by John O'Hara
• • •
If ever an author was ripe for a critical rebranding, it’s John O’Hara, who—despite his blockbuster-level popularity in his own time—fretted obsessively about his literary reputation. He was by no one’s account a pleasant guy. (My personal favorite O’Hara anecdote involves his losing a bar fight to two midgets after snarling at one of them, “What the fuck are you staring at?”) But the annals of literature are full of awful human beings; what sets O’Hara apart is his almost childlike inability to conceal his need for the world’s esteem. He campaigned for the Nobel Prize. He campaigned for an honorary degree from Yale. One can visit his grave in Princeton and read the shameless epitaph he himself wrote: “Better than anyone else, he told the truth about his time. He was a professional. He wrote honestly and well.” Better than anyone else!
He didn’t feel anything nearly every artist since time immemorial hasn’t felt at one time or another; the difference is that he was incapable of hiding it. At the height of his fame he wrote a series of weekly newspaper columns in which he mostly complained about how little respect he got. He was probably a chore to be around in life, but in death he is a kind of mascot, an unrestrained id for writers everywhere, the guy who made himself hideously unpopular by saying the unsayable: I’m a genius, and you all suck for not appreciating me. For those who complain about the current, timidly polite state of American letters, in which no one has a bad word to say about anyone else and every writer wants to be a model literary citizen, O’Hara is an avatar of incorrectness of every sort. In the 1980s, when I worked at the Paris Review, founding editor George Plimpton was still entertaining the young staff with the story of how he used to phone O’Hara once a year or so to beg him to consent to be interviewed for the magazine’s canonical Writers at Work series. O’Hara, breathing heavily, would let George beg for a while and then simply hang up the phone. This went on for more than fifteen years. The reason for his refusal? Hemingway had been asked first.
But just because he’s so needy doesn’t mean he can’t mount a decent case. And Ten North Frederick, which in 1956 earned O’Hara the National Book Award, seems particularly deserving of a fresh readership; for, as pitilessly accurate as it is in freezing the details of a bygone era in American history, there are some unexpected echoes in it too, some concordances, that to a contemporary eye and ear might seem discomfitingly fresh. It is not quite true, for instance, that Joe Chapin stands for nothing; his desire to be president is spurred on by the outright hatred he feels for the current POTUS (“the Harvard snob,” Joe calls him), whose radical policies, in the wake of a recent financial crisis, are threatening to undermine American values and drag the country into full-fledged socialism:
“Every day I pick up the paper and it’s getting so that if there isn’t some new socialistic scheme, I’m surprised. Arthur thinks the N.I.R.A. [National Industrial Recovery Act] may be unconstitutional. . . . I don’t know whether it’s unconstitutional or not. I haven’t examined it that carefully, but I’m damned sure it’s dictatorial. . . . It’s something I feel inside me, a matter of conscience. . . . Anything I can do to shorten his stay in the White House or to make it unpleasant, I’m duty bound to do.”
Sound familiar? Joe Chapin is a classic American conservative, roused to fury by any suggestion that the system rigged to institutionalize his own power is anything other than divinely inspired. If Gibbsville between the wars had had a Fox News Channel, he would have ended every workday by pouring himself a scotch and turning it on.
In the wake of the 2008 crash and the social volatility it engendered—weak but still symbolic left-wing unrest on one side, the radical right-wing campaign to dismantle the state on the other—the great American fairy tale of class mobility is poised to become, once again, the next frontier in American literature. In that respect, as in many others, John O’Hara, whose work and whose persona could not appear more old-fashioned on their surfaces, turns out to have been miles ahead of us.
JONATHAN DEE
To K. B. O’H.
Foreword
This, of course, is a work of fiction, but I also have taken liberties with those facts that sometimes help to give truth to fiction. To name one: the office of lieutenant governor was created by the 1873 Constitution, so it would have been impossible for Joe Chapin’s grandfather to have been lieutenant governor at the time I state. There are one or two other deliberate errors of that kind, but I hope they will be pardoned by the alert attorneys who are sure to spot them. If this were straight history, and not fiction, I would not ask to be pardoned.
J. O’H.
Pacific Palisades, California
August 1955
PART ONE
Edith Chapin was alone in her sewing room on the third floor of the house at Number 10 in Frederick Street. The room was warm, the day was cold and unbrightened by the sun. The shutters in the bay-window were closed, but the slats in the shutters were open, and Edith Chapin could, when it pleased her, go to the bay-window and look down on her yard and the two-story garage that had been a stable, and above and beyond the gilded figure of a trotting horse on the weather vane she could see roof upon roof upon third story upon third story of the houses on the rising hill. She would know the names of nearly all of the people who lived in them, she knew the names of the owners. She had spent her lifetime in the town, and it was easy to know who everyone was and where everyone lived. It was especially easy for Edith because she had always had a reputation for shyness, and it was not expected of her to make a fuss over people. She could notice them and study them, if it pleased her, without any further social effort on her part than simple politeness called for. It had always been that way.
At a gentle knock on her sewing-room door—two knocks, not an unnecessary third—Edith Chapin cleared her throat and said, gently, “Who is it?” Her enunciation was slow and precise.
“It’s me, ma’am. Mary.”
“Come in,” said Edith Chapin.
Mary was an Irishwoman from Glasgow with a clear skin and brown eyes full of self-respect behind her tortoise-shell spectacles. Her bust was abundant and her waist not thick.
“What is it, Mary?”
“It’s Mr. Hooker, the newspaper editor, wants to see you, ma’am.”
“To see me? Is he here?”
“Yes, ma’am. I put him in the sitting room.”
“Alone, or is Mrs. Hooker with him?”
“Nobody with him, just himself,” said Mary.
“Are there a lot of other people down there?”
“There’s quite a crush, ma’am, sitting and talking. There isn’t chairs for all.”
“I know. Did anyone offer Mr. Hooker a chair?” said Edith Chapin.
“Not by the time I left. I come right up. Maybe somebody did offer him one since.”
“Mm-hmm.” Edith Chapin nodded. “This is what I’d like you to do, Mary.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Go downstairs, and if Mr. Hooker isn’t sitting with someone, if he’s just standing with the others, you go up to him and ask him if you can speak to him for a moment. Then when you get him out in the hall, tell him I’ll see him. But if he’s sitting down with some people—You see, I don’t want to make an exception for anybody. I haven’t seen anybody, as you know. But I think I ought to see Mr. Hooker. Such a good friend of Mr. Chapin’s.”
“A great admirer of Mr. Chapin’s. Great. The article yesterday, it made you realize if you didn’t already.”
“Yes, that’s why I would like to make an exception in his case.”
“Will I bring you a cup of tea, ma’am?”
“No, no thanks. I don’t want him to stay that long. Remember now, if he’s sitting down with the others, don’t single him out. But if he’s standing, it’ll look as though he had an appointment with me.”
“I understand perfectly, ma’am,” said Mary.
“You can
bring me a cup of tea after he’s gone. I’d like a cup of tea and two soft-boiled eggs. Some toast and some of that grape jelly, if there’s any left.”
“There’s a whole new jar I opened.”
“Oh, then there was some more. I was sure we had some left. Where did you find it?”
“It was in with the currant, on that shelf. It didn’t have the label on it.”
“Oh, that’s where it was. And some cigarettes when you bring the tea. It might be a good idea if you put the cigarettes under a napkin. Some of the older ladies . . .”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Mary, and left.
Edith Chapin composed herself in the ladderback rocking chair, and was so arranged a few minutes later when Mary’s knock came again. She knocked twice, and waited, then knocked twice again.
“Yes?” Edith Chapin called out.
“It’s me, ma’am, with Mr. Hooker,” said Mary.
“Come in, please,” said Edith Chapin.
Mary swung the door open, making way for the man. “Mr. Hooker, ma’am.”
“Good morning, Robert,” said Edith Chapin.
“Good morning, Edith.”
Mary closed the door behind her.
Robert Hooker went to Edith Chapin and took her extended hand in his two. “Edith, I call myself a dealer in words, but today I have none to offer.”
“Today, but not yesterday.”
“Oh, you saw my editorial?”
“If I hadn’t seen it on my own—you have no idea how many people called up about it. Joe would have been—well, pleased is hardly the word. I consider it one of the finest pieces of writing I’ve ever read, and not only because it was about Joe.”
“It was from the heart, Edith.”
“Oh, yes. Yes,” said Edith Chapin.
“The Bar Association is having it reprinted, I thought you’d like to know. Henry Laubach called up this morning and ordered a thousand cards, about the size of a postcard, with my small tribute to Joe printed on them. I feel signally honored, but it’s a pretty empty honor, when I think of—well, I wish the occasion hadn’t arose. Arisen.”
“Joe was very fond of you, Robert.”
“Well, I always hoped so. We didn’t see nearly enough of each other. In this crazy old newspaper business, I work in my shirt-sleeves, you know. Joe, the soul of dignity. Not what they call a stuffed shirt, by any means. But as I said in my editorial, the very presence of Joseph B. Chapin in a courtroom provided the room with the dignity one associates with the court of law, but so often lacking in these days of spectacular circus tactics.”
“Joe would have liked that, every word of it. The dignity of the law was precious to him,” said Edith Chapin.
“How are you, Edith? That’s a foolish question, of course. What must be going on inside, but I don’t think there’s a man or woman in town that expected you to behave any differently than you are. It’s a rare sight to see such courage in these days.”
“Courage?” said Edith Chapin. “I have no courage, Robert. I am so used to living the kind of life I’ve led that now, at a time like this, it’s one advantage of having a naturally retiring disposition. I’ve always lived for my husband and my family, nothing else. No outside interests, no hobbies, really. So that now, if I were to make some display of how I am feeling, it wouldn’t be at all typical of me, would it?”
“No, it wouldn’t.”
“Even my friendships, they had to come through my husband. If they were friends of his, they could be friends of mine, but I was thinking this very morning how few women friends I have. Oh, I like women, I have nice relationships with the members of my sex. I suppose I’m as womanly a woman as the word could mean. But when you have reached my age—and you know how old I am, Robert. But as I was saying, if you’ve lived in a town all your life, except for boarding school, you would think I might have formed some close friendships with women of my age and so on. But the truth is, so many men came to this house, clients and friends and associates and men in the political world, that I neglected my contacts with my women friends. Do you know that outside the family, I haven’t received a single woman acquaintance in the past three days?”
“A great symbol of your devotion to your husband, Edith.”
“Well, I hope it will be taken for that, and not as an indication that I don’t like the members of my own sex, and don’t interest myself in their problems, because I do. When things settle down here I’m going to have to find something to do with my time. I have no idea what sort of thing I’ll do, but I imagine anything I do will involve working with other women, and I don’t want to start with any more handicaps than I have already.”
“You have no handicap in whatever you do,” said Hooker. “Whatever you decide to do.”
“Oh, that’s nice of you, but you forget my—shyness,” said Edith Chapin. “Whenever I had to go to any public function with Joe, oh, it was sheer torture. I was always afraid. Not afraid I’d do the wrong thing, or say the wrong thing. I think one’s natural instincts or upbringing carry one through. But my—reserve—that’s what I was afraid might be misunderstood. Has it been, Robert?”
“Not one bit. Not one bit. I know the people of this town. I know what they think. I know how they feel. It’s my business to know. And I can reassure you on that point. Your what you call shyness and reserve, that’s one of the things that has endeared you to them.”
“Joe was so good with people. He could mix with them and be friendly, to the exact degree that he wanted to be. He really could handle people, couldn’t he?”
“One of his greatest gifts.”
“It was hard for him, too, you know,” said Edith Chapin.
“It was, Edith?”
“Yes. Joe was not naturally gregarious. When we were first married, I think it was before you moved here, Joe confined himself to the people he grew up with. Two or three friends that we saw a great deal of, and as a matter of fact, Joe actually used to seem to prefer the company of older men. Judge Larkin. Old Mr. English, Doctor English’s father, that is. And they seemed to enjoy his company, too. It was a great change when he decided to enter public life. He had to force himself to be patient and tolerant of other people. But I remember his saying to me later on, how he’d been missing a lot of fun out of life by not getting about more in his young manhood.”
“I never knew that, Edith. I never knew that. I would have said that Joe Chapin was one of the greatest mixers I ever saw.”
“And he was, but he had to learn it. It wasn’t the natural thing for him to do, the way it is with some men. He practically made a study of it. But of course Joe had one thing I never have had. Confidence. Complete confidence in himself.”
“The aristocrat, in the better sense,” said Hooker.
“Well, of course he didn’t like that word, but I’m inclined to agree with you.”
“You have it too, Edith.”
“Oh, no. Not a bit.”
“I think so. I think you have. You may be shy, but I’ve watched you, I’ve studied you. You may not be the outgoing type, the extrovert, but people know that underneath that shyness is a woman of great courage and principle. Look at you now. If they could see you now they’d know they were right. It’s a great honor for me, you letting me have these few moments to pay my respects.”
“I wonder why I let myself prattle on this way. I’ve talked with you more than any other person. In fact, I haven’t really talked to anyone else at all.”
“It’s a great honor for me. I suppose we newspaper men, we’re told so many things in confidence, there must be something about us that makes people trust us.”
Edith Chapin hesitated. “It must be more than that, too,” she said. “Thank you for coming to see me. It was very kind of you. And later, when things—settle down—I’m going to ask you for some advice.”
“I am at your servic
e.”
“And remember me to Kitty.”
“She wanted to come with me, but I was sure there’d be too many people. By the way, I had a very pleasant visit with Joe Junior downstairs. Amazing, how much like his father.”
“Yes, at least in appearance. They’re really quite different.”
“That’s what I meant. This is a grand old house, isn’t it?”
“Full of memories, happy ones and sad ones.”
“The way a house should be,” said Hooker.
“Frederick Street isn’t fashionable any more, but it’s much more convenient than Lantenengo Street. We’ve always had the noise and the smoke from the trains, and some of the neighbors on William Street leave a lot to be desired, but we’re used to it.”
“A speaking tube. I guess there aren’t many houses left with a speaking tube.”
“Oh, it has all those things. I suppose you noticed the dumbwaiter. And on the second floor, the busybody.”
“I had a story about busybodies last year. I sent one of my reporters out and he counted I think eighty-seven left in the whole town.”
“When I was a girl I don’t suppose there were eighty-seven houses that didn’t have one,” said Edith Chapin. She smiled her sad smile and Robert Hooker went to her and shook her hand in both of his.
“You are very brave, Edith Chapin.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“And call me for anything, anything at all.”
“Thank you again, Robert,” she said.
He braced his shoulders like the National Guard lieutenant he once had been, and marched out of the sewing room. She waited until she heard his step on the second-floor landing, then went to the speaking tube and blew the whistle.
“Yes, ma’am,” said Mary.
“I’m ready, Mary,” said Edith Chapin.
