Carson McCullers

by Carson McCullers

  The present volume reprints the 1999 text of “Illumination and Night Glare” with the following alterations in editorial procedure: all brackets and footnotes have been removed; italicized titles of books and periodicals, some of which first appeared within quotation marks, have been regularized; and bracketed editorial insertions containing sentence fragments or noting lacunae, or containing McCullers’s instructions to her typists, have been deleted.

  APPENDIX

  The appendix presents a transcription of the teleplay “The Sojourner” as it was produced by the TV/Radio Workshop of the Ford Foundation and broadcast live by CBS-TV on the afternoon of December 27, 1953. The transcription was made by James Gibbons in March 2016 from a digitized recording of the Omnibus episode that is part of the collection of the Library of Congress. The broadcast version of “The Sojourner” represents a far more collaborative vision of the teleplay than McCullers’s typescript. As existing correspondence reveals, McCul­lers worked closely with the Ford Foundation’s Bonnie Novick and Leo Davis, and possibly others, as she revised the teleplay in its later stages, and their influence helped shape its final form. The broadcast version also seems to adhere to the norms of decency for the broadcast television of its era: when Ferris’s mother describes the last time her late husband kissed her, in McCullers’s typescripts he does so after taking a bath she’d drawn for him, and his nakedness is emphasized; in the broadcast version the same story is told but the couple kisses in a garden and the husband is fully clothed. “Damnedest” in the typescript is changed to “darnedest” in the broadcast. Finally, there are cuts that may have been prompted by practical concerns: two-year-old Suzette is left offstage in the Omnibus version, perhaps due to the inherent unpredictability of putting a toddler before a live camera.

  McCullers, who attended rehearsals for the Omnibus performance in December 1953, was closely involved with the production into its final stages. But it is not evident how faithfully the later changes to the teleplay represent her intentions as distinct from those of her collaborators—including not only Davis and Novick but also the directors and actors involved in the production.

  This volume presents the texts of the original printings chosen for inclusion but does not attempt to reproduce nontextual features of their typographical design. Except where detailed above, the texts are presented without change, except for the correction of typographical errors. Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are often expressive features and are not altered, even when inconsistent or irregular. Errors in quoted material are not corrected, as they can reflect how McCullers remembered, understood, or read the quotations. The following is a list of typographical errors corrected, cited by page and line number: 18.40, others’; 26.14, Levin’s; 31.22, gesture; 37.24, half naked; 64.18, Hemie; 65.13, Hemie.; 67.40, watches; 68.10, seemel; 68.22, Opus.; 80.22, preparted; 89.11, she has; 104.25 (and passim), mantlepiece; 108.25, muchrooms; 116.19, picolo.’; 141.27–28, unforseen; 145.27, unexpectelly.; 145.30, Johns-Hopkins.; 148.19, added.; 152.27, childrens’; 152.30, cinamon; 152.40, alls’; 154.22, possible; 155.9, childrens’; 155.24, affects; 155.24, affects; 155.29, indefined; 158.20, childrens’; 176.37, it”; 185.4, place.”; 187.34, is a; 210.37, people? He; 212.37, geneologies; 213.8, Verona.; 305.3, As I boy; 307.33, to mouth; 327.8. is the most; 384.8, déja; 385.28, become; 407.22 and 23, cosmotologist; 428.12, arch; 440.13, Blitzkreig; 452.29 and 31, Sand Street; 470.5, Punishment and; 470.10, Marveladov’s; 471.27, Chekhov’s,; 480.40, Berkley; 480.40, Dennis Finch-Hatton.; 558.3, made a quite; 558.16, policeman; 566.10, came because quite; 567.21, have 568.13, lily; 578.12, experiences; 586.14, Presbytere; 587.7, or (Tanya; 591.24, “Grande; 592.10, passed.

  Notes

  In the notes below, the reference numbers denote page and line of this volume (the line count includes headings). No note is made for material included in standard desk-reference books such as Webster’s Collegiate, Biographical, and Geographical dictionaries. Biblical quotations are keyed to the King James Version. Quotations from Shakespeare are keyed to The Riverside Shakespeare, ed. G. Blakemore Evans (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974). For further biographical information than is contained in the chronology, see Virginia Spencer Carr, The Lonely Hunter: A Biography of Carson McCullers (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2003 [1975]), and Understanding Carson McCullers (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1990); Richard M. Cook, Carson McCullers (New York: Ungar, 1975); Carlos L. Dews, ed., Illumination and Night Glare: The Unfinished Autobiography of Carson McCullers (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1999); Oliver Evans, The Ballad of Carson McCullers: A Biography (New York: Coward-McCann, 1966); Lawrence Graver, Carson McCullers (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1969); Margaret McDowell, Carson McCullers (Boston: Twayne, 1980); and Josyane Savigneau, Carson McCullers: A Life (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001), translated by Joan E. Howard.

  COMPLETE STORIES

  3.1 Sucker] When “Sucker” was first published in The Saturday Evening Post, September 28, 1963, it was accompanied by the following note from the author: “When Maj. Simeon Smith of West Point wrote me that he was going to make my work the subject of his doctoral thesis, I naturally gave him permission to go through my files—or trunks to be exact. I did not remember any particular manuscripts in the trunks. The major found ‘Sucker.’ I think it was my first short story; at least it was the first story I was proud to read to my family. (It never occurred to me then that anybody would actually ever print anything I wrote.) I wrote it when I was seventeen, and my daddy had just given me my first typewriter. I remember writing the story in longhand, and then painfully typing it out. I liked it then, and like it now, and I hope the readers of The Post will like it too.—Carson McCullers.”

  7.10 Tom Swift books] Series of children’s adventure novels created by American writer Edward Stratemeyer (1863–1930) and continued by his fiction syndicate, often published under the collective pseudonym Victor Appleton.

  14.2–3 “A Critique of Pure Reason” or “Tertium Organum,”] Philosophical treatises by German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) and Russian mystic and philosopher Peter Demianovitch Ouspensky (1878–1947), published in 1781 and 1911, respectively.

  14.3–4 Strachey and George Soule] English writer and critic Giles Lytton Strachey (1880–1932), founding member of the Bloomsbury group and whose books included Eminent Victorians (1918) and Queen Victoria (1921); American writer George Henry Soule (1887–1970), for many years an editor at The New Republic magazine and the author of books on economic and social topics such as The Coming American Revolution (1934) and A Planned Society (1935).

  23.13–14 That concert—the Castelnuovo-Tedesco—] Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968), best known for his compositions for guitar and as a composer of film scores.

  23.26–27 Casals, Piatigorsky . . . Heifetz] Renowned musicians Pablo Casals (1876–1973), Spanish cellist, conductor, and composer; Gregor Piatigorsky (1903–1976) Russian-born American cellist; and Jascha Heifetz (1901–1987), Lithuanian-born American violinist.

  24.26–27 that Fauré thing—in E—] String Quartet in E minor, Op. 121, by French composer Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924).

  26.18–19 Beethoven funeral march sonata] Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat major, Op. 26 (1800–1801).

  26.24 Ein Edel Mensch!] German: a noble man!

  43.25 G. K. Chesterton and George Moore,”] G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English journalist, novelist, and essayist, and George Moore (1852–1933), Irish novelist, poet, and art critic.

  50.7 play three-handed bridge or Michigan] A form of the card game bridge played with only three players, instead of the normal four players; Michigan rummy, also known as Tripoli, a betting card game played using poker chips.

  51.21 at Tech] Georgia Tech, university in Atlanta.

  59.8 Bienchen?] German: literally “little bee,” used as a term of endearment, such as “my busy little bee.”

&n
bsp; 59.17 Le Voyage de Monsieur Perrichon] Comedy (1860) by French playwrights Eugène Labiche (1815–1888) and Édouard Martin (1825–1866).

  63.13 Second Hungarian Rhapsody] Franz Liszt’s 1847 Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 for Piano in C-sharp minor (S.244/2), the most popular and recognizable of Liszt’s nineteen Hungarian rhapsodies.

  63.22 Bach Inventions] Two- and Three-part Inventions, Johann Sebastian Bach’s series of brief solo keyboard pieces (BWV 772–801), written as exercises for his students.

  65.7 sonata. . . . The Bloch.] Piano sonata (1935) by the Swiss-born American composer Ernest Bloch (1880–1959).

  65.10–11 John Powell thing—the Sonate Virginianesque] The Sonata Virginianesque for piano and violin (1919) by the American composer and pianist John Powell (1882–1963).

  65.33 Fantasia and Fugue] Johann Sebastian Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in G minor (BWV 542), written for organ around 1720 and later transcribed for piano by Franz Liszt (S.463).

  67.21 Myra Hess . . . Yehudi Menuhin] English pianist Myra Hess (1890–1965), and American violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999).

  68.3 Schnabel and Huberman] Austrian pianist and composer Artur Schn­abel (1882–1951); Polish-born violinist Bronisław Huberman (1882–1947), founder in 1936 of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, later known as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

  68.4 Russian Tea Room] New York City restaurant, opened in 1927 by former members of the Russian Imperial Ballet, located on West 57th Street, near Carnegie Hall.

  70.15–16 Harmonious Blacksmith] “Air and Variations,” final movement of Suite No. 5 in E Major (HMV 430) originally written for harpsichord by German-British composer George Frideric Handel (1685–1759).

  89.18 Clive Brook] English actor (1887–1974) whose films included Shanghai Express (1932) and Sherlock Holmes (1932).

  113.14 Buxtehude] Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637–1707), German-Danish organist and eminent composer of the Baroque period.

  123.12 Garbo . . . performance of Camille] Swedish actor Greta Garbo (1905–1990) starred in an American film adaptation (1936) of Alexandre Dumas fils’s novel Camille (1848; play, 1852), playing the titular French courtesan who, forced to shun the only man she truly loves, dies tragically of a wasting illness.

  137.10 Little Theatre] Movement of art theater companies largely made up of amateur actors that were founded in many American cities in the 1910s and ’20s.

  137.14 José Iturbi] Spanish conductor, pianist, and actor (1895–1980).

  137.16 Three Arts League] McCullers was perhaps thinking of the Three Arts League from her hometown of Columbus, Georgia, a charitable organization founded in 1927 that raises funds to support the performing arts. McCullers’s piano teacher Marie Tucker was an active member of the organization.

  138.4 “bell cow”] The lead cow in a herd, often having a bell attached to its neck so that the herd can easily be located.

  141.36 Hürtgen Forest] A forest along the border between Belgium and Germany, the site of a series of battles between American and German forces in late 1944 and early 1945.

  142.1 B.T.O.] Big Time Operator.

  148.27 the guignol] The puppet show in the Tuileries in Paris.

  149.30 Vite! . . . ‘Dépêchez-vous.’] French: quickly . . . hurry up.

  149.34 ‘J’attends Maman.’] French: I’m waiting for Mommy.

  175.14–15 last party of the Duc de Guermantes.”] Party hosted not by the Duc de Guermantes but by the Prince and the Princesse de Guermantes (formerly Mme. Verdurin) in Time Regained, sixth book of the seven-volume novel In Search of Lost Time (1913–27) by French novelist Marcel Proust (1871–1922).

  177.38–39 Proust in his cork-lined room] Proust soundproofed his bedroom, where he wrote, by lining its walls with cork.

  191.39 tant pis] French: so much the worse.

  206.15 SNCC, CORE] Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, civil rights organization formed in 1960, which took a more radical turn under the leadership of Stokely Carmichael in 1966–67; and Congress of Racial Equality, a civil rights organization founded in 1942.

  207.12–13 “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder”] African-American folk hymn.

  208.36 “Onward, Christian Soldiers.”] Hymn with words (1864) by Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924) and music (1871) by Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900).

  210.28–31 “We . . . die.”] From the gospel hymn “Soldiers in the Army” by singer, composer, pianist, and minister James Cleveland (1931 or 1932–1991).

  211.20 “Must Jesus bear the cross alone?”] Title of hymn (1844) by American hymn writer and music professor George N. Allen (1812–1877), whose lyrics were adapted from a poem by the English Nonconformist minister Thomas Shepherd (1665–1739).

  212.10 Duncan Phyfe] Scotland-born American cabinetmaker and merchant (1768–1854) known for the elegant simplicity of his furniture.

  218.13 Marian Anderson] African-American singer (1897–1993), who became an important figure in the civil rights movement when she performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to an audience of seventy-five thousand in 1939 after the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) had refused, on the grounds of her race, a request from Howard University for her to give a concert at its Constitution Hall.

  THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING: A PLAY

  233.29 “The Vagabond King”] Operetta (1925) by the Czech-born American composer Rudolf Friml (1879–1972).

  239.21–22 The Book of Knowledge] American title of an encyclopedia for children (first U.S. publication, 1910), originally published in the United Kingdom as The Children’s Encyclopædia.

  264.28 Milledgeville] Georgia town located thirty miles east of Macon, once the state capital; site of the state mental hospital.

  283.28–284.11 I sing . . . He watches me] From the gospel hymn “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” (1905), words by Canadian hymn writer Civilla D. Martin (1866–1948), music by American gospel composer Charles H. Gabriel (1856–1932). It was suggested for inclusion in the stage production of The Member of the Wedding by the actor and singer Ethel Waters (1896–1977), who played the part of Berenice in its initial Broadway run, as she was already associated with the song. She later titled her autobiography His Eye Is on the Sparrow.

  296.18 Rachmaninoff Concerto] One of the four piano concertos by Russian composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943).

  THE SOJOURNER

  301.1 THE SOJOURNER] “The Sojourner,” a television adaptation of McCullers’s short story on pp. 141–50, was commissioned by the TV-Radio Workshop of the Ford Foundation as a segment of its weekly television “culture magazine,” Omnibus. McCullers’s script printed here differs significantly from the version that was performed on the program on December 27, 1953 (for a more detailed explanation, see Note on the Texts). For a transcription of the television broadcast, see pp. 605–19.

  303.8 Grand Guignol] See note 148.27.

  THE SQUARE ROOT OF WONDERFUL

  340.23 a Chautauqua] The Chautauqua community, founded in 1874 in Jamestown, New York, was designed to promote intellectual and spiritual development. “Chautauqua” came to be used as a generic term for various troupes that traveled throughout the country presenting cultural entertainments.

  341.21–22 Rats, Lice and History, by somebody Zimmerman] Book of popular science (1935) by the biologist and Harvard professor Hans Zinsser (1878–1940).

  342.15–16 “Art is long and life is fleeting.”] Cf. Seneca, De Brevitate Vitae (On the Shortness of Life), ch. 1, sec. 1: “Vita brevis est, ars longa.”

  349.7 locomotor ataxia] A syphilis of the spinal cord which results in loss of muscular control and paralysis.

  352.15 GI bill] Officially called the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944), law that guaranteed veterans access to higher education and provided tuition funding.

  354.2–5 Where . . . cotton-eyed Joe.] A traditional American folk song that predates the C
ivil War, first published in 1882.

  357.2–14 How shall I guard . . . most sweet.] “Liebeslied” (“Love Song,” 1907) by Prague-born German poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), translated by Ludwig Lewisohn.

  362.28 “The Turn of the Screw,”] Novella (1898) by American writer Henry James (1843–1916).

  363.31–364.2 How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child. That’s Shakespeare.] King Lear, I.iv.288–89.

  379.16 Paderewski] Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, and statesman Jan Paderewski (1860–1941).

  383.20–21 “I wandered today through the hills, Maggie.”] The opening line of the Irish song “Maggie.”

  384.31–385.1 “Way down yonder in Argentine . . . britches.”] Variation of the lyrics of the blues song “The Twelves,” recorded by Kokomo Arnold (1901–1968) in 1935: “Says I went out yonder, New Orleans / The wildcat jumped on the sewing machine / The sewing machine sewed so fast / Sewed ninety-nine stitches up his yes yes yes.”

  385.5–6 that Rachmaninoff piece about Moscow burning.] Prelude in C-sharp minor for piano (1892), Op. 3, No. 2, which was published in England and the United States in editions with titles not given by Rachmaninoff, including “The Burning of Moscow.”

  393.29 Saul] Oratorio (1739) by German-British composer George Frideric Handel (1685–1759).

  400.4 A Bible story.] The Parable of the Talents; see Matthew 25:14–30 and Luke 19:12–28.

  410.31 “The Woman Was Old and Ragged and Gray.”] The poem “Somebody’s Mother” (1878) by American poet and lyricist Mary Dow Brine (c. 1836–1925).