Alice Munro married Gerald Fremlin and began writing about him. He inspired the central man in “Labor Day Dinner”—he was the man making fun of Roberta’s body. Speaking with a reporter, Munro said, “My husband doesn’t read my stories.” And Gerald made a correction: “I read them. We just don’t talk about them.”
Gerald popped up as Orpheus in “The Children Stay,” as Ladner in “Vandals,” as the murderer in “Dimension.” Although Rachel Aviv does not mention “Floating Bridge,” I think Gerald was there, too—he was the emotionally abusive partner. He was the suicide case in “Comfort.”
After Gerald died, Alice asked not to be buried near him. While senile, Alice mentioned that she never “wanted that pedafil”—she seemed to invent a word somewhere between “pedophile” and “pitiful.” Rachel Aviv writes about cycles of trauma—Alice once moved far away from her own mother, and later, Andrea Skinner detached herself from Alice. Skinner once observed a vacancy in Alice’s eyes; “it was like, for my mother, my emotions were not real.”
Families are so strange. Another part of the Alice picture was Jim Munro—Alice’s *first* husband. After the divorce, Jim profited from Alice’s name. The “Munro connection” was a big part of the success of Munro Books. Having learned the terrible realities of Alice’s second marriage, Jim continued to describe Alice as a pioneering feminist. The speeches helped to sell the novels.
I don’t know what to make of the Munro clan. I do admire Rachel Aviv; she has so much curiosity, and she gets people to “talk.” One critic compared Aviv to Janet Malcolm—I can see the connection, and the comparison must make Aviv feel proud.
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