". . . I had malarial fever all that spring. The change of climate from East Tennessee to the Delta - weakened resistance - I had a little temperature all the time - not enough to be serious - just enough to make me restless and giddy! - Invitations poured in - parties all over the Delta! - "Stay in bed," said Mother, "you have fever!" - but I just wouldn't - I took quinine but kept on going, going! - Evenings, dances! - Afternoons, long, long rides! Picnics - lovely! - So lovely, that country in May - All lacy with dogwood, literally flooded with jonquils! - That was the spring I had the craze for jonquils. Jonquils became an absolute obsession. Mother said "Honey, there's no more room for jonquils." And still I kept on bringing in more jonquils. Whenever, wherever I saw them, I'd say, "Stop! Stop! I see jonquils!" I made the young men help me gather the jonquils! It was a joke. Amanda and her jonquils! Finally there were no more vases to hold them, every available space was filled with jonquils. No vases to hold them? All right, I'll hold them myself!"
Wasn't "Tennessee Williams" a nom de plume for Fitzgerald?
ReplyDeleteHe was actually named Tom Williams. Doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it? He claimed it was a boyhood nickname, but sounds more like his owon (romantic) invention.
ReplyDeleteHe could have spelled it "Thom" and really pissed people off.
ReplyDeleteThom reminds me of Wm. Why don't all names have this? Mgt? Mtw? He would have been Tnnss Wms.
ReplyDeleteOr why wasn't he Ohio Williams, or Pennsylvania Williams, or. . .