They Came Like Swallows
The blurb for or any quick synopsis of They Came Like Swallows — a tender book (almost, maybe, perhaps a novella?) by William Maxwell and first published in 1937 — will focus on Elizabeth (or Bess to her sister) as mother and wife and how her two sons, husband, and other family members and neighbors view her as “goodness” personified. That is true, and it’s a beautifully executed portrait of the nuances found in each of these relationships. The 1918 influenza informs the context. (So *that* feels kind of close, particularly when a character gripes about closed schools and churches.)
But right away, I was drawn in by youngest son Peter (Bunny) and his observations of his father’s news consumption: “By the calm way that his father crossed one knee over the other it was clear that he was concerned with the epidemic for the same reason he was interested in floods in China, what happened in Congress, and family history—because he chose to be concerned with such things.” I think that reading between the lines, one could write it this way: His father is interested in these things from a faraway, almost academic perspective.
Contrast that to the musings of oldest son Robert, who has had one leg amputated due to an accident: “It would be nice if his father read in the paper about a specialist who had discovered a way to make bones grow.” In other words, he wishes that he could attach some of his father’s news interest toward something very personal, something that feels *actually* important.
But then the flu comes to their family, and something faraway is near. This is what interests me: the difference between “the news” in a macro sense and “the news” in a personalized sense…our tendency to have strong — often under-informed — opinions about things that happen “somewhere else.” (In fact, I have a chapter/essay in my manuscript simply titled “That Happens Elsewhere” because I really am intrigued about how these perspective shifts happen.)
The difference between theoretical interest and practical understanding (and feeling!) is fascinating to me … They Came Like Swallows offers a lovely story of how that may play out in one’s actual life.
originally published on instagram