Hurdle Mills, NC
February 20, 1991
Dear Wallace,
Yesterday I read the
Baudelaire chapter in Poem & Symbol; afterwards I took a roundabout walk
through Chapel Hill and Carrboro and let my thoughts react to the physical sensations
of seeing, smelling, hearing, feeling. By the time I looped back to downtown
Franklin Street, the town had changed into a city block. I could distinctly
smell the burnt cinders of the Continental Café, which was destroyed last
weekend.
La forme d’une ville
Change plus vite, hélas,
que le Coeur d’un mortel.
["The shape of a city
Changes faster, alas,
than the heart of a mortal."
~ Charles Baudelaire, «Le
Cygne» ("The Swan," 1857)]
Poem & Symbol is
exciting. Your writing is compact and forceful. I remember that when [Y] first
told me about you years ago, you were teaching a class on the French Symbolists,
and I read a few monographs about them, but none as stimulating as this. It’s
the impact of your economic style, which is what I admire about my favorite
French writers, too.
How have you been? Has
The Doors Complete been published? I am anxious to know the outcome of your
dealings with Sugarman and Lisciandro; also whether you have any opinions about
the Oliver Stone movie due in March. Morrison is a difficult character to
portray fairly to the American public. Most will react negatively to him. They’ll
be scandalized by his behavior. I am excited by the movie and hope it’s good.
Did you have a chance to see Henry & June? It was well-directed and well-shot,
and also “scandalous.” Uniformed police guarded the entrance to the theater.
I hope all is well with
you and that Carol Woods in endurable. Let’s get together soon, if possible. [Y]
and I are fine, still working on our studies at UNC. I’ll be receiving my
master’s in library science in May [which turned out to be December due to a
technical glitch] . . .
Warmly yours,
Erik
[The Continental Café and Hector's were linked eateries on Henderson Street, just off Franklin and across from the US Post Office. These were favorites as an undergraduate. The Greek owners were originally from a Greek island in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Turkey. The Continental had what looked like round white shields on the outside, and columns. Entering, the interior had cool images of what I interpreted as scenes from the Trojan War and Greek mythology, soldiers with plumed helmets and weaponry, &c. I loved it. It seems as if it was slightly below street level, and was darker inside, some wood paneling. There was a serene waitress with very long hair, maybe waist-length; she had the sangfroid of the Greek actress Irene Papas. This was a sit-down place. Hector's was brighter, on the corner of Franklin and Henderson, with a different entrance, and was open late; it served hot fries and tzatziki-lathered souvlakia and gyros wrapped in tin foil. It had stools and mirrors and windows and was more like a fast-food place.
Sugarman and Lisciandro = Danny Sugarman (1954-2005), who worked with The Doors and Iggy Pop, and Frank Lisciandro, whose Morrison: A Feast of Friends came out in 1991.
Oliver Stone -- The Doors (1991). Starring Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek and Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson.
Henry & June (1990), directed by Philip Kaufman and rated NC-17. Starring Maria de Medeiros as Anaïs Nin, Uma Thurman as June Smerdt Miller and Fred Ward as Henry Miller.
Carol Woods = at 750 Weaver Dairy Road, Chapel Hill.
Library school. Little did I know in walking the area in the spirit of Baudelaire that I would be living in London later that year, and move to Philadelphia the following January. I still enjoy seeing Chapel Hill and Carrboro, but am now lucky if I'm able to travel there two or three times per year. Baudelaire was right.]
[The Continental Café and Hector's were linked eateries on Henderson Street, just off Franklin and across from the US Post Office. These were favorites as an undergraduate. The Greek owners were originally from a Greek island in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Turkey. The Continental had what looked like round white shields on the outside, and columns. Entering, the interior had cool images of what I interpreted as scenes from the Trojan War and Greek mythology, soldiers with plumed helmets and weaponry, &c. I loved it. It seems as if it was slightly below street level, and was darker inside, some wood paneling. There was a serene waitress with very long hair, maybe waist-length; she had the sangfroid of the Greek actress Irene Papas. This was a sit-down place. Hector's was brighter, on the corner of Franklin and Henderson, with a different entrance, and was open late; it served hot fries and tzatziki-lathered souvlakia and gyros wrapped in tin foil. It had stools and mirrors and windows and was more like a fast-food place.
Sugarman and Lisciandro = Danny Sugarman (1954-2005), who worked with The Doors and Iggy Pop, and Frank Lisciandro, whose Morrison: A Feast of Friends came out in 1991.
Oliver Stone -- The Doors (1991). Starring Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek and Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson.
Henry & June (1990), directed by Philip Kaufman and rated NC-17. Starring Maria de Medeiros as Anaïs Nin, Uma Thurman as June Smerdt Miller and Fred Ward as Henry Miller.
Carol Woods = at 750 Weaver Dairy Road, Chapel Hill.
Library school. Little did I know in walking the area in the spirit of Baudelaire that I would be living in London later that year, and move to Philadelphia the following January. I still enjoy seeing Chapel Hill and Carrboro, but am now lucky if I'm able to travel there two or three times per year. Baudelaire was right.]
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