Elegant, powerful, and unique, this short story tells the tale of a young, nameless man who dreams he is in an old-fashioned movie theater in 1909. When he sits down to watch the film, he realizes that it documents his parents' courtship. Overcome by a sudden sadness--he knows the story will end in a loveless marriage filled with mutual recrimination--the protagonist shouts at the screen, desperately trying to interfere in his progenitors' romance, only to have the rest of the audience think him mad. All of Delmore Schwartz's narrative ability was crystallized in this, the most famous of his short stories.