metamorphoses, Mary Zimmerman’s extraordinary theatrical adaptation of Ovid. A close second would be Mark Morris’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato—also an adaptation of a kind, come to think of it. Each takes on the project of representing an array of human experience, and I remember feeling ravished by both.

The last half hour of work. I’m exhausted but want to keep going.

A hike with a friend.

Actually, thinking back, I remember that somewhere deep in my mind I’ve often wondered about just this exact thing. In fact, I still do. But now, quite suddenly, I know.

Transparent, the extraordinary new TV show. It’s so good I want to eat it.

“You tend to take criticism very personally.” It wasn’t a criticism, but it helped me free myself from a longtime source of unhappiness.

“Absolutely nothing” is the answer to the first part; “It will get so much better” is the answer to the second.

See #2.