Anger

Ned Fraser did not see himself as a husband. He became the unknown admirer of the singer, Anna Lindstrom. Anna was 34 and feared that her opportunities to make a mark with her art were passing. Ned encountered her at the swan boats and went for a ride with her. He had recognized her feeding the swans and introduced himself. He forgot his appointment at the Ritz. They ate together at the Somerset Club. Ned was a banker. He tells Anna during another dinner that her voice has blood, life in it. He claims that being defensive is very Bostonian. During the second meal together Ned asks Anna to marry him and she says yes. She warns him that he is marrying a tigress. She is fascinated by his dry manner of speaking. Anna says that getting married is like entering a foreign country. Anna finds the absence of endearments in Ned's speech off-putting. Ned finds Anna's criticism insulting. There is a shift and it is two years later. Anna and Ned have different temperaments. Their only safe talk is food and drink. Ned tires of Anna's scenes. The scenes help Anna to relieve tension. Anna receives a bad review of her singing with the Boston Symphony. Ned is afraid to come home to what he considers Anna's irrational anger. Fortunately she seems calm. Anna's sister in law tells her that the Frasers are knotted up. Hilda, the sister in law, is experiencing a great burst of painting. Ned was brought up to believe that surfaces must be kept pleasant. Their cottage in Beverly is a repository for odds and ends of furniture. It is a place where it is possible to shed public personalities. Anna feels that Ned can never admit the existence of a shadow dimension to life. Anna feels she is being asked to censor herself all the time. Anna cannot give in for the sake of peace because of her talent. Ned thinks he married fury. For Ned anger is a poison. Ned believes that Anna needs a psychiatrist to deal with her rages and fears. The couple fights bitterly one evening and ultimately reaches a stage of harmony. They are able to share some music making. Ned tells Anna that she has the lowest threshold of frustration he has ever encountered. The couple breaks through mutual reserve to mourn their fathers. Ned cancels his meetings to fly to Dallas to attend a concert of Anna's songs. Among other things this is a brilliant exposition of how an artist is able to use anger to serve her art. Bravo.

Much before the popularization of the Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus books, May Sarton put to a few pages this gently told story of a young marriage. And in this small novel, I found, she illustrated in a richly eloquent, and somewhat edited style, the 'big idea'. I read this one wintry week-end as a close friend from Boston was soaking in my bath tub avidly reading MMWV. She had come to visit me in the 'country' of western Mass., seeking answers to a failed relationship, needing the solace of our friendship, and some get-away time from the big city/the 'scene of the crime'. In Sarton's pages was the whole story told with mastery and objective kindness. I have since felt they should be sold side by side. I prefer her rendition. It's a slower read, but, I thought, it was just perfect.