Four Quarters Volume 207 Number 1 Four Quarters (Second Series): Spring Article 1 1993 Vol
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Four Quarters Volume 207 Number 1 Four Quarters (Second Series): Spring Article 1 1993 Vol. 7, No. 1 4-1993 Four Quarters (Second Series): Spring 1993 Vol. 7, No. 1 Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/fourquarters Recommended Citation (1993) "Four Quarters (Second Series): Spring 1993 Vol. 7, No. 1," Four Quarters: Vol. 207 : No. 1 , Article 1. Available at: http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/fourquarters/vol207/iss1/1 This Complete Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the University Publications at La Salle University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Four Quarters by an authorized editor of La Salle University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. VOL. 7. NO. 1 Second Quartets Series SPRING, 1993 Four Dollars Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/fourquarters711993unse l€)|€ICIO| <^t/r' Quarter^ VOLUME 7, ^^JMBER 1. SECOND SERIES SPRING, 1993 Table of Contents QUARTER NOTES Lawrence Spingam, Say Uncle Tamara S. Comelison, Troy Revisited POEMS Paul Ramsey, *Witnessing the Sea" Joseph Meredith, "Hunter's Moon" 10 "Osprey" 12 Gary Fincke, "The Egypt Street" 14 Barbara Daniels, The Bear" 22 WiUiam Stafford, "For Someone Gone" 23 "^ologia pro Vita Sua" 23 "Opening Scene" 24 Dabney Stuart, "Watennusic" 32 Daniel Burke, FSC, "Teacher's Valediction* 45 Katharine Privett, "Turtle" 46 Judith Werner, "Hubby, Pass the Beer" 59 FICTION Madelene Carr, October 25 Claude Koch, Myths 33 Maggie Rindfuss, Catching the Light 41 Mary Fair Jordan, College Visit 47 ESSAYS Erhard K. Dortmund, Huston: First and Last 15 Michael Jay Katz, Anecdotal Understandings 53 BOOKMARKS Neil Brennan, Review of Martin Standard, Evelyn Waugh: The Later Years 1939-1966 60 CONTRIBUTORS 63 COVER David McShain, "Bogart, Huston, and Joyce." Original drawing for Four Quarters. Editor: JOHN J. KEENAN Associate Editor: JOHN P. ROSSI Editorial Assistant and Business Manager: KIM DORAZIO Editorial Assistant: JOANNE CAWLEY Desktop Publishing Specialist: GERVASIO RAMIREZ Editorial Assistants: John S. Baky, Daniel Burke, FSC, James Butler, Joseph Cairo, Tamara Comelison, Justin Cronin, Toni Culjak, John Duffy, Gabriel Fagan FSC, Craig Franz, FSC, David George, Richard Grande, Howard L. Hannum, John C. Kleis, Vincent KLing, Rita Mali, Emmery Mollenhauer, FSC, Maribel Molyneaux, Glenn Morocco, FranPelham, John J. Rooney, Frank Ryan, John J. Seydow, Margot Soven Richard Tiedeken, Judy Trachtenberg, Ken Varane, Eileen Watts. FOUR QUARTERS (ISSN-00 15-9107) is published semiannually in the Spring andFaU by thefaculty ofLa Salle University, 1900 W. Olney Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19141. Four dollars per copy. Subscriptions: $8. 00for one year; $13. 00for two years. Copyright © 1993 La Salle University. Unsolicited manuscripts must be accom- paiued by a SASE. Available in MicroformfromXerox University Microfilms, Arm Arbor, MI 481 06. Indexed in American Humanities Index and Index ofAmerican Periodical Verse. Distributed by B. DeBoer Inc., Nutley, NJ. — «)|€|0|0 Quarter Notes LAWRENCE P. SPINGARN plete works of Dickens and Thackeray. He could pun in Latin and quote accu- rately from Dr. Johnson—Dictionary Johnson. Finally, we had to eat; in- Say Uncle specting my rumpled clothes, he shook his narrow white head and During the worst years of the Great phoned for a taxi. American Depression, I enjoyed the student life in Pennsylvania and then We often dined at Guffanti's, a land- Maine, where I finished coUege just un- mark on West 26th Street frequented der the wire of another cataclysm by emancipated Jews flouting the die- World War II. But Pennsylvania and tary laws. On Friday nights the restau- Maine were backwaters; my uncle rant was jammed. Looking haughtily Leopold in New York City offered me around, my uncle quaintly intoned his doses of urban sophistication. blessing: Boray pree Guffanti. Nobody applauded. The dignified port of the A handsome bachelor in his mid-for- Italian waiters did not inhibit Leopold. ties, pampered by women and main- If the soup was lukewarm, he fussed. tained on a trust fund from my If the veal tough, berated the grandfather, he contrived a luxurious was he chef in person. If the zabaione resem- existence typified by a five-room flat bled mere custard, he let fly. on Riverside Drive, an English walking suit, and a malacca cane. I doubt if he earned $50 a month as an attorney, or "It never helps to keep mum," he ob- "1 barrister, as he preferred to be called. served. have standards—don't you Thanks to my father's recent death know?" and Leopold's sense of obligation, I was his guest whenever I came to Leopold's standards were often at the town. Quickly I learned about his hab- mercy of the times. In December, its, including his behavior at the res- 1933, for example, his quarterly check taurants he frequented. was three weeks late, so we repaired to Horn and Hardart's for a Christmas My journeys from the railroad station feast of lamb stew, apple pie, and cof- were made by gritty subway or fee. The automated cubicles did not in- crowded bus. Once I entered Leopold's trigue him. Since there w^as nobody at flat, however, I inhaled the odors of hand to domineer, he vented his pique cuir de Russie and good coffee. I heard on fellow clients: the black man pour- the whisper of silk pajamas, met the ing ketchup into a mug of hot water, ghosts of discarded amours. The pull- the ugly girl opposite us in laddered out bed was comfortable. I could lie till stockings, the couple trying to placate noon beneath rustling quilts, dream- their child with cold baked beans. ing of triumphs and seductions. But Much of the world was starving, but in most respects Leopold was a hard Leopold, nourished by tribal memories taskmaster who quizzed me on my aca- of lost grandeur, discoursed on eti- demic knowledge. He'd read the com- quette and small distinctions. " «)|€|0|0 Quarter Notes "TTiis city's gone to pot," he warned me. keen appetite beside the wind-tossed "EVery day the hoi poUoi take over an- Hudson. He believed in discipline. He other block, whole districts. Why, even hoped that some golden morning his Fifth Avenue is ruined—utterty! One ship would dock. can't stroll there without encountering losers, panhandlers, tarts..." "Come," he invited me Just before Eas- ter, 1934. "Come to Luchow*s. Your par- "What are tarts?" I asked innocentty-. ents had their wedding dinner there—in '02 or thereabouts." "Rich pastries stuffed with sugar," he said. The German waiters actually feared Leopold. His military bearing and rigid Better days came. Leopold's allowance Teutonic notions filled them with awe. grew. Protected from alien hordes by He knew how hasenpfeffer should be his cane and grey spats, he introduced cooked. He was a stickler for dumplings me to concerts, museums, the opera. of the right consistency. He could tell Rumpeknayer's and the Brasserie Sla- Rhinegau from Domthaler by holding vonique were particular treats. When the glass beneath his patrician nose. he took me to his only club, the Grand Speaking correct hoch Deutsch, he usu- Street Boys, he ordered intricate dishes ally got an honored table in the Black in mediocre French and signed the tab Forest Room. with a flourish of his enormous Water- man. The manager saluted him. The at- "I tell you," he declared, "nothing beats tendants cringed at his frown. Beneath a fine wine at dinner. Pros'tl" portraits of Al Smith, Jimmy Walker, and Judge Leibowitz he must have felt The Gran Ticino below Washington ennobled by association; at least he Square offered tasty Piemontese fare. modified his high tone and curbed his Enthroned by the window one evening, tongue. my uncle gazed out at the icy pavement "Your grandfather was a charter mem- and reminisced about his three terms ber," he said. "Yes, before kikes were ad- as an art student. mitted." "Tough!" he began. "Grandpa was very While bigotry was stlU fashionable, my tough. Hated painters and poets. De- uncle's bigotry was diluted by much spised music and the dance. And yet, kindness to children, dogs, and the eld- he paid my fees—until the instructor erly. He was gallant to ladies. He over- told him I was hopeless....Look at the looked my foibles, yet in his office he wall yonder. An early effort, a little oil of barked at the typist and badgered King Humbert. I copied the mustaches Dawkins, his clerk. Impatient, opinion- from a sardine tin. The padrone gave ated, and rash, he was not at ease with me free dinners for eight blessed the law. Through the mist of nearly five months. Quid pro quo." decades I recall him striding manfully to his various destinations or honing a "You mean— Quarter Notes "Yes!" he thundered. "Art—damn it! The czars. Originally from Castille. One cgin Wops respect art, the Frogs too. Only tell from her eyes. A true aristocrat...." here is the painter in rags. Here art is an indulgence, a hobby for rich people." I knew only the faded beauties who wor- shipped at the Sephardic temple on That summer Leojxjld met Olga El- Central Park West who had Olga's color- canes, a Junoesque coloratura who'd ing and style. Much later, when illness starred in Donizetti and Mozart. Be- had ravaged her voice, Olga sang there cause of creeping diabetes, she'd aban- in long gloves that hid the needle doned opera for radio and church marks. As fall darkened above their ro- musicales. With her dyed black hair, mance, Leopold and Olga experienced a sparkling brown eyes, and a hard-won second youth.