The Girl Pretending to Read Rilke - Softcover

Riddle, Barbara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0943485061 ISBN 13: 9780943485065

Publisher: Renaissance Sound Pubns, 2000

Synopsis

Nineteen-year-old summer intern Bronwen McCuddhy must prove herself worthy to join a team probing the deep mysteries of genetics- in spite of an unexpected telegram with news of a family tragedy that makes her question who she really is and what she wants from life. Her sense of humor and her secret weapon- the writings of the poet Rainer Maria Rilke- are the keys to her survival of that fateful, not quite typically American summer.

About this title

About the Author

Barbara Riddle was born in New York City in 1944 and grew up in the (then) shabby genteel bohemian paradise of Greenwich Village, when the best education in Manhattan was in the public schools--and after school in Washington Square Park.... She was painfully educated at Reed College (Woodrow Wilson Fellow) and holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Brandeis University. She turned down a fellowship to do postdoctoral work in England when she realized she would rather be an unsuccessful novelist than a successful scientist. She has never regretted that decision, even as it led to jobs as a dog- walker, artist's model, health food clerk and medical editor. Her highest honor was being voted "Best Sense of Humor" in the 7th Grade at P.S. 3, in the West Village. Barbara managed to realize her dream of living in England during the '70's and began to publish in little magazines in London and the U.S. (kayak, AMBIT), traveling also to Spain, Wales, Ireland, Germany, France and Switzerland. Two highlights from this time were hearing the dazzling Ted Hughes giving a live reading and receiving a postcard from Robert Bly praising a poem of hers. When she returned to the United States she settled in San Francisco, at first joining the poetry reading circuit and then mostly working at day jobs and raising her daughter Laramie (Wesleyan, theater/English, with honors). She was officially enrolled in the Creative Writing MA Program at San Francisco State (another degree!) until she dropped out to concentrate on her fiction efforts. She now lives in San Francisco and Greenport, Long Island with her husband, Czech emigre film director Ivo Dvorak ("The Metamorphosis") and their sheepoo (1/2 Shih Tsu, 1/2 poodle) Cosmo. They try to visit Prague- and Stockholm, where Ivo's adult children Adam and Simona now live. One of the benefits of being married to a Czech is discovering writers like Ivan Klima, who should be more widely read in America! (A favorite: "Love and Garbage") She is working on a second novel, and on a collection of short humorous pieces called "Not the Village Idiot" about growing up in Greenwich Village in the 'Fifties. One of these, "Sex and Sinclair Lewis" appears in the anthology Other Voices, available from Amazon.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

It was clear to Bronwen that this wasn't how Harvey had imagined it would be, not at all. He was lying on his back, concentrating all his brainpower on preventing the ceiling from slowly lowering itself down onto him. There were the snakes in the corner, too. He wanted someone to make sure the snakes stayed in the corner. And time was passing so slowly.

"Bron-wen! What time is it?"

"About a minute later than the last time you asked me, Harvey."

"Yes, but what time is it?"

"2:17 on a Saturday afternoon. In June. You're in your own flat, you took some peyote and you're going to be okay," Bronwen intoned for about the thirtieth time.

Eric turned his head in her direction and managed a feeble "Could I have another glass of water? My mouth is full of dry cotton balls."

All around the room, the cr me de la cr me of Harvard graduate students lay in various inert clumps, incapacitated by the marvelous cactus cocktail their host had served earlier.

Bronwen, fortunately, had immediately vomited her portion of the foul, moldy smelling brew and so she was both mobile and clear-headed. In point of fact, she was quite enjoying this bizarre turn of events. Queen-for-a-Day of the Egghead Peyote Zombies. Ah, how she could make them suffer if she had a mind to do so!

"Bron-wen, what time is ..."

"Harvey, dammit, it's going to be at least another five hours before this stuff wears off. Just look at your watch if you have to know what time it is." She had never spoken to any of Eric's friends like this before.

"I'm cold, I'm so cold ..." Bronwen was filled with contrition when she saw Harvey's pale, moist face and how his body was rigid with fear. It was so weird, looking down at her host lying on his best Oriental runner on the floor in front of the couch instead of ogling some babe from his usual perch among the itchy cushions.

She poked around in his hall closet and came back with a dusty dark green loden coat, which she draped over his body. She knelt down to tuck it around his stiff, frail body. It was the closest she'd ever been to Harvey. She caught a surprising whiff of baby talcum powder.

"Thank you. You are the kindest person in the universe. Thank you so much." With that, his eyes rolled back in his head and he tuned out of any remotely shared reality.

Eric, catatonic on the famous alpaca couch, sporadically raised his left arm and tried to make a record of the images and thoughts flooding through his mind. He kept dropping the pencil, but refused to give up his attempt. Days later, Bronwen found the yellow legal pad jammed under a cushion, its top sheet covered with the words:

Baskin-Robbins. Baskin-Robbins. Baskin-Robbins.

Edition details

• Publisher: Renaissance Sound Pubns
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0943485061
• ISBN 13: 9780943485065
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 212