I love this portrait of your father. I love the nattering among your readers. We're growing into quite the Susie's community.
May I share that we grew up in S. Africa, and most whites were fearful of "fishermen burglars." Racism, as you can imagine, was rampant. Although my family was moderately more liberal than most, my father slept with a gun by his bedside. Apparently I picked it up once and waved it around, "Is this real?"
I think a lot of it has to do with Alice's subscribers. They are active and responsive for which I'm grateful. Your gun story is extraordinary. It's hard to imagine you waving it around. We've come a long way!
I mean that there is tension that ha to result in something. Does he buy a sports car, become a forest ranger, kill himself or someone else or accept his lot. You set the stage but there is no denouement. You approach some kind of climax but haven’t gone there
Thanks for your feedback, John. I'm actually not that kind of writer...the plot-driven kind. I'm interested in language, moments in time, but not so much in "what happens."
I love this snapshot in time, measured by the lingering emotional impact of your father's participation in the life society had laid out for him, like his clothes. Beautifully written and easy to read - I want more!
I got to know my father well in the last 15 years of his life. Before that he was his version of your paleolithic father.
One of the biggest pleasures for me of A Considerable Age is connecting with writers like you Susie and getting to know you through your writing and our online interactions. Thank you.
I hope I did not offend you with my comment; if so I apologise. I just found this man, and up to a point his wife and the environment in which they operated very different from the family and environment in which I grew up in the same era - even acknowledging for different social milieus. Just the idea of the wife choosing and laying out all the clothes he was to wear the next day, his use of non-dairy creamer and saccharine in his coffee, his absence of engagement at picnics or parties ... maybe you have the best explanation when you refer to him as a paleolithic father.
Not offended at all. I have the sense that a lot has been written about very red-blooded fathers, even violent and abusive ones. But my father was gentle, almost over-civilized and I wanted to acknowledge that type of man and try to get inside his head.
“She managed his wardrobe like a pitching rotation.” Eloquent, evocaand sharply observed. How that time constricted women is an old story. We hear less about the impact on men like your father.
Very moving Suzie. 😀
I love this portrait of your father. I love the nattering among your readers. We're growing into quite the Susie's community.
May I share that we grew up in S. Africa, and most whites were fearful of "fishermen burglars." Racism, as you can imagine, was rampant. Although my family was moderately more liberal than most, my father slept with a gun by his bedside. Apparently I picked it up once and waved it around, "Is this real?"
I think a lot of it has to do with Alice's subscribers. They are active and responsive for which I'm grateful. Your gun story is extraordinary. It's hard to imagine you waving it around. We've come a long way!
I am struck by the narrator watching her father, taking in every detail.
the origin of writing, no?
There's a dramatic tension created here that would be great to see resolved in a second or subsequent posts. Good stuff.
I'm wondering what you mean by "resolved?"
I mean that there is tension that ha to result in something. Does he buy a sports car, become a forest ranger, kill himself or someone else or accept his lot. You set the stage but there is no denouement. You approach some kind of climax but haven’t gone there
Thanks for your feedback, John. I'm actually not that kind of writer...the plot-driven kind. I'm interested in language, moments in time, but not so much in "what happens."
Ok. Then my comment doesn’t apply
“Men are animals in cages” I quote from the movie “Maestro” Leonard Cohen.
Ohhh, I meant Leonard Bernstein movie!!!!
My sense was that my father yearned to be on the outside doing the hunting, but most of the time he was, indeed, in a cage.
Evocative and a bit chilling. Funny and a little sad. Lovely snapshot of a place and time.
If I can hit all those marks, it's a good day on the laptop, Bryan. Thanks for reading my work.
I love this snapshot in time, measured by the lingering emotional impact of your father's participation in the life society had laid out for him, like his clothes. Beautifully written and easy to read - I want more!
Thank you for visiting my father in all his 1950s glory. I'd love to have you read me at https://susiekaufman.substack.com.
So good. So poignant.
Thank you. It feels to me as though this sort of quiet, lonely father is underrepresented.
I got to know my father well in the last 15 years of his life. Before that he was his version of your paleolithic father.
One of the biggest pleasures for me of A Considerable Age is connecting with writers like you Susie and getting to know you through your writing and our online interactions. Thank you.
Likewise, Alice. Your support has meant the world.
What a very strange story!
I want to hear more about that. Strange how?
I hope I did not offend you with my comment; if so I apologise. I just found this man, and up to a point his wife and the environment in which they operated very different from the family and environment in which I grew up in the same era - even acknowledging for different social milieus. Just the idea of the wife choosing and laying out all the clothes he was to wear the next day, his use of non-dairy creamer and saccharine in his coffee, his absence of engagement at picnics or parties ... maybe you have the best explanation when you refer to him as a paleolithic father.
Not offended at all. I have the sense that a lot has been written about very red-blooded fathers, even violent and abusive ones. But my father was gentle, almost over-civilized and I wanted to acknowledge that type of man and try to get inside his head.
WOW!
Good to hear from you, Judith.
“She managed his wardrobe like a pitching rotation.” Eloquent, evocaand sharply observed. How that time constricted women is an old story. We hear less about the impact on men like your father.
I meant to type “evocative.”