The Week in History, Feb. 16th – 22nd.
Carson McCullers photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1959 July 311
“The writer by nature of his profession is a dreamer and a conscious dreamer. He must imagine, and imagination takes humility, love and great courage. How can you create a character without love and the struggle that goes with love?” – Carson McCullers2
This week we celebrate the 103rd birthday of author Lula Carson Smith, aka Carson McCullers,3 mostly known for, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, her first novel published when she was 23 years old. The book was considered an immediate success and critics compared her to Steinbeck and Faulkner. The New York Times called it the “literary find of the year”.4
Her works are part of the Southern Gothic5 genre, populated with characters who can be described as odd and eccentric but sympathetic to readers. Her own life was unconventional. At age 20 she married Reeves McCullers only to divorce him at 24 and remarry him at 28.5 They both had trouble with alcohol addiction. Both she and Reeves were bisexual,6 and she was attracted to many women. She contracted rheumatic fever at age 15, and had a number of strokes leading to paralysis on her left side. She died from a cerebral hemorrhage at age 50. Through all these challenges she remained dedicated to her work with an exemplary ability to create authentic characters from diverse backgrounds.
You can check out a DVD video adaptation of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter from the Clark Library, as well as the text, Complete novels : the heart is a lonely hunter ; Reflections in a golden eye ; The ballad of the sad café ; The member of the wedding ; Clock without hands which can be found at PS3525.A1772 A6 2001
This week we recognize the birthdays of two filmmakers who share the name “Robert”. Robert Flaherty (b.1884) and Robert Altman (b. 1925).
“Sometimes you have to lie. One often has to distort a thing to catch its true spirit.”
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“Go out looking for one thing, and that’s all you’ll ever find.”
Flaherty is considered the originator of both the documentary and the ethnographic film, with Nanook of the North as his magnum opus.7
Find out more by checking out the book, The odyssey of a film-maker : Robert Flaherty’s story. Find it at PN1998.A3 F48 1972 in the Clark College Library.
“Making a movie is like chipping away at a stone. You take a piece off here, you take a piece off there and when you’re finished, you have a sculpture. You know that there’s something in there, but you’re not sure exactly what it is until you find it.” — Robert Altman 9
Maverick, auteur, filmmaker, artist, Robert Altman’s films have been described as “Altmanesque”11 He is his own genre.
Scorned by screenwriters (for tossing their scripts and improvising) and studio executives (for ignoring their orders), actors cherished working with Bob Altman. Tim Robbins said of him:
“He created a unique and wonderful world on his sets, . . . where the mischievous dad unleashed the “children actors” to play. Where your imagination was encouraged, nurtured, laughed at, embraced and Altman-ized. A sweet anarchy that many of us hadn’t felt since the schoolyard, unleashed by Bob’s wild heart”10
Altman could be political and he didn’t mince words. The Oscar-winning screen writer for Gosford Park, Jullian Fellows, believes Altman’s anti-war, anti-Bush politics cost him the Best Director Oscar for Gosford Park. 11
The DVD of Gosford Park can be found at PN1997 .G6485 2002. See and hear for yourself if it is Oscar material. Also check out, The Films of Robert Altman, found at PN1998.3.A48 F55 2000 and make it a double feature.
1 Carson McCullers photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1959 July 31
2 https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/author-quotes/carson-mccullers-quotes/
3 https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/carson-mccullers-1917-1967
4 https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/02/03/the-closeting-of-carson-mccullers/
5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Gothic
6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson_McCullers
7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_J._Flaherty
8 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tournage_de_Nanook_of_the_North_1922.jpg
9 http://www.notable-quotes.com/a/altman_robert.html
10 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Altman_-_1983.jpg
11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Altman
