My other favorite essay ("One Hot Summer") is by Lorrie Moore; she is looking back at her wedding. She is writing from the perspective of a now-divorced person.
Marriage and divorce are such freighted subjects; people get so sentimental. The dryness and fearlessness in Moore's opening cannot be imitated:
A bride on her summer honeymoon--what could be more beguiling?
Well, a younger bride, to begin with. One less destined to wear an off-white suit at the ceremony. (And what's with that, anyway? The advertising of a lady's past--the beige and ivory taint of autobiography dyed like a scarlet A into the threads of the dress....Jane Austen's mother wore red; she later cut up her attire for outfits for the kids. Who wouldn't want something actually bright and cuttable?)
The use of "cuttable" is interesting--it makes us wonder what other things Moore might want to "cut."
I had always had a little trouble with anything called an institution. I was thirty-four--and had been seeing the same man for four consecutive years. Not a record for anyone, except for him. We spent the spring fretting: should we get married? It was what came next. (Which would, in turn, quickly introduce the idea of divorce--we all are fiends for plot, narrative, rising action.) I wondered whether our marrying should really be this notch in the belt of time....If we NEEDED an event, we could, say, break up....
The voice is funny but also very serious. People are messy--it's just that the messiness isn't often discussed so boldly.
Moore makes herself into a character; like Nora Ephron, she triumphs by being the first to laugh at herself. Amazingly, she is able to *sustain* her tone for the next four pages--all the way to her conclusion.
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