Topical Guide 154
Mark Dorset
Geography: Iowa
LESS THAN A MONTH LATER, Mrs. Graham announced one day that Clarissa was going to be leaving Babbington and moving to Sioux City, Iowa, where her father would be devising new uses for setae, snouts, and trotters at Pickled Pork Products, a large and nationally famous company. While Spike was at the front of the room trying to find Iowa on the map of the United States, I looked at Clarissa. She was stroking her muff again.
Little Follies, “The Girl with the White Fur Muff”
Iowa is the state in red:
Lying and Truth-Telling
There was a silence. Then she looked at me and said, very softly, “Good-bye, Peter.”
“Good-bye, Clarissa,” I said. …
“Will you write to me?”
“I’ll write to you,” I said. “I promise I will.”
“Please don’t forget me.”
“I’ll never forget you,” I said.
She smiled again. “Why don’t you take my picture?” …
Through the viewfinder, I saw her frown. She wrinkled her nose, and furrows formed across her forehead. She stamped her foot, and I pressed the button at once.
“Got it!” I called back. …
The next day, I began using film.Little Follies, “The Girl with the White Fur Muff”
[A]ll the while, as train-time drew nearer . . . she [Gilberte] did not know whether her husband would really come or whether he might not send one of those telegrams of which M. de Guermantes had so wittily supplied the model, “CAN’T COME. LIE FOLLOWS.”
See also: Photography TG 36
[more to come on Friday, December 17, 2021]
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