Mary McCarthy

by Mary McCarthy

  495.24 locus classicus] Passage routinely cited in order to explain whatever point is at issue.

  503.21 Mount Nebo] See note 260.14.

  505.31 A.A.U.P.] See note 301.7.

  507.4–5 ‘A Cretan says, all Cretans are liars.’] The “liar paradox” attributed to Epimenides of Knossos, sixth century B.C.E.

  A CHARMED LIFE

  511.33–34 appealing for clemency . . . Portia] The well-known speech on “the quality of mercy” in The Merchant of Venice, IV.i.184–205.

  513.24–25 the field of Mars] In palmistry, the center of the palm.

  515.17 The Wild Duck] Ibsen’s drama of wayward idealism, first performed in 1885.

  519.19 W.C.T.U.] The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in Ohio in 1874.

  520.15 the seacoast of Bohemia] The seacoast ascribed to landlocked Bohemia in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, a geographical impossibility that Ben Jonson made fun of in 1619 in conversations recorded by William Drummond. McCarthy, who played Leontes in a Vassar production of The Winter’s Tale, is referring to New Leeds’s artistic or “bohemian” qualities.

  536.18 Moselle bottles] Mostly white wines made along the Moselle River in Germany.

  537.37 the Modern Library Zarathustra] Popular American edition of Nietzsche’s philosophical novel, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–91).

  538.26 Friedrich Barbarossa] Frederick I (c. 1123–1190), Holy Roman Emperor from 1152 to 1190.

  551.4 Piranesi or Callot] Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778), Italian artist and architect, and Jacques Callot (c. 1592–1635), French painter.

  554.8 a Metropolitan] A member of the Metropolitan Club, private social club in New York City founded in 1891 by J. P. Morgan.

  555.16–17 Whitehead and Russell and Sullivan] For Whitehead, see note 310.40. English philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) and Harry Stack Sullivan (1892–1949), American psychiatrist known for his theory of interpersonal relationships.

  555.24 that notion in Dostoevski] In Notes from Underground (1864), Dostoevsky, skeptical of the sufficiency of scientific explanations, wrote, “The formula ‘two plus two equals five’ is not without its attractions.”

  555.39 Kierkegaard] Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Danish theologian and philosopher who declared that “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

  558.6–7 Dali, . . . Max Ernst, . . . Reginald Marsh] Spanish Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí (1904–1989); Max Ernst, German Dadaist painter (1891–1976); and Reginald Marsh, American social realist painter (1898–1954).

  558.8–9 Braque and Juan Gris and Mondrian] French Cubist painter Georges Braque (1882–1963); Juan Gris, pseudonym of Spanish Cubist painter and sculptor José V. González (1887–1927); and Dutch “neoplastic” painter Piet Mondrian (1872–1944).

  558.25 Blake] William Blake (1757–1827), visionary English poet and painter.

  558.28–29 ‘There’s my last Duchess . . . alive.’] Slight variant of the first line of Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue, “My Last Duchess” (1842).

  559.3 Salon of the Refusés] Art exhibition in Paris in 1863, ordered to be held by Napoleon III after considerable public agitation, so that works rejected by the official Paris Salon, including Édouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, might be displayed.

  559.4 Whistler? Ruskin] American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) sued English art and cultural critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) for slander in 1878 for Ruskin’s criticisms of Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (c. 1875); he won the suit and was awarded one farthing in damages.

  559.18 that fellow who was a doctor in New Jersey.] William Carlos Williams (1883–1963), New Jersey medical doctor whose epic poem Paterson (1946–58) took up five volumes.

  564.6 Bérénice] French playwright Jean Racine’s 1670 tragedy.

  568.8 chevalier à la rose] French: knight of the rose; also the youthful lover in Richard Strauss’s opera Der Rosenkavalier (1911).

  571.40 Bernhardt] The actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923) wrote and starred in The Confession in 1888; it received only one performance.

  576.7–8 Abraham entertaining the angels, unawares.] In Genesis 18:2, Abraham is visited by three men he doesn’t know to be angels. And Hebrews 13:2 warns: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

  577.10 Goering] Hermann Göring (1893–1946), the heavy-set Nazi leader and war criminal, commanded the German air force, 1935–45, and was Hitler’s designated successor from December 1934 until April 1945.

  579.5 Roundhead] Nickname for parliamentary antagonists of King Charles I during the English Civil War (1642–51), derived from the close Puritan haircut.

  579.9 Vincent de Paul] French Catholic priest and later saint (1581–1660) known for his devotion to the poor.

  582.13 weighed . . . and found wanting.] Cf. Daniel 5:27.

  583.30 Bluebeard] Figure of French folklore; a serial murderer of his own wives.

  585.19–20 Pollock or DeKooning] Abstract Expressionist painters Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) and Willem de Kooning (1904–1997).

  596.5 a posse rather than an esse] Latin: a possibility rather than an actuality.

  601.33–34 ‘He hath a daily beauty . . . ugly.’] Iago’s comment on Cassio, Othello, V.i.19–20.

  603.13 lily cups] Reusable menstrual device that can be employed instead of a tampon.

  603.38–39 ‘Let your light so shine . . . men.’] Matthew 5:16.

  606.20 Behold the handmaiden of the Lord—] Mary’s words to the angel Gabriel, accepting her role in the Incarnation of Christ (Luke 1:38).

  607.7 S.P.C.C.] Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

  609.28 the rich young man in the Bible] In Mark 10:17–31, Jesus tells a wealthy young man: “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.” In the same episode he tells his disciples: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

  610.5 Bosch] Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516), Dutch painter famous for teeming and often horrific scenes.

  616.16 a bottle of Imperial] Probably a bottle of Imperial American Whiskey, a cheap whiskey produced in Bardstown, Kentucky.

  624.7 Noli me tangere.] See note 443.36.

  625.30 Sanka] Decaffeinated instant coffee, available in the U.S. since about 1910.

  634.34–35 Masefield’s English translation] The English poet John Masefield (1878–1967) published translations of Racine’s Esther and Bérénice in 1922.

  641.6–7 “Never apologize, never explain,”] One variation of an adage sometimes credited to Benjamin Jowett (1817–1893), Oxford classical scholar and translator.

  642.5 that awful creature in Madame Bovary.] The moneylender Lheureux, who ruins Charles and Emma Bovary in Flaubert’s 1856 novel.

  643.2–3 “Titus reginam Beronicen, . . . invitus invitam.”] In his preface to Bérénice, Racine quotes Suetonius: “Titus, who loved Berenice passionately, and who even, as was believed, had promised to marry her, sent her away from Rome, against his will and against hers, in the first days of his reign.” (See also note 564.6.)

  644.18 locus classicus] See note 495.24.

  644.30 Corneille] Pierre Corneille (1606–1684), French tragic dramatist and author of Le Cid (c. 1636). See also note 653.1.

  646.24 A ficelle.] Something slight and inconsequential; literally, a piece of string.

  646.24–25 ‘Marion pleure, . . . marie,’] The “Marion” lyric—which was not coined by Voltaire—translates as “Marion wept, Marion cried, Marion wanted to be a bride.” From an old French song; applied to Racine’s Bérénice by French writer Claude Chapelle (1626–1686), a friend of Racine’s.


  647.10 détestaient les rois.] French: hated the kings.

  648.10–13 “Oui, madame, et je dois . . . l’univers.”] From Act V, Scene 6:

  Yes, Madam, and I have even less to say.

  I am ready for your sake to throw away the empire,

  Follow you and go, so happy with my chains,

  And sigh with you at the end of the universe.

  648.14 the Duke of Windsor] The title of Edward VIII (1894–1972) following his abdication of the British throne, in 1936, in order to marry the twice-divorced Wallis Simpson.

  648.23–26 “Vous même rougiriez . . . l’amour.”] From Act V, Scene 6:

  You would yourself blush at my loose conduct

  You would regret to have walking in your train,

  An unworthy emperor, without empire, without power,

  Base spectacle to men of the weakness of love.

  650.6–7 that French schoolmaster . . . Alsace-Lorraine.] “Monsieur Hamel,” the protagonist of a short story, “The Last Class,” by Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897). Set in 1872 after the Germans have conquered Alsace-Lorraine, the story shows a schoolmaster who must stop teaching because henceforth all instruction in the region will have to be conducted in German.

  651.16–20 “Mais voulez-vous . . . l’outrage.”] From Act IV, Scene 2:

  But do you want to be seen in such extreme disorder?

  Madame, resign yourself and get in control:

  Let me fix these slipped veils,

  And these loose hairs that hide your eyes;

  Let me repair the outrage of your tears.

  651.25 “Laisse, laisse, . . . ouvrage.”] From Act IV, Scene 2:

  Let it be, Let it be, [Phénice], he’ll see his work.

  651.30–33 “Sur Titus et sur moi, . . . l’univers.”] From Act V, Scene 7:

  Set your course on Titus and on me.

  I love him, I flee it; Titus loves me; it leaves me.

  Bear away from me your sighs and your chains.

  Farewell. The three of us serve as an example to the world.

  652.12–13 the influence of Port Royal on Racine] Racine attended the Jansenist religious school Petites écoles de Port-Royal, which operated from 1637 to 1660 and included among its teachers Blaise Pascal (1623–1662). See also note 564.6.

  652.19–20 Jansenist] The doctrines of Cornelius Jansen (1585–1638), whose severe Catholic theology, judged to be heretical, posited a form of predestination that discounted the role of free will and good works in obtaining salvation.

  652.36 He wrote a Bérénice too] Corneille’s Tite et Bérénice (1670) premiered in Paris eight days after Racine’s Bérénice, which would turn out to be more popular. The rivalry between the two playwrights was sharp.

  653.1 Cinna or the Cid.] Tragedies by Corneille first performed, respectively, in 1643 and 1637.

  653.1–2 ‘Je suis maître . . . l’être.’] From Cinna, V.iii.34–35: “I am master of myself, as of the universe. I am, and I wish to be so.”

  653.9–10 ‘Vénus toute entière à sa proie attachée,’] From Racine’s Phèdre, I, Scene 3.iii.161: “Venus fixed completely on her prey.”

  657.35–36 ‘I have done the state some service and they know’t.’] Part of Othello’s speech, delivered just before he stabs himself, in V.ii.339.

  658.33 Jones’s interpretation] A Freudian analysis of Hamlet, developed over decades by the British psychoanalyst Ernest Jones (1879–1958) and published fully in Hamlet and Oedipus (1949).

  659.9–10 as Kant saw] In The Critique of Pure Reason (1781) Kant asks: “What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope?”

  660.18 Antigone] Sophocles’s tragedy (c. 440 B.C.E.) about Antigone’s determination to bury her brother, the rebel Polyneices, against the dictates of Creon, the king of Thebes.

  660.20–21 Saint Joan or Don Juan in Hell] Plays by George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) first performed in 1923 and 1915. Don Juan in Hell was originally Act III of Man and Superman (1905).

  671.6–7 invitus, invitam] Latin: against his will; against her will. See also note 643.2–3.

  679.28–29 ‘Twenty-one apparitions . . . coathanger.’] In his poem “The Apparitions” (1938), William Butler Yeats actually mentions fifteen apparitions, not twenty-one.

  687.31 S.P.C.C.] See note 607.7.

  713.1–2 Vronsky and Anna] Adulterous lovers in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1875–77).

  713.2–3 “Vil spectacle . . . l’amour.”] In Racine’s Bérénice, Act V, Scene 6, Titus speaks to Berenice of the “Base spectacle to men of all love’s weakness.”

  719.34–35 ‘A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.’] Common misquotation of Alexander Pope’s line (“A little learning is a dangerous thing”) in An Essay on Criticism (1711).

  721.5–6 “Behave so that thy maxim could be a universal law.”] The categorical imperative that Kant proposed in Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785).

  727.16–18 “Father, let this cup . . . understands me?”] Christ’s words in Matthew 26:39; the last words (“All may be well”) of Claudius’s “O, my offense is rank” soliloquy in Hamlet, III.iii.72; quotation from Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.

  755.1 “Integer vitae, scelerisque purus,”] From Horace, Odes, I.22: “The good man innocent of sin.”

  STORIES FROM CAST A COLD EYE

  759.16–17 Persephone’s hand . . . pomegranate seed] In Greek mythology, after her abduction by Hades, Persephone was tricked into eating pomegranate seeds, and because she had eaten food in the underworld, she was thereafter required to spend a portion of every year with Hades.

  762.33 stereopticon] Nineteenth-century slide projector that merged two images into one, creating an illusion of three-dimensionality.

  767.5 Victory garden] Americans, like their allies abroad, were encouraged to support the effort to win World War II by growing as many of their own vegetables as possible. In New York City, both Rockefeller Plaza and Riverside Park were turned into Victory gardens.

  767.20–21 Bonwit Teller, Mark Cross] For Bonwit Teller, see note 170.7–8. Mark Cross, a high-end leather goods retailer founded in 1854, had its principal store in Manhattan. From 1934 to 1955 the firm was run by Gerald Murphy, famous for being F. Scott Fitzgerald’s friend.

  778.29 a via vitae] Latin: the road of life; in John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”

  786.13 Redon] Odilon Redon (1840–1916), French Symbolist painter.

  789.6 sanforized] The Sanforization process, which was patented in 1930 by Sanford Lockwood Cluett, preshrinks cotton fabric so that it does not continue to shrink after washings by the purchaser.

  789.28 Bellevue] America’s oldest public hospital, founded in 1736 and located on First Avenue in New York City, famous for its treatment of psychiatric cases.

  795.23 Norman Corwin] Corwin (1910–2011) was a producer and writer of radio dramas and other programming from the late 1930s to the early 1950s.

  795.24–25 Red Network] Radio network of the National Broadcast Company, founded in 1926 and after 1943 operating as NBC Radio.

  799.34 table-d’hôte] French: fixed-price meal at a restaurant.

  804.6–7 Benedetto Croce] Croce (1866–1952), an Italian philosopher and writer on aesthetics.

  805.25 Qui passe?] French: Who goes there?

  807.6 Gold Flake] Brand of Indian cigarettes sold in Great Britain for much of the twentieth century.

  807.18–19 the Duke of Windsor talking in a cockney accent] Edward, Duke of Windsor (for whom, see note 648.14), sometimes spoke with traces of both American and Cockney accents, the result of exposure to them as well as affectation.

  807.32 the Faubourg St. Germain] Parisian district in the 7th arrondissement; the residence of socially prominent and noble families.

  807.36 Petit Trianon] Eighteenth-century château on the grounds of Versailles, the favored retreat of Marie Antoinette, where s
he affected a rustic simplicity.

  808.1–2 Mme Pompadour’s bedroom at the Frick museum] A room at the Frick Collection in New York City contains eight gauzy paintings full of nymphs and cherubs that were once believed to have been commissioned by Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Madame de Pompadour (1721–1764), mistress of Louis XV. They are now attributed to the studio of her favorite painter, François Boucher (1703–1770).

  808.2–3 the Sforzas . . . Castello] Dynastic Milanese family, owners of the castle (Castello Sforzesco) constructed by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, during the fifteenth century. It was rebuilt as a museum after damage during the Allied aerial bombardment of Milan in World War II.

  808.3–4 at Stra . . . Pisani.] Stra is a Venetian town; it contains the Villa Pisani located on the Brenta River canal.

  808.7 Mme Verdurin] Social climber in Proust’s novel In Search of Lost Time (1913–27).

  808.37 Dr.-Livingstone-I-presume] Greeting said to have been uttered by the journalist Henry Morton Stanley (1841–1904) when he discovered, near Africa’s Lake Tanganyika, the long-lost explorer and medical missionary, David Livingstone (1813–1873).

  809.1–2 to invert Wordsworth . . . poetical] In the Biographia Literaria (1817), while discussing his collaboration with Wordsworth on the Lyrical Ballads, Coleridge writes: “it was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.”

  809.17 Domodossola] Piedmontese town near the Italian-Swiss border.

  809.29–30 “Qu’est-ce que se passe?”] French: What’s happening?

  809.30–32 “Rien . . . C’est des amis qui rencontrent des amis.”] “Nothing . . . it’s some friends meeting friends.”

  810.3 “Ite, missa est”] See note 333.2.

  810.24 “Togliatti!”] Palmiro Togliatti (1893–1964), general secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 to 1964 and Italy’s minister of justice, 1945–46.