JOSEPH AND THE OLD MAN*
Hardcover / Soft Cover 195 pages
Publisher: St Martins Press 1st edition (May 1986)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312444893
ISBN-13: 978-0312444891
E-BOOK: NO
I read JOSEPH AND THE OLD MAN in 1986 while on
vacation in the South of France. At the time I was forty-six and still
relatively young, and so I read the story through young eyes. I just reread the
book for my blog and not surprisingly that at sixty-eight, I found the story
resonating through older eyes. May-December loves. They are what many older men
who find themselves alone want, and what many younger men, for a variety of reasons,
often seek. This book falls into the category of what is termed literary
fiction. Its emphasis is on meaning, rather than entertainment.
The
protagonists in JOSEPH AND THE OLD
MAN are Oswald Stevenson, as the Old Man, a college professor and
prize-winning novelist, and Joseph Ross one of his students. There
is a line on page 62 where Joseph and the Old Man, having first met, are
walking together. ‘Mr. Stevenson spoke quietly and carefully and Joe brashly spoke
with the fervor of a young man who knows he is right.’ Ah yes, when I was
young, I remember well the surety of feeling that what I knew and understood
was completely true, and that perhaps, just perhaps, some other people may know
it too.
This
story takes place on Fire Island, just off the coast from Long Island, New
York. The time frame is the late ‘60s to the mid-70s; an era of my own life
where memories are still fresh. A line caught
my eye. Joseph says to the Old Man that Europe will never be united. In less
than twenty years from the publication of Joseph
And The Old Man, Europe had begun its union. Funny how our present outlook
can make our confident sense of what the future holds, utterly unreliable.
The
story reads like a play. Christopher Davis not only tells us what is happening,
he does it in a way that makes the reader a part of each scene. Davis takes us
into his mind’s eye. The reader sees not what Davis wants us to see, but rather
what Davis sees himself. I was there on the beach with Joseph and the Old Man
as they walked together and discussed what made Alexander the Great, so great. I
joined them as they swam with strong confidence through the ocean waves just
off Fire Island. All relationships come to an end, either by way of betrayal, death,
the withering of passion and interest in the other person, or just plain
carelessness. In Joseph And The Old Man
it is death’s scythe that cuts two people from one another. I was part of the
ritual gathering of friends who filled Joseph and the Old Man’s beach house on
Wednesdays and Saturdays. I was there too, when those same friends gathered to
grieve and to say goodbye.
Joseph And The Old Man brims with the emotions of longing,
respect, admiration, understanding, patience, yet as is appropriate, chief
among these is the love of two men for one another. While there is sadness in
this story, there is an overarching celebration of the strength in living,
rather than in dying, that in the end remains unconquered. I recommend this
book to anyone who wants to be included in a world of abiding friendship and gentle
caring.
* Joseph
And The Old Man is no
longer in print, but good clean copies are available from online booksellers. I
got my copy for just over $7, which included shipping.
