Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Nepenthe by Aaron Gottfried

Old literary find.

I only know this was written by Mr. Gottfried in 1926 because the letters and handwritten verse say so.

This Nepenthe has nothing to do with restaurants in Big Sur or any sort of drug or elixir, unless one considers a bright, burning temporary love an elixir. Perhaps it was to AWG as the Princeton University Press calls him. The book has an air of secrecy and anomymity about it. First the author is "AWG" and the lady love is never named, not even a first name is divulged.

The book is a book of verse describing the love that could never be between a Jewish boy and a grieving (for what, for whom?) southern belle on a European cruise. The boy never tells us if she won't marry him because he's Jewish or if he won't marry her because she's not, but it's clear that religion is the insurmountable obstacle.

The poems are a bit over elaborate, pompous and quite like you'd expect from a Princeton student of this time. Probably what the beautiful belle with the grey eyes would have expected as well. There are a few verses that work well and have a universal appeal, most are very personal. The lad might understand them, but we do not.

Inside each cover of the book was a handwritten page by "Aaron". The front cover contained two of the poems in script and the back cover contains a letter asking how the recipient of the book felt about "my little book" which he had sent her several months earlier. The lady who received the book, who may or may not be his inamorata, is named Madeline. Madeline carefully pasted both sheets of paper into the covers and saved them with the book. Aaron mailed the letter from The Princeton Club in New York. We do not know Madeline's last name or address, or if she ever responded.

Reading this Nepenthe and Aaron Gottfried's notes from 1926 had a very voyeuristic feel. I felt I was privy to a long kept secret. It left me wondering if the two lovers had families from whom they hid this relationship. Did Aaron marry a nice Jewish girl and have a family? Did he ever see his Southern lady again?

The questions make the book rather lovely.

I think I'll write a story based on my find. Maybe

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