Clock Without Hands -- Done

Well, I finished "Clock Without Hands" last night in my quest to switch my body's clock to the night shift this weekend. Eww. Anyway, given that this was the last book that Ms. McCullers finished, I feel like she was working out her own feelings on many different subjects in the end of her life.

McCullers husband committed suicide after asking her to participate in a double suicide. In this book, the Judge's only son commits suicide by hanging (same as her husband). The Judge's greatest sorrow that he never fully grieved was the death of his son and the question of why?. It was only in the end of his life that he came to grips with the loss. I imagine Carson M. having the same struggle. Although she was prone to episodic depression in her lifetime, it seems to me that she pushed her feelings aside to lessen the hurt.

Next: Carson McCullers had breast cancer and so did the Judge's wife. Much of the book dealt with death and dying, whether it be the living's reaction to it or the dying's journey with it. Maybe C.M. was trying to write the feelings she was experiencing with her own illness through her characters. I can't imagine a better cathartic experience.

Maybe her novels were an outlet similar to a journal, yet keeping that easy distance of not writing about yourself.

I like the way that C.M. writes; there's a lyrical twitchiness to it that I find amusing and effective. Maybe I'll have to get "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" now. We'll see.