In this brief wry-and-bitters mulling of the nagging, niggling,
old-age preoccupations with death and dying, Calisher has reined in
her usual frothing diction and dialogue for the even-tempered (but
hardly conventional) joint meditation of a witty, much-loving
septuagenarian couple. Gemma, 77, is an architect; husband Rupert,
73, is a poet, and they have each decided to add perhaps an "inch
of grace" to dying by recording daily accounts of living and
thinking in an "almanac" - to be read by the survivor. Old age is
scary in minor habit changes - "the sudden cabs, purse fumblings,
the sense that one has talked too much. . ." (or not at all). Both
have blackouts and blank lapses. Rupert "never dreamed that either
of us would begin dying in the mind." The past seeps in - Gemma's
first husband, Italian Arturo; two daughters - one doomed and dead,
one in Saudi Arabia; Rupert's first wife, Gertrude. And the pair
are visited by contemporaries as well - fatuous and successful
Sherm ("The grand old countryman of American culture") and dutiful
wife Kit (Gemma and Rupert will read later of their double
suicide). The visit of forever-onstage Sherm makes them appreciate
even more their non-octogenarian neighbor, Mr. Quinn, floating
sweetly on hope, and having, to their delight, "an amateur old
age." They're called upon to attend Gertrude in her hospice-style
dying - a grisly business, but Gertrude's plan to reclaim Rupert,
at last, dies with her. The two quarrel fiercely over the need for
their almanac: like any "infighting couple. . .two angry sofas
shouting True, True across a square of rug." As for old age: "It's
like life. A total disease. . .worthy of being spoken of every
day." An amusing, acrid and sharp view of the "total disease" of
life and death, paced by Calisher's own teasing imagination.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Rupert is an honored American poet; Gemma a retired architect. They
live happily and comfortably in a Greenwich Village apartment; the
setting, for over thirty years, of their married life. Each with a
previous marriage behind them - which left her with two daughters
and him with the promise of greatness - they are now facing the
challenge of old age together. Both, in their own way, defy the
inevitability of death, and yet both are busy preparing for it. The
alternating entries of their private journals, which make up the
body of Calisher's text, tell a story of familiarity and the fear
of loss, love and uncertainty of the future, meanings and habits.
With rare verve and panache, Hortense Calisher has confronted a
difficult and often neglected subject - and has triumphed
magnificently.
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