Re: JCO: Marya: A Life

Hi, Anne. I have read the lit with great interest. Unconsummated sex can be
hot -- the heat of frustration and loss. You have to read the story in the
context of its times -- the late 1950s, which I know firsthand. And back then,
of course, lesbianism would have been yet another taboo. If Marya were
judged "immoral" by the college authorities -- either for heterosexual or
homosexual activity (or, odd as it may seem now, even for solitary autoeroticism) --
she would have lost her scholarship, her chance at a university career, and the
respect of her university peers. Marya wants to be able to follow her
signature with her college title, as you do in your message here. She doesn't want
to be simply Marya.
The picture of Dickie -- great name! -- represents sex, period, which
is not available to Marya if she expects to persevere in her intellectual
ambitions and break out of her working class background. That Imogene and Marya
are able to have a civil conversation years later -- after Marya has achieved
middle class status -- makes perfect sense.
Cyrano

In a message dated 1/6/2005 9:59:08 AM Eastern Standard Time,
CoonHollow@aol.com writes:

<< Cyrano, thanks for the input (sorry, I don't agree that Marya had a "hot"
relationship--I don't think she even slept with him). I'm actually looking
for
an interpretation of that particular scene with Imogene when they are
looking
at the pictures of Dickie on Imogene's bed. The question arises as to
whether
Marya's attachment to Imogene is repressed lesbianism; Imogene's invitation,
if it was one, would have been for other reasons, imho. My classes have
spent
several sessions hotly debating this scene, so I'm interested in input from
those who have studied the text.

>>
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