Dorian Graying: Is Youth the Only Thing Worth Having? 0895031698, 9780895031693

Table of contents :
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
You are Young
Part I
Is Youth the Only Thing Worth Having?
Tithon and On and On and On ... Parables of Immortal Aging
Dorian in His Own Times
Part II
Intermezzo
Dorian, The Opera
Part III
Dorian in Our Times
Part IV
Epilogue: You are Old
References
Appendix

Citation preview

DORIAN, GRA YING Is Youth the Only Thing Worth Having?

Robert Kastenbaum

Jon Hendricks, Editor SOCIETY AND AGING SERIES

First published 1995 by Baywood Publishing Company, Inc. Published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 52 VanderbiltAvenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright© 1995 Taylor & Francis

All rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reprinted or reproduced or

utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now

known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in

any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing

from the publishers.

Notice:

Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,

and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to

infringe.

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 94-24834 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kastenbaum, Robert. Dorian, Graying : is youth the only thing worth having?/ Robert Kastenbaum. p. cm. - - (Society and aging series) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-89503-169-8 (cloth). - - ISBN 0-89503-172-8 (paper) 1. Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900- -Characters- -Dorian Gray- -Drama. 2. Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900. - -Picture of Dorian Gray. 3. Old age -Drama. 4. Aging- -Drama. 5. Old age. 6. Aging. I. Title. II. Series. PS3561.A6999D67 1994 812' .54- -dc20 94-24834 CIP ISBN 13: 978-0-89503-169-3 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-89503-172-3 (pbk)

ofof

Contents

Table of Contents Dedication

III

You Are Young

vu

PART I

3

Is Youth The Only Thing Worth Having?

3

Tithon and On and On and On

... parables of immortal aging

9

Dorian in His Own Times

31

PART II

73

Intermezzo

75

Dorian, the Opera

79

PART III

169

Dorian in Our Times

171

PART IV

233

Epilogue: You Are Old

235

References

237

Appendix

241

v

You are young You are beautiful You are admired You are desired Life comes easy to you And life goes easy This way or that As the moment winks (Did I say: You are young?)

PART I

IS YOUTH

THE ONLY THING

WORTH HAVING?

Well, is it? Not if we are politically correct. We must believe that a person is valuable at any and all ages. We must at least try to believe this. And then we must try to convince others. Protect the children. Encourage the young. Cherish the elders. This belief encourages another: all ages are equally valuable. Person­ equity and age-equity are not identical, however. It is possible to conceive of value as an invariant. "Rough winds may shake the darling buds of May," so the gallant poet refuses to compare his love to a summer's day. Lovers and other boon companions affirm each other's enduring value by pledging their allegiance through whatever the years might bring. Who would have it elsewise? We are less skillful, though, in persuading ourselves and others that all ages are of equal value. Even gerontologists have difficulty with this one. Consider, for example, a little study that included advanced students of gerontology among its participants (Kastenbaum, Derbin, Sabatini, and Artt, 1972). This study introduced a multi-faceted technique for investigat­ ing personal age. An "Ages of Me" profile was developed as participants confided the ages that they believed other people took them to be, as well as their "feel," "interests," and "do" ages. Most relevant here was the question: "If I could pick out the age I would like to be right now, I would select. ..." You guessed it! The budding gerontologists were like everybody else: they thought of themselves as younger than their chronological ages and wanted to be younger than their chronological ages. Nobody, gerontologists included, wanted to be much older, but many 3

4 I

DORIAN, GRAYING

wanted to be much younger. These findings do not strengthen one's con­ fidence in age-equity theory, nor do most of the observations we make in daily life. Many of us do believe in person-equity across age, gender, ethnicity, and race. Few of us believe in age-equity. THE DORIAN THEME Dorian Gray cannot be counted among those few. This compelling character was introduced by Oscar Wilde in 1890 in a story that first appeared in the July issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. The Picture of Dorian Gray made both an immediate and an enduring impact. Early in the story Dorian experiences two successive encounters that change his life. Both encounters occur at the home of Basil Hallward, an artist who has asked him to serve as model for a portrait. There he meets a visitor. Basil's friend Lord Henry Wotten is an elegant, worldly, and self-assured person just a few years older than himself. As Basil puts the finishing touches to the portrait, Lord Henry amuses Dorian with his ironic observations on life. It is apparent that Dorian has never heard such pointed social criticism, certainly never spoken in so articulate and entertaining a manner. Lord Henry is impressed by Dorian's "frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair ... All the candor of youth was there, as well as all youth's passionate purity." His shafts of ironic wit are aimed at awakening this beautiful young man who seems so casual and unreflective about life. He succeeds. Here in a respectable Victorian drawing room, Dorian takes in the startling philosopy that the brave man rejects the chains and claims of society and reclaims his own nature. For example, Lord Henry asserts: We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us. The body sins once, and has done with its sin, for action is a mode of purification. Nothing remains then but the recollection of a pleasure, or the lUXury of a regret. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. The merry onslaught continues. You, Mr. Gray, you yourself, with your rose-red youth and your rose-white boyhood, you have had passions that have made you afraid, thoughts that have filled you with terror, day-dreams and sleeping dreams whose mere memory might stain your cheek with shame­

IS YOUTH THE ONLY THING WORTH HAVING? I 5

Dorian has to interrupt. Stop! You bewilder me. I don't know what to say. There is some answer to you, but I cannot find it. Don't speak. Let me think, Or, rather, let me try not to think.

A little later, in the garden, Lord Henry chides him about sitting in the sun: he shouldn't allow himself to be sunburnt. Dorian laughs, "What can it matter?" It should matter everything to you, Mr. Gray.

Why?

Because you have the most marvellous youth, and youth is the only

thing worth having.

Basil then shows Dorian the finished portrait. A look of joy came into pis eyes, as if he had recognized himself for the first time ... The sense of his own beauty came on him like a revelation. He had never felt it before.

Lord Henry's critique of morals and paen to youth suddenly had per­ sonal meaning to Dorian. The realization hit him that: Yes, there would be a day when his face would be wrinkled and wizen, his eyes dim and colourless, the grace of his figure broken and deformed. The scarlet would pass away from his lips, and the gold steal from his hair... He would become dreadful, hideous and uncouth.

It is a new Dorian who emerges from this meditation. He turns on Basil with an unprecedented burst of anger. He accuses the artist of liking him only because of his youth. How long will you like me? Till I have my first wrinkle, I suppose. I know, now that when one loses one's good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything. Your picture has taught me that. Lord Henry W otten is perfectly right. Youth is the only thing worth having. When I find that I am growing old, I shall kill myself.

6 /

DORIAN, GRAYING

This is the Dorian theme: the contention that youth is the only thing worth having. It is closely associated with the realization that life is brief and pleasures fleeting. Age-equity? An absurdity, a futile exercise in self-deception. Dorian would not choose to become old tomorrow-but he would gladly stay young forever. ABOUT THIS BOOK

In this book we explore the Dorian theme in several ways. There is no attempt to encompass all the ways in which the longing for eternal or prolonged youth has expressed itself. That would be a longer and more diffuse book. Instead we concentrate on Dorian Gray in his time and ours, as well as on a few other selected images from the remote past to the present. The purpose? To confront ourselves anew with the ancient fantasy of eternal youth as we rush ever more precipitously into an era of high technology that both generates and promises/threatens to fulfill fantasies both old and new. Part I offers two historical sketches. The first is devoted to the contra­ theme of immortal aging. What would it be like to grow older and older and older ... without end? We attend to two illustrious imaginings of the immortal aging theme, and then add one not-so-illustrious variation. Mythology, fiction, and contemporary gerontology all contribute to this exploration. Dorian in His Own Times concludes this section. Here we see something of the way in which a classic theme (eternal youth) expresses itself within a specific cultural context (Victorian England). As we con­ sider what may be universal and what may be culturally specific in the Dorian theme we are also preparing ourselves to confront this theme in our own times. Part II consists of Dorian, The Opera (minus the captivating and dramatic music composed by Herbert Deutsch).l Dorian is a present day retelling of Wilde' s story. Lord Henry has become Henry Lord, professor of literature. Basil the artist has become Rick Shannon, director of the university's Compumusic Research Laboratory. Dorian is still Dorian. You will recognize variants of some of the other original characters and meet a few new ones. The Dorian theme is intact, but interacting now with our own unVictorian society.

'The opera is scheduled for its premier series of performances at Hofstra University (Long Island, New York) February 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 1995.

IS YOUTH THE ONLY THING WORTH HAVING? / 7

Part III examines Dorian in Our Own Time, drawing upon the previous material in this book but also upon contributions from other contemporary authors and researchers.

Tithon and On and On and On .... parables of immortal aging Gulliver's Error

Captain Gulliver's error was swiftly exposed (Swift, 1726). He had just learned of a remarkable phenomenon that occurred at rare intervals in the Land of the Luggnaggians. Every now and then, a baby would be born with a red circular spot on its forehead, directly over the left eyebrow. This was "an infallible mark that it should never die." These immortals were known as Struldbrugs. There were perhaps eleven hundred Struldbrugs in the kingdom, their numbers having slowly increased over time. The veteran seafarer had heard many a tale from many a wagging tongue. This one topped them all. Enraptured, he cried out: Happy nation, where every child hath at least a chance for being immortal! Happy people who enjoy so many living examples of ancient virtue, and have masters ready to instruct them in the wisdom of all former ages! But, happiest beyond all comparison are those excellent Struldbrugs, who being born exempt from the universal calamity of human nature, have their minds free and disengaged, without the weight and depression of spirits caused by the continual apprehension of death (Swift, p. 217).

Here we have the first statement of disengagement theory. Elaine Cum­ ming and William E. Henry (1961) would later introduce a version with more appeal to contemporary gerontologists. Captain Gulliver believed that minds would become "free and disengaged" if one were not 9

10 / DORIAN, GRAVING

oppressed by "the continual apprehension of death." Cumming and Henry seem to have it just the opposite way: disengagement results from intima­ tions of mortality. Age taps us on the shoulder one day.

"Friend, I see we are going the same way, step by slowing step."

"I'm not your friend and my step is not slowing!"

"Your step is not slowing? Then why are so many passing us by? Like

it or not, I'm with you from now on. We might as well be friends, don't

you think?"

"Give me some time to think about it."

" Time to think about time? A good idea!"

"Time! I have this feeling ... ifs running out on me!"

"Well, then, well then! Why don't we just run out on time? Find a snug

little place of our own where nobody winds the clock or turns the pages

of the calendar."

"I like my place where it is!"

"Of course, you do. It's the only place you know. But, little by little, you

will find yourself drifting away from the business of a world that is

drifting away from you. And what a boon that will be! As Age, I relieve

you of obligation. Disengagement is-"

"Death."

"So, you do know my constant companion! What pleasures we will

enjoy together, staring at the glowing embers until they have turned cold

as ash."

"Is this the meaning of life, then?"

"Don't ask me. Ijust know that it is normative."

In an excited moment, Gulliver averred that our minds would be free and disengaged if we could only stop thinking about death. In scholarly deliberation, Cumming and Henry concluded that disengagement does not begin until we start thinking about death. Unfortunately, these varying conceptions were never put to the direct test, i.e., by inviting captain and researchers to a Gerontological Society symposium just before an over­ priced luncheon at the convention hotel. We can be reasonably sure of what they would have said, however. The scholars would have regaled us with handouts and slides from the Kansas City Study, suggesting that in their later adult years people do get around to thinking about time, values, and death. The captain, survivor of many a calamity on sea and land, would

TITHON AND ON AND ON AND ON / 11

have rubbed the back of his noggin and wondered: "What were they thinking about before then? Is aging a secret in these parts? Is death a rumour? Is this a land in which one and all are Struldbrugs? And isn't it about time for lunch?" It is probable that the luncheon hour would have brought the discussion to an end without a conclusion. We would have become more aware, though, of the mind-sets from which we proceed. Political correctness­ circa 1960--prohibited open discussion and inhibited internal dialogue about death. Something special had to happen if this prohibition was to be violated. The gravitational pull of biological aging and the push-come-to­ shove of social-political aging had to be persistent enough to overcome this great forgetfulness. Gulliver and his crew could not for a moment truly forget that their continued existence was at the fickle forbearance of wind and sea. Furthermore, they would not have thought of hauling out to sea without a destination, a map, and provisions for the entire voyage. A sailor's fantasy would have him dying peacefully as an old man in a real bed. A middle-class, middle-aged American's fantasy in the 1960's fea­ tured a bigger car roaring out of a bigger garage, its hood ornament gesturing grandly toward a bigger vacation. The highway ahead would be long and smooth, with many a roadside attraction. The driver and pas­ sengers, if not exactly young, would never be exactly old ... and the road would go on and on and on. And yet, beneath their differences, both versions of disengagement theory say much the same thing Come to terms with death, one way or another. Good-now you can live! The aging person who recovers the lost-in childhood sense of mortality has also recovered the freedom to live his or her own life again. To make this clear, we might offer a friendly amendment. Cumming and Henry characterized disengagement as "an increased freedom from the control of the norms governing everyday behavior" (pp. 210-211). This is a useful statement, but a hairbreadth's away from what needs to be said here: Disengagement is an increased freedom from the pretentions and deceptions that govern everyday behavior. The person who realizes (Weisman, 1974) time, aging, and mortality has withdrawn from the game of self and mutual deception. Disengagement theory was hasty in assuming that this withdrawal is preset for the later adult years. Children in Somalia, Herzegovnia-Bosnia, and in some of our own communities never had the opportunity to be socialized into genteel illusions. "Will I be alive tomorrow?" is the ques­ tion that matters. Other children and young adults develop observant and

12 / DORIAN, GRAVING

reflective minds that do not wait until the hour of the wolf to probe the inherent risks of the human experience. Furthermore, advancing years do not necessarily bestow the ability or the motivation to consider one's "being-in-the-world." Surprisingly few elders rush the book store and libraries in quest of Heidegger, Sartre, Husserl, Buber and others who have meditated famously on the meaning of time, being, and nonbeing. Instead we find them (and ourselves, of course) checking out the latest How to Stay Young with the Herbal Vitakreme Method. Disengagement theory reveals the insightful and reflective minds of Cumming and Henry (who were probably that way in their youth as well) and, no doubt, applies also to the cerebral reader of this book as well. But are your neighbors following the rules of disengagement theory? I thought not! Although disengagement is no longer on the lips of every gerontologist, it has bequeathed a gift that we neglect at our own peril: the gift of reminding ourselves that no theory of human development is complete without serious attention to time, aging, and death. Gulliver's error is perhaps his most valuable gift. Recall his exultation at discovering the existence of the Struldbrugs. Thinking then of his own merely mortal status, Gulliver sighed and allowed himself a moment's fantasy. What if he had been born with that precious red circular spot directly over his left eyebrow? The captain knew what he would have made of this rare opportunity. He would have developed himself into "a living treasury of knowledge and wisdom, and certainly become the oracle of the nation." He would have guided the young "by convincing them from my own remembrance, experience, and observation, fortified by numerous examples of the usefulness of virtue in public and private life" (Swift, p. 218). There is no reason to doubt the sincere and good-hearted captain's intentions. He was speaking thoroughly in character as a person who had always attempted to be positive, responsible and sane in his encounters with an assortment of Swiftian loonies. But he had misjudged the Struldbrugs, and misjudged them badly. This Gulliver himself observed when he had actual encounters with the blessed immortals. The Struldbrugs were: not only opionative, peevish, covetous, morose, vain, talkative, but uncapable of friendship, and dead to all natural affection, which never descended below their grandchildren .... they were despised and hated by all sorts of people (Swift, p. 233).

TITHON AND ON AND ON AND ON / 13

About the only thing in their favor was forgetfulness and aphasia. Or­ dinarily a source of distress, forgetfulness and aphasia at least placed some limits on the Struldbrugs literally never-ending harrangues and hectorings. Gulliver's primary error, then, was in his assumption that boundless life would take the form of boundless development. Perhaps Gulliver himself would have mined this opportunity for all it was worth. Perhaps he would have learned more, become more, and shared it all with others. We will never know. But we do know that nary a Struldbrug exemplified this ideal. They all seemed to become stunted in their early development of self. At age fifty they did not know twice as much as they die at twenty-five-per­ haps their peevish and opinionated outlook had already reduced their understanding of life. At age 100 they were surely less competent and useful than at age fifty .... and on and on and on. Gulliver may have noticed something of a resemblance between the ever-aging, never-dying Struldbrugs and the stalwart citizens of his own fair island. This resemblance certainly did not escape Jonathon Swift. So petty is human nature, so self-bedazzled, so wicked that all unlimited time would accomplish is unlimited pettiness, self-bedazzlement, and wicked­ ness. The Struldbrugs were simply one's own neighbors grown older but not wiser. The implicit model of development and aging here: • Who we become depends on who we were • We're mostly a scurvy, shiftless, miserable crew who will only become more so if we don't break our necks first in some piece of foolishness Gulliver made another instructive error, as you may well have noticed. He assumed that the nation would welcome an oracle, a "living treasury of knowledge and wisdom." He assumed the young would be persuaded by "my own remembrance, experience, and observation." He assumed they would be "fortified by numerous examples of the usefulness of virtue in public and private life." Yes, the sage is an archetypal-type character who has been described and praised in many cultures in many times and places. In practice, however, the sage usually must function within a constricted and precarious role (Kastenbaum, 1994). Futhermore, elder reminiscences of virtue were not assured of rapt juvenile audiences in Gulliver's day. Adventures, romances, parodies and scandals were more appealing then as now. In fact, Gulliver's Travels owes its own enduring

14 I DORIAN, GRAYING

popularity more to its colorful incidents and barbed shafts of wit than to its deadly serious intent. No, eleven hundred oracular Struldbrugs would have difficulty attracting the youth of the land, especially when spring's in the air, every chance meeting seems a rendezvous, and there's a ball game some place. To the implicit theory of development and aging we now add: • We don't want to be better than we are if it means having to listen to some old guy telling some old stories.

Alternative version: • It's hard enough to go through life, and hard enough to invent viable theories about going through life-so don't confuse the issue by insist­ ing on moral development, too!

These protestations should not be too hastily dismissed. Note that "Experience is the best teacher" is the adage, not "Somebody else's experience is the best teacher." The young feel entitled to make their own mistakes and thereby compile their own reminiscences and sage observa­ tions that will be as steadfastly ignored by the next generations. "We should all become better people as we go through life" is a pious commonplace that has seldom if ever been subjected to critical analysis. One facet of the needed analysis is prefigured in the complaint that it is hard enough to understand the what-is ofhuman developmental experience without at the same time compounding the difficulties by interpolating beliefs about the what-should-be. Anatomy, physiology, psychology, and medicine (also astronomy, chemistry, physics, etc.) had to be pried from the bony fingers of medieval theology before the scientific spirit was free to begin its investigations of the what-is. A second facet of the needed analysis involves the competition for most persuasive moral scenario. Philosophers have argued that the child is a little savage who needs to be tamed if not civilized. The course of develop­ ment, then, is basically a course in becoming a responsible, obedient, dependable member of society. Makes sense, doesn't it? Other philosophers have argued that the child is the natural person, a sweet innocent babe who unfortunately becomes embittered, beaten down, cor­ rupted, folded, spindled, and mutilated by the cruel force and shallow values of society. That makes sense too, doesn't it? We should proceed

TITHON AND ON AND ON AND ON / 15

from savage to sage as we grow old, according to the first conception. The progression is from earth angel to Struldbrug according to the second conception. And these are only the two most obvious approaches to the supposed relationship between biosocial and moral development. Perhaps we should exercise restraint in the assumptions we sponsor about the interpenetration of the what-is and the what-should-be. Perhaps we should observe, experiment, and experience rather than take our answers off the dusty shelf. And that makes sense, too, doesn't it? Tithon and the Touch of Dawn

Aging extended without limits is the other side of the fantasy coin from the more popular idea of youth extended without aging. So unpopular is this idea that the encounter with the Struldbrugs is often omitted from Gullivers Travels (many editions are abridged). It must be admitted that the Luggnaggian immortals were (are?) an unappealing lot. Readers are not invited to feel sympathy, not even pity. Strudlbruggian age victimizes those who must put up somehow with their tedious and selfish ways. So we speak now of Tithon. The young, the beautiful, the admired, the desired Tithon. His story has the power to disturb-and inform-us in a different way. It is a story that is brief in the telling, endless in the imagining. Tithon had everything going for him. He was one of the elite, a Trojan prince. His brother Priam would become king ofTroy and a principal in the great war described and invented by "Homer." The Iliad offers a passing mention of "high-born Tithonus." He is lying on a couch, not alone. His companion does not spend quite all her time on the couch: "Dawn, rosy­ fingered, arose to bring light to the gods and to mortals." Aurora was the goddess of dawn and it is her rosy fingers that caress the skies as night gives way to morning. Aurora had been among many who admired the handsome Tithon. She called on both her charms and her godly power to make Tithon her own. Aurora was not a novice at this sort of thing. She had scandalized the other Olympians repeatedly (by doing pretty much what they were doing). However, she recognized that she had something very special in Tithon. He was a keeper. But how? How was a goddess to keep a mortal lover? Tempting though we mortals be, we do not keep that well. Aurora knew just what to do.

16 I DORIAN, GRAVING

She worked on her father. Jupiter could do anything. One just had to persuade him. Jupiter finally capitulated. All right, all right. He would make Tithon immortal-but only this once! Aurora now had her dream lover in perpetuity and Tithon had become the world's worst prospect for life insurance. This splendid arrangement suited the lovers and produced two strapping sons, one of whom became prince of Ethiopia. Unfortunately, it did not long remain so. Aurora had forgotten. Forgotten what? Oh, no! Oh, yes! Aurora had forgotten to ask that eternal youth be granted to Tithon. That mean and crafty Jupiter! That careless Aurora! And that doomed prince of Troy! Imagine for yourself, Tithon. Imagine the odd and unexpected changes that make him wonder. "What's going on here? I'm supposed to be immor­ tal, right?" Imagine his panic as the evidence becomes undeniable. "This is horrible! This is beyond bearing! This is beyond anything!" Nor is there remedy. He must live and he must age. Imagine, if you will, what becomes of their relationship. At what point does Aurora turn from his embraces? At what point does Tithon despair of ever again possessing his goddess? Aurora's gUilt! Tithon's anxiety! Aurora's aversion! Tithon's self-loathing! Aurora's pity! Tithon's lament! And on and on and on it all must go. And on and on it still must go today. Aurora continues her appointed round of responsibilities. Each day she is as young as the dawn she brings. She lights the way for gods and mortals, but no longer finds comfort and bliss on the couch where high-born Tithon once lingered beside her. Tithon? Mythological rumor has it that Tithon grew smaller and smaller as he aged (Grimal, 1990). When he dwindled down to the size of a baby or a doll, Aurora placed him in a wicker basket. Later, for reasons unknown to us, she transformed him into a cricket.

Me Only Cruel Immortality Consumes Tithon's fate retains its power to move and instruct us. Ardent lovers have always feared the cruel thievery of time. It is only human-and only

TITHON AND ON AND ON AND ON / 17

godlike-to wish for the continuation of this good life. How sad, how cruel that the quest for perpetual bliss should be transformed into per­ petual misery! Aurora and Tithon sought what all lovers seek-or think they seek. One young man in particular was well instructed by this story. Alfred Tennyson had experienced more than his share of anxiety throughout childhood (Colley, 1983; Martin, 1980; Tennyson, 1981). He was often despondent and occupied with thoughts of death. In a self-description: An infant crying in the night: An infant crying for the light: And with no language but a cry. And now he was grieving the death of his closest friend. Arthur Hallam had also been a sensitive young man and a writer. In today's social science jargon, both were "marginalized" by a society that had little use for perceptive and imaginative youth. Neither had "prospects," indeed, on that basis Hallam was rejected as a suitor for one of Alfred's sisters despite the fact that this was virtually a disowned wing of the Tennyson family. Alfred Tennyson was not sure that he wanted to go on with what he felt to be "death-in-life." A conclusive death-in-death might be the best course of action. There he stood: the death of his friend behind him, his own death perhaps just a step ahead. But this, after all, was Alfred Tennyson, the poet. He did not suicide. He composed poems. In composing these poems he very likely saved his life. Specifically, Tennyson wrote three poems each of which took an old man as its subject. He was creating possible selves and placing them on the time-road ahead (Kastenbaum, 1989). What were his options? What kind of old man might he become that it would be good to become? And, most urgently, what could he learn frdm these possible selves that he could draw upon for guidance now? His gallery of youth-created old men included one of his finest and most famous poems. A first-person narrative, Ulysses presents a man who has lived an extraordinarily full life, with adventures that included "The ring­ ing plains of windy Troy." He could state with conviction that "I am a part of all that I have met." The old seafarer despises and rejects his current situation, "an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags." This is not how he would choose to end his days. His "gray spirit" was still "yearning in desire." Although he had experienced so much:

18 I DORIAN, GRAYING

Life piled on life Were all too little, and of one to me Little remains; but every hour is saved From that eternal silence, something more, A bringer of new things; and vile it were For some three suns to store and hoard myself .... Still hungry for experience, Ulysses resolved: To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. Ulysses is the mentor Tennyson created for his own guidance, fashioned from the stuff of mythology and his own thus-far unrealized aspirations. Saint Simeon Stylites was created as a warning, a road-not-be-taken. Altho' I be the basest of mankind,

From scalp to sole one slough and crust of sin,

Unfit for earth, unfit for heaven, scarce meet

For troops of devils, mad with blasphemy,

I will not cease to grasp my hold

Of saintdom, and to clamour, mourn, and sob,

Battering the gates of heaven with storms of prayer ....

This parody of a self-mortifying hermit (considered historical by some, legendary by others) has a serious purpose. It acknowledges that holy madness is one tempting way to deal with the terrors of life. Renounce both ordinary pleasures and social responsibilities. Pride yourself on your humility. Make sure that you will be the first saved: Who may be a saint, if I fail here?

Show me the man hath suffer'd more than 1.

Saint Simeon Stylites did not have to fear for the loss of his youth. He had no use for the passions and ambitions that torment the young. He was already at the door of eternity, scratching and whining to get in. Tennyson would have to admit that this temptation was not entirely alien to him. How could he have avoided the religious sentiment of his age and the reverberat­ ing saints and miracles of past ages? Resourcefully, he externalized and

TITHON AND ON AND ON AND ON / 19

mocked what he intuited to be a character flaw that, unchecked', just might get the best of him. Ulysses, the mentor, a sea-farer whose capacity for experience and adventure far surpasses even the redoubtable Gulliver! Saint Simeon, the epitome of foolishness who abandons the possibilities of life and the strictures of reason and dignity! And now we come, finally, to Tithonus. It is here that Young Man Tennyson speaks most authoritatively to himself through Old Man Tennyson. Allow yourself the pleasure of reading this poem aloud in a measured, flowing, and unhurried manner. Be Tithonus. TITHONUS The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,

The vapors weep their burden to the ground,

Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,

And after many a summer dies the swan.

Me only cruel immortality

Consumes: I wither slowly in thine arms,

Here at the quiet limit of the world,

A white-hair'd shadow roaming like a dream

The ever-silent spaces of the East,

Far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of mom.

*

*

*

*

Alas! for this gray shadow, once a man­ So glorious in his beauty and thy choice, Who madest him thy chosen, that he seem'ed To his great heart none other than a God! I ask'd thee, "Give me immortality." Then did'st thou grant mine asking with a smile, Like wealthy men who care not how they give. But thy strong Hours indignant work'd their wills, And beat me down and marr'd and wasted me, And tho' they could not end me, left me maim'd To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was, in ashes. Can they love,

20 I DORIAN, GRAYING

Thy beauty, make amends, tho' even now,

Close over us, the silver star, thy guide,

Shines in those tremulous eyes that fill with tears

To hear me? Let me go: take back thy gift:

Why should a man desire in any way

To vary from the kindly race of men,

Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance

Where all should pause, as is most meet for all?

*

*

*

*

A soft air fans the cloud apart; there comes A glimpse of that dark world where I was born. Once more the old mysterious glimmer steals From thy pure brows, and from thy shoulders pure, And bosom beating with a heart renew'd. Thy cheek begins to redden thro' the gloom, Thy sweet eyes brighten slowly close to mine. Ere yet they blind the stars, and the wild team Which love thee, yearning for thy yoke, arise, And shake the darkness from their loosen'd manes. And beat the twilight into flakes of fire.

*

*

*

*

Lo! ever thus thou growest beautiful In silence, then before thine answer given Departest, and thy tears are on my cheek. Why wilt thou ever scare me with thy tears, And make me tremble lest a saying learnt, In days far-off, on that dark earth, be true? "The Gods themselves cannot recall their gifts."

*

*

*

*

Ay me! ay me! with what another heart In days far-off, and with what other eyes I used to watch-if I be he that watch'd­ The lucid outline forming round thee; saw

TITHON AND ON AND ON AND ON / 21

The dim curls kindle into sunny rings;

Changed with thy mystic change, and felt my blood

Glow with the glow that slowly crimson'd all

Thy presence and thy portals, while I lay,

Mouth, forehead, eyelids, growing dewy-warm

With kisses balmier than half-opening buds

Of April, and could hear the lips that kiss' d

Whispering I knew not what of wild and sweet,

Like that strange song I heard Apollo sing,

While Ilion like a mist rose into towers.

*

*

*

*

Yet hold me not for ever in thine East: How can my nature longer mix with thine? Coldly thy rosy shadows bathe me, cold Are all thy lights and cold my wrinkled feet Upon thy glimmering thresholds, when the steam Floats up from those dim fields about the homes Of happy men that have the power to die, And grassy barrows of the happier dead. Release me, and restore me to the ground; Thou seest all things, thou wilt see my grave: Thou wilt renew thy beauty mom by mom; I earth in earth forget these empty courts, And thee returning on thy silver wheels.

Tithon's Lesson Why did Tennyson trouble himself to create this narrative and sound it through the mythic personna of Tithon? He might have simply told him­ self, "Morbid young man: you can't beat the system. Nobody can. Accept life on life's terms. Just get on with it." But he would not have been credible to himself. A more authoritative and impressive source was neces­ sary. Tithon not only qualified for the assignment on the basis of his unique experience, but also as a representative of hallowed antiquity. The cosmic scenario was thereby invoked. More was at stake than the fate of an

22 I DORIAN, GRAYING

obscure and miserable young man. All mortals are in the same dilemma, and not even the gods can rescue them. The heart passionate in love insists on immortality. This cannot be. This should not be. The pained heart, denied love, insists passionately on death. This should not be. This cannot be. We must all accept our place in nature. "The woods decay and fall ... Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath." Even the beautiful swan must perish. Tennyson, then, generates universal resonance to his inner dialogue. He had explored the suicide option in a poem written not long before his friend's death. The Two Voices begins: A still small voice spake unto me, "Thou art so full of misery Were it not better not to be?" The voice that counsels self-destruction and the voice that whispers the hope of endless life were not unique to this young man. Youth suicide and youth fantasies of invulnerablity continue their sometimes deadly dialogue to this day. The most striking line in Tithonus is one that seems to be unTennysonian. Read through page after page of his flowing, well-mannered verse. And then encounter: Me only cruel immortality

Consumes

The unexpected word sequence suggests a feeling torn out of the gut, too urgent and powerful to be constrained in conventional verse. Tithon's anguish cannot be doubted. It is perhaps the most credible line in all of Tennyson if also the least characteristic. This "special effect" line preserves its dignity and impact because it is followed immediately by a return to the poet's usual genteel style: I wither slowly in thine arms, Here at the quiet limit of the world After the outburst-the futile outburst-withering slowly is all that Tithon can do.

TITHON AND ON AND ON AND ON I 23

The poem works at transforming Tennyson's own longing for and fear of death into a credo by which he might continue to live. It is the wisdom of an old man he seeks, and finds: Why should a man desire in any way To vary from the kindly race of men, Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance Where all should pause, as is most meet for all? It is, he tells himself, ridiculous to lash oneself to the mast of fantasy,

yearning for what cannot be-and what would be unbearable if it did become reality. Yet hold me not for ever in thine East: How can my nature longer mix with thine? Viewed in this way, death loses its sting. In Tennyson's transforma­ tion the force of mortality acting upon the passive and unwilling mortal becomes: happy men that have the power to die It is immortal aging that is wrong. It is immortal aging that deprives one of pleasure, dignity, and power. It is immortal aging that should remind us of Blake' s aphorism: He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise. And sun rise is, of course, Aurora's department. Tithon, cricket though he be, recalls the joys that Aurora brought to him in the past, how he felt his blood Glow with the glow that slowly crimson'd all All the world enjoyed the coming of dawn, but it was also a personal caress for him, lover to the goddess:

24 I DORIAN, GRAYING

Mouth, forehead, eyelids, growing dewy-warm With kisses balmier than half-opening buds Of April, and could hear the lips that kiss' d Whispering I knew not what of wild and sweet What we find here is another example of the young poet's skill in transformation, a kind of verbal and imaginal alchemy. Past is past. Joys cannot be fixed or prolonged indefinitely. But memory-ab, memory! Tennyson obeys Blake's dictum to "kiss the joy as it flies." Yet the kiss is there to enjoy whenever time-transcendent memory casts its spell. Tithon!I'ennyson also liberate themselves from the miseries of the present by envisioning the future. Thou seest all things, thou wilt see my grave We notice (whether or not we are supposed to) that Tithon!I'ennyson are subtly infiltrating that very future to which they have just abandoned their claims. It is Aurora who seest all things and therefore will see his grave. But Tithon!I'ennyson are there as well, seeing Aurora seeing the grave. Past and future co-exist in the minds of the troubled poet and the withering prince. Even as both come to terms with the natural limits of the human experience, both also indulge in memories and imaginings that seem to transcend these limits. There is an additional lesson we might learn from Tithon by way of Tennyson. The meaning of immortal aging depends much on the individual's level of awareness. The Struldbrugs blinkered themselves early in their developmental careers. They became less and less aware of both inner and outer worlds. It would be typically Struldbruggian to have no clue about the ways in which one's own communications and behaviors were affecting other people. It would also be typically Struldbruggian to adopt a set of rules after limited and not very successful experience, and to follow these rules in a rigid manner. They go through life but have few actual experiences. The Struldbrugs offer perhaps the most profound example of hyperhabituation (Kastenbaum, 1993). Little new information is processed and little information is "processed newly." The Struldbrugs make others miserable, but they themselves have lost the capacity to experience the depths of sorrow known to Tithon. The

TITHON AND ON AND ON AND ON / 25

withering prince knows very well what is happening-his mind is as sharp and clear as ever. By contrast, the Struldbrugs just go on and on, like the battery-powered pink bunny, but lacking its sunny disposition and jeau d'spirit. Given immortal aging, then, we cannot rush to a conclusion about the individual's experience. Try this statement again, with one small modification: Given aging, then, we cannot rush to a conclusion about the individual's experience. Reflect for a moment on all adult men and women who are aging, i.e., all adult men and women. Some of these people are acutely aware of the changes that are taking place in themselves and in their relationships with the sociophysical environment. Some are hyper-alert to these changes. Their lives may become centered around actual or feared changes. It is true that they are not being subjected to immortal aging. Nevertheless, they may be experiencing a kindred stress that is unique within their own lives. Their aging seems endless within their own frame of reference. "This is going to get worse and worse ... My wrinkles will have wrinkles ... I won't be able to eat any of the things I like ... I will need another pair of glasses just to find my glasses .... " Others don't notice their aging to the same extent, certainly, they do not dwell on it. This is not so unusual. Some people are too busy with ongoing life to spend much time comparing, reflecting, and worrying. Others make many little adjustments as they go along. They find an easier way to do some things and discover that some things they really don't have to do any more. Still other people harbor apprehensions about aging, but usually keep these concerns from intruding on their daily lives ("Let tomorrow take care of itself'). And then there are those who have tasted of the River of Forgetfulness. Suffering significant memory impairment, they are spared the suffering that accompanies comparing a dismal present with a glorious past. There are some mortals, then, whose obliviousness of their aging process resembles the blinkered immortals of the Luggnaggians. Although for different reasons, neither comprehends what they have lost nor what role they play in the cosmic circus. The mortals who are most focus sed on their aging are spared the "life sentence" that was passed on Tithon. And yet their predicament may seem everlasting to them. Think how endless an hour may seem to a restless child waiting for the school bell to sound or to an adult undergoing a session with the dentist. "This won't go on forever," is a truthful statement one might offer in consolation. "But it seems like

26 I DORIAN, GRAVING

forever!" is the probable response. Duration is highly subjective, highly personal. Experimental psychologists as well as philosophers have had more than they can handle in the attempt to define and explicate subjective time. We know, however, that temporal experience differs by person and situation. And so there are people today who feel almost as despondent as Tithon because to them time has become aging and aging has become endless. The high suicide rate among elderly men perhaps testifies to the anguish this perception can generate. Mortal aging takes diverse pathways, especially when we factor in situation as well as individual. Immortal aging-aware or blinkered­ seems to be a negative prospect. Why do we not have a good story about positive immortal aging? [Such a story should be distinguished from accounts of a select few who have been described as living for a great many years with little or no signs of aging, for example, H. Rider Haggard's She (1928).] Well, here's a little story-not necessarily good, but perhaps good enough to stimulate better efforts from others. The Legend of Eleven-O-One

"Do you see? Do you see?" Mrs. Mammassussess held the tiny newborn in its swaddling. Naturally, they all crowded around. They saw. "It's not a-" A neighbor bit her tongue just in time. She had almost used the S-word. "Of course, it's not!" snapped Mrs. Mammassussess. She could be forgiven about being snappish on this occasion. Everybody knew that she was the great granddaughter of the last woman to give birth to a, well, a you-know-what. Like her mother and grandmother before her, Mrs. Mam­ massussess had earned the trust and gratitude of her community as the midwife most in demand. Nobody had blamed her family line for produc­ ing the-ah-but they all had taken it on themselves to compensate as best as they could for the misfortune. "Is that a circle? I ask you, is that a circle?" "More like a crescent," offered one tentative voice. "And is it red? I ask you, is it red?" "I would say more in the line of blue-purple-Iavendar. No, not red." "And is it above her left eyebrow? I ask you, is-"

TITHON AND ON AND ON AND ON / 27

As though on cue, they all touched their fingers to the imaginary blue, purple, or lavendar crescent above their right eyebrows. "Not a circle. Not red. Not left. Not-not what you were all afraid she might be." But what was she, then? Who could even dare to speculate? They all looked at Mrs. Mammassussess. Very gently she rocked the little one. And it was to the little one that she spoke, and softly. "Moon child, moon child," she crooned. "Once in a blue moon child. What is to become of you, what is to become of you, blue moon child?" After a moment, the eyes of the midwife fastened on all present. You could not have said with certainty that she was looking at this per­ son or that, but all felt the full force of her gaze. And you could not have said that she pledged them to secrecy or acts of conspiracy, but, again, all felt that they had no choice but to meet the implicit obligations. The mother understood best of all. She was also the least surprised. Some­ how she had known that this small life inside her was not like every other baby. Outsiders-those who were not present on this momentous occasion­ knew only that Lunaria was an exceptionally bright, energetic, and inquisi­ tive child. There were other young sparks whose curiosity, independence, and daring almost matched hers. Predictably, they all became more adult­ like as they approached adulthood, that is to say, cautious, diligent, obedient, responsible and a little boring. All save Lunaria. She became ever more the individual, ever more the adventurer, ever more the enter­ tainer, ever more the source of astonishment to others. Lunaria had the gift of delighting and befriending others; her company was sought and treasured. Nevertheless, she was becoming increasingly unlike her peers. Nobody could laugh like Lunaria unless it was the waterfalls congratulat­ ing the fledgling bluebirds on their first flight. Nobody could muse as intently as Lunaria unless it was the crescent moon absorbed in its reflec­ tion. As a fledged adult, Lunaria came into contact with a wider world, and that wider world with her. Imperceptibly but undeniably, she became the spirit of the people. She was the smile, the grace, the wit, and-yes, the wisdom that had seemed far beyond the aspirations of the common people of Luggnaggia. Now it all came a little easier to them as well. Most remarkable perhaps was the fact that Lunaria was continuing to develop.

28 / DORIAN, GRAYING

Unlike practically anybody else who might come to mind, she was engrossed in learning, whether from the book of scholarship, the book of life, or the book of nature. Little by little, others could not help but to try this for themselves. She never lectured or prompted and never-ever turned her learning into a parade. And the people seemed to realize, yes they seemed to realize that in following her example they did not have to become replicas of this unique person. What they were becoming was more of their own selves. "Moon child," crooned Old Mrs. Mammassussess. "Moon child, once in a blue moon child," she crooned from her death bed. "What has become of you, blue moon child?" "I don't know." Lunaria replied with her simple dignity. "I think-I think I am still becoming." "Yes, dear. I can see that." It was at this moment that Old Mrs. Mammassussess decided not to make that little confession, not to share that little secret after all. Who really needed to know that Struldbrug Number Eleven-O-One had finally made its appearance? And what did it matter if she, knowing the Struldbruggian way all too well, had played that little trick? Oh, she might have been content with concealing the tell-tale red circle. This part of the trick had been passed down from one Mammassussessian midwife to the next. But concealing the distinguishing mark would not have prevented the inevitable tragedy. And now on her bed from which only her spirit will rise, she should not judge herselftoo harshly-or give others any occasion to do so. The kiss had an astonishing effect. The beautiful Lunaria had kissed her mouth, then forehead, eyelids, growing dewy-warm With kisses balmier than half-opening buds Old Mrs. Mammassussess felt a glow as of dawn caressing her with its rosy-blue-purple-Iavendar fingers. With a tear and a smile, Lunaria bent low over her. "That was a splendid trick, Mammasu. You persuaded mother and all the rest that I was a once in a blue moon baby. I could not survive for the next day unless I experienced love and learning. Every day was a life. And, oh, the dear people, every day they taught me to love and

TITHON AND ON AND ON AND ON / 29

to learn. I was renewed from mom by mom-and now I think I have the trick of it." The old woman, who had not smiled often in her life, smiled then. She knew that Lunaria knew. Eleven-O-One was the first of the new Struldbrugs, the first to age gloriously. Mrs. Mammassussess would her­ self share this great good news with Tithon.

Dorian in His Own Times People usually prefer life to death and youth to age. Some even prefer death to age, or think that they do. It would be overstating the case to say that it is a universal fantasy to be forever young. We just don't know about that. Nevertheless, it is clear that this fantasy appears repeatedly within many sociocultural contexts. Gerald J. Gruman (1966) coined the termpro[ongevity to encompass the numerous expressions of this fantasy from ancient times through the eighteenth century. Advocates of "radical prolongevitism" were so optimistic that they foresaw a decisive solution to the problems of death and old age; they aimed at the attainment of virtual immortality and eternal youth. Most Taoists of ancient China belong to this category as do also many of the medieval Latin alchemists. In the modem period, Condorcet supported the radical view and so did the Englishman, William Godwin, and the interesting nineteenth­ century American, C. A. Stephens. All shared the belief that human life may be lengthened indefinitely .... For the most part, the search for long life has gone hand in hand with the quest for rejuvenation (Gruman, pp. 7-8).

Although the fantasy remains a fantasy, it has had many practical consequences through the centuries. Gruman observes that advances in science, commerce, and exploration of the world often were motivated by the quest for a substance that would preserve or restore youth. Cosmetic firms and their marketeers continue to make a good living off this fantasy. Dorian Gray is a compelling representation both of the eternal youth fantasy and of the socio-cultural context in which he was engendered. He is just distant and just close enough to offer a valuable angle of perspective

31

32 I DORIAN, GRAYING

on our own times. Furthermore, he may be even more dangerous today than in his original incarnation. THE FOUR R'S OF THE VICTORIAN ERA

Officially, the Victorian era began with that notable queen's ascension to the throne in 1837. How long it lasted is a matter of conjecture and dispute. Some Victorian era characteristics seem to have persisted until World War 1; other characteristics flared brilliantly and then vanished during her life-time. Those of us who are not specialists in this era might be forgiven for our compressed and simplified view. The Victorians themselves lived a complex and conflictful story with many an unexpected turning of the plot and many an alarming revelation of character. In my mental wanderings along the prim-rose paths and through the brutal alleys of nineteenth-century England I could not help but notice certain persistent and recurrent themes. Unbidden, these themes sorted themselves out tidily into the Four R's: respectability, religion, railroads, and repression. Respectability

For respectability, the lower classes didn't give the farthing they didn't have. The upper classes treasured the veneer of respectability but, in practice, could do pretty much what they pleased. Those with unquestioned social standing could use respectability to suit their own purposes. It was the upward striving middle class that took respectability most to heart. Most of them were not that far away from humbler status. They sought the approval of their peers and their betters. One was supposed to live with a certain style. One was supposed to dress, dine, converse, worship, etc. in a manner consistent with the newly achieved status. (The "etc.," however, seemed more difficult to bring off because the rules were not as clearly posted.) The details of Victorian respectability changed somewhat over the years. However, restraint, propriety, self-control, and moral rectitude con­ tinued to be the qualities that the proper Victorian family attempted to have on display for itself and others. Religion

Religion was a cornerstone of life but, again, chiefly for the middle classes, the upwardly mobile. Like respectability, religion was a variable

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 33

to be manipulated by the ruling class as the need arises. The lower classes were offered a little religion along with their little bread to take the edge off their hunger and restrain them from acts of desperate violence. The grow­ ing power of science and technology fascinated some religious thinkers, but alarmed the establishment. When Darwin's "ape theory" came along, it was too much to bear. The religious establishment intensified its efforts to retain and control. Piety now became more of a loyalty test than ever. As time went on, the Victorian family had more and more of a balancing act to perform. Respectability and religion were essential to achieve the social standing they desired, but it was becoming increasingly tempting to make use of technological advances and to ponder the latest scientific theories.

Railroads Railroads became one of the most palpable symbols of progress. Distant points were now but a few hours away. The metabolism of commerce accelerated. Space and time were transfigured. The throbbing, roaring, steaming energies of the locomotive sharply divided the new era from the old. Some people welcomed this change as progress; others became prophets of doom (Nisbett, 1980). The raw energy and excitement of technological innovations made it increasingly difficult to maintain the pose as proper Victorians. Adventure, opportunity, and anxiety surged all about. Novelists seized on the train as a symbol of both power and revenge (Gay, 1986). A railroad disaster would be interpreted as "a demonic venge­ ance for human presumption." Years later Magritte would create paintings with such bizarre juxtaposi­ tions as a locomotive coming through a domestic hearth. Magritte often chose to be enigmatic about the meaning of his work, but perhaps in this case he has given us a startlingly direct translation of technology's impact. And perhaps the picture is even ruder and more disturbing because all that energy was turned loose by human ingenuity, and so also its violation of the well-ordered domestic mind. Those familiar, those comfortable old ideas, thoughts that one did not really have to think about, were cast into the dark, eddying pool of doubt. In The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers (1932), Carl Becker chronicled the impact of science, technology and doubt on traditional ways of construing the world. The runaway locomotive had delivered a crushing blow.

34 / DORIAN, GRAYING

The fact is that we have no first premise. Since Whirl is king, we must start with the whirl, the mess of things as presented. We start with the irreducible brute fact, and we must take it as we find it, since it is no longer permitted to coax or cajole it, hoping to fit it into some or other category of thought on the assumption that the pattern of the world is a logical one. Accepting the fact as given .... we ask "What?" and "How?".... If sometimes, in a moment of absent­ mindedness or idle diversion, we ask the question "Why?" the answer escapes us (Becker, p. 16). The quest for salvation had been replaced by the study of "irreducible brute facts" in their sequence. Theology replaced by history. Transcendental ideals replaced by the logging of circumstances. It was as though Alexander Pope had triumphed after some little delay: Presume not the gods to scan,

The proper study of mankind is man.

Repression Repression is a concept that has been both fairly and unfairly attributed to the Victorian state of mind (in much of the Westem world, not England alone). Historians and biographers have been trying for some time to correct the impression that repression held all Victorians in its rigid grasp. There were free spirits among all social classes. Furthermore, people being people, not a few made their own satisfactory accommodations between desire and propriety. Think for a moment of the "sexual revolution" in the United States not so long ago. The Kinsey Report .... Playboy Magazine and clubs ... How-to books ... Skinflicks ... Live-in lovers ... and the media's general insistence that the nation had suddenly gone mad with sexual adventuring. Historians a century from now, judging from these materials alone, might actually believe that we had become a nation of sex pots constantly being stirred. There was certainly some truth in the advertising. And yet many people went on with their lives much as before, remaining in monogamous relationships, waiting until the third date to hold hands, or inclined to believe that sex wasn't really worth all that fuss and bother. Similarly, later generations have been inclined to see the Victorians as tight-lipped, tea-sipping pietists to whom passion was forbidden. The fact

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 35

that young Victorians kept coming right along and that venereal disease was among the leading health concerns should have raised a few doubts. Nevertheless, repression was one of the defining marks of this era. Spontaneous impulses were dangerous. Our animal nature was ever strain­ ing at the leash. Late in the Victorian era, Freud would describe sexual and aggressive impulses that are inherent in our being and which seek expression even during the innocent days of childhood. He would also identify repression as a powerful and primitive defense mechanism. Repression can be very effective, but it is also a very expensive strategy. One must keep repressing. One must keep the repressed repressed. This requires energy. With so much of his/her energy devoted to repression, the individual is deprived of the vitality that is needed for coping and flourish­ ing. Furthermore, the "repressed material" constantly seeks its release and fulfillment. People may become victimized (and victimize others) as frustrated impulses disguise and transform themselves, interfering with the decorum of life in many ways. Freud emphasized the repression of sexual impulses during the formative years of psychoanalysis. Later he gave more attention to aggressive impulses with their potential for destructive out­ comes (Freud, 1920; Einstein and Freud, 1932). A heavily repressed society is a danger to its self and others-and yet, still according to Freud-we do have to be careful with our impulses. We cannot just go around having a good time. What we need to develop, then, is an improved set of strategies for negotiating between our primal impul­ ses and the legitimate demands of society. Sublimation, for example, is preferable to outright repression. One can find fulfillment in shaping or admiring a beautiful statue that enriches our civilization. And it is evident that the Victorians did sublimate. Many ripe nudes were lovingly created by Victorian artists (although some of the artists did stray from the path of sublimation along the way). Not all Victorian self-denial bore the mark of repression. Many people dealt with the issues in a straightforward way, making the decision to stay within the approved limits. Others allowed themselves occasional sprees as a release of tension. There were also jokes, cartoons, and double-entendre conversations that simultaneously respected and twitted the conventions. Freud himself attempted to follow the path of conscious (as distinguished from repressive) restraint:

36 I DORIAN. GRAYING

We keep ourselves for something, we know not what, and this habit of constantly suppressing our natural drives gives us the character of refinement (letter to his fiance, quoted by Gay, 1986, p. 400). A TRAIN NAMED DREAD

Now let's go to the railroad station. We will linger nonchalantly near the ticket office, perhaps pretending to read of troubles on the Polish border in the Zeitung. Waiting for Freud is what we are actually doing. He has an important engagement in another city; the train is the obvious way to get there. Here he comes. He looks even more tense than usual. Freud is now purchasing his ticket. Or is he? What's happening? The great man turns away. He looks ill. The train comes. The train goes. Freud is not on it. In both waking life and dreams, Freud had his problems with railroad travel. Something about separation anxiety. Something about fires burning in Hell because once upon a time a little boy wanted to marry his mother. Something about a child's tortured memory that remained a threat to the security of an educated and thoughtful adult. But the railroad did not exist solely to serve and torment Freud. It was a breakthrough technological device that symbolized humankind's new­ found power to triumph over space and time. The train, we may say, represents sexual and aggressive energies that have blown past the barriers of repression and emerged as modem day spirits-the steaming demons climbing into the heavens from the depths of the hellish unconscious. Respectability and religion kept people in their proper places. Railroads took them some place else, and with breathtaking speed. Struggling to keep inner impulses in their proper places, repression had reason to dread the train and all it represented. Schedules were helpfu 1 as was the fact that the trains were limited to their earthbound tracks. Lord help us if a snorting bull-train should decide to enter our living room-or, horrors, the bedroom. Power over time, restrained by schedules. Power over space, restrained by tracks. The Victorian railroad system represented the hope of harnessing the disquieting future to the yoke of the comfortable past. THE MONSTER IN THE MIRROR

The upright and domesticated Victorians were unexcelled in the creation of monsters. We thrill to some of them yet, and subsequent generations of terrifying creatures owe much to those dreamed up by those respectable,

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 37

religious, and repressed Victorians. Dorian Gray was one of the prettiest of these monsters, but no less a monster for that. We will renew our acquaintance with some of the other monsters in the Victorian gallery before we gaze directly upon his features. This will help us to understand why the quest for eternal youth took on the unsettling character-drawn from life-by Oscar Wilde. Earlier in the century one of the most memorable of all monsters was shaped from emerging realities. Rumours became scandals as case after case of grave-robbing and murder came to light. These crimes were com­ mitted to feed the incipient science of medicine with the cadavars its studies required. Ruth Richardson (1987) has provided a brilliant account of Death, Dissection and the Destitute. These doings fostered the suspicion that the emerging sciences of life were transgressing the limits of decency and enrolling the forces of darkness in their enterprises. The "mad scientist" stereotype was being concocted from ignorance and fantasy-but also from disturbing elements of reality. Dissection and autopsy were the stuff of nightmares to uneducated people and also opposed by many on religious grounds. The surgeons and anatomists who engaged in these practices were not mentally deranged (for the most part), but it was not unusual for them to work at night in dungeon-like basements under gross and gloomy conditions. The fact that society at large did not approve and that laws sometimes forbade these experiments added to the furtive quality of cadavar studies, and the furtive quality, of course, added to society's fear and disapproval. These medical scientists were not "mad" in the usual psychiatric sense. They were madder than mad, however, in the moral-religious sense. What could be more outrageous, more reckless, more demonic than operating a carnal traffic between the living and the dead? There was another line of development within the health sciences that contributed to the "morbid fascination" with monsters. The art of resuscitating the apparently dead does not appear to have been known to the ancients. This is the opening statement in Annual Report of the Royal Humane Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned or Dead 1820. This Society (and a similar organization in The Netherlands) had been attempting to demonstrate to professionals and public alike that some

38 I DORIAN, GRAYING

people are only apparently dead. The primary focus was on drowning victims. The members of both organizations were well founded in their beliefs and eventually established the basic principles and techniques for resuscitation of drowning victims. It was perhaps even more difficult to persuade society that this was a legitimate and feasible endeavor than to revive the victims themselves. Speaking of one of the pioneers in this movement, the late Dr. Hawes, the author states: Finding that a strong and general prejudice existed against the prac­ tiability of Resuscitation, and that the idea was even ridiculed as hopeless and chimerical, he determined to demonstrate it (Royal Humane Society, p. 2). Occasionally, members of the Royal Humane Society would use galvanism (electrical stimulation) in the attempt to revive a victim of drowning, lightning, or other sudden trauma. Occasionally it worked. On the reality level this proved to be a precursor to the defibrillation procedures used today by paramedics and the "blue code" teams in our hospitals. On the fantasy level it added the image of a mysterious and terrifying energy that could bring the dead to life. This image was too fascinating to ignore. It was also too threatening to accept without reserva­ tion. In retrospect we can discern three fears that contributed to the anxious opposition that met efforts to revive the apparently dead: 1. Prideful overstepping of Man's place in the cosmos. Just as every individual had his or her place to maintain with propriety in Victorian society, so humankind in general must maintain its place in the divine scheme of things. God is the only enfranchised giver of life. To play at God is to court disapproval and vengeance. It is also to court failure. Not being God, humans who re-animate the dead are likely to be producing monsters in their clients or making monsters of them­ selves. 2. Fear of contact with the resuscitated dead. Anthropologists would soon be pointing out that those heavy gravestones had the primary function of keeping the dead in their proper places. We might miss and mourn the dead, but we don't necessarily want to have them back in our midst, smelling faintly of necrosis, and making who knows what kind of demands on us. Fear of the dead is one of the most common features of sociocultural death systems the world around.

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 39

3. Return of the repressed. This phenomenon was introduced a moment ago in the shape of the bull-rushing locomotive, its steamy lust escaping the censor that kept most proper Victorians proper. Galvanic stimulation of the inanimate was now on its way to becom­ ing another outlet for Victorian passions denied their more natural vents. The terrible and thrilling energies that were bottled up under Genie-like pressure within Victorian sensibilities could be released in transformational surges. The train roars across the placid countryside, and lightning, stolen by Promethean scientists, sets dead hearts to beating. Ah! Was that good for you, too? The Royal Humane Society was a new venture when the first notable monster appeared. The story line should be familiar by now. One of the new breed of medical experimenters attempts to re-construct and re-animate the dead. His apparatus features a mega-galvanic technique. Ironically, the doctor's own name has been taken by posterity as the name of his monster, affirming the deep-level connection between creator and creature. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) may have included as much reality as invention. Grave-robbings, macabre experiments, and adventur­ ings with electrical resucitation were already in the cultural mix, as well as the early stirrings of the mad scientist stereotype. Additionally, Florescu (1975) has documented still other real-life sour­ ces for the Frankenstein story. These include the existence of an actual Frankenstein family castle and of Konrad Dippel, a visionary alchemist who did strange and brilliant things in the early eighteenth century. Dippel seems to be the specific source of the Dr. Victor Frankenstein character whose modus operandi was as reminiscent of the old alchemists as of the new medical scientists. The Frankenstein monster established a tradition that has become so firmly entrenched that we might make the error of glossing over perhaps its most powerful lesson: our minds, given absolute freedom, create monsters. Often enough, these became, like the first exemplar, suffering monsters. The suffering monsters, in turn, reveal us for what we really are. Florescu comments on the pitiful state of the original monster: The monster represents a startingly "modem" and absurdist version of mankind, created and endowed with intelligence only to suffer the more hideously from self-consciousness .... Not only does the monster see himself as fallen Adam and fallen Satan, so too does his creator Frankenstein. If the monster rebels against his maker,

40 / DORIAN, GRAYING

Frankenstein has committed a similar sin by rebelling against the limits of his nature and by trying to create life, that is, by usurping the divine prerogative (Florescu, p. 178). The question that should linger with us, the question that we should not want to answer too hastily is this: why? Why must the human creative spirit beget monsters? Why could Frankenstein's monster not have had a cheer­ ful disposition and a deep reverence for the mysterious ways in which God works? Is it always sinful, always a transgression to try to give God a hand with life? As you might recall, this suffering monster felt the need for a mate but there were no takers. His outsized desires for love and sexual fulfillment bred outsized despair and, finally, a fiery suicide at which Wagner might have contentedly warmed his hands. It turned out badly for this monster. Must it be ever thus? Monsters continued to proliferate throughout the Victorian era. Frankenstein's leading rival for the "monster of the century" honor made his debut in 1897, when Dorian Gray had already been in circulation for seven years. Dracula's late debut, however, can be misleading. There had been vampires aplenty along the way. In fact, one of Mary Shelley's friends had written a tale of the undead as part of the informal contest that led also to Frankenstein. John Polydori was a physician, author, and not a little strange. He, Dippel, and Frankenstein might have made quite a research team. Polydori was but twenty-four when he wrote The Vampyre (Mary Shelley, the other contestant who came through, was only eighteen when she polished off Frankenstein). Leonard Wolf, compiler of The Annotated Dracula (1975) notes that Polydori's novel recruited its readers because of the sensational subject matter, although it lacked literary merit. Its main character became famous, however, introducing "the suave, wicked, and blood-thirsty Lord Ruthven whose 'dead grey eye' fascinated his victims" (p. xi). Ruthven pursued beautiful women, not only in Polydori's novel, but also under various aliases in the stories and plays of other writers throughout Europe. Dorian Gray-meet Lord Ruthven. Oh? You've already met? Vampires with more staying power replaced the chilling but not entirely satisfactory Lord Ruthven. Sir Francis Varney made an even more powerful impact, partially because his story was longer and better told, partially because it was available in a cheap serialized version, and partially because the Victorian mind was at full tilt when Varney the

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 41

Vampire or the Feast of Blood appeared in 1847, authors anonymous (and not yet attributed to Shakespeare). A titled gentleman who had once died by hanging and had then been revived by a young medical student, Varney was in fact no man at all, but a freak, an anomaly. Instantly revivable when bathed in moon­ light, he could not die by any natural means but was condemned to immortality. His creators tell us that 'he would gladly have been more human and lived and died as those lived and died whom he saw around him. But being compelled to fulfill the order of his being, he never had the courage absolutely to take measures for his own destruction ... depriving himself of all opportunity of resuscitation' (Gates, 1988, p. 102).

Me alone, consumed by cruel immortality! And oh, those young medical students! Varney became a "surrogate Victorian," as Gates observes. She further observes that he is "a distorted, fantastical self, free from most human constraints. Through him working-class Victorians could experience the forbidden. " The forbidden, alas, also turns out be a drag. So much time. So many conquests to make. So much blood to drink. Is this a pitiable monster, then? Is the restraining influence of respectability, religion, and repression a more favorable condition than the freedom of appetite unbound? Or is it really freedom if one has become a very locomotive of blood-steaming lust, condemned to plow the inflexible tracks of endless time? The midVictorian era was also awash in the dark, haunted stories of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. He set into motion a variety of shadowy crea­ tures. These phantoms flitted in and out of perceptions of daily life. Some are disfigured, some insane, some supernatural-all taking human shape but monsters at the core. These haunted and haunting creatures might strive mightily to regain their simple humanity, but their efforts were foredoomed. And the proper Victorians, nervously taking all of this in, were reminded over and again that people may not be what they seem. That familiar, respectable, kindly face may be the mask of a demon. Evil spirits can materialize first to alarm and then to destroy apparently respectable people, such as the leering (hallucinatory?) monkey that somehow leads to the suicide of a decent man in one of his best known stories, "Green Tea" (from the collection, In a Glass Darkly). LeFanu's popular stories

42 / DORIAN, GRAVING

repeatedly assailed Victorians with the personifications of their own dark imaginings, their own unacknowledged impulses. LeFanus' confrontations between a respectable self and various phan­ toms now seems to have set the stage for the masterpiece of the genre. A self that dare not know itself ... two partial selves, really, co-existing through a precarious arrangement. We might be speaking here of Cox and Box, a one-act musical farce that launched the partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan. Both have rented the same room, each unknown to the other. There is some mild amusement and tension until the inevitable confronta­ tion. This playful sketch seems to have emerged from the same cloud of volatile substances that, in 1886, gave the world Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Gates (1988) calls attention to the anxiety of the story's narrator, the lawyer Utterson who has been in the service of the respectable Or. Jekyll. Utterson, himself a proper person, comes to suspect the connection between Dr. J. and Mr. H. Yet he hesitates to follow through with a systematic investigation. Perhaps ... no, it could not be ... but then ... just perhaps he might himself have an odd little creature secreted in an obscure corner of his own psyche ... that would be something of a nuisance now, would it not? It is only at the end of the tale that Utterson and others make the full discovery: Mr. H. was not only an alternative or competing self, but he was a killer. What is revealed is horrible, all too horrible. Mr. H. was the embodiment of evil, the very opposite of the admirable, morally upright Dr. J. It is even more disturbing to the other characters in the story and to the Victorian readers for two other reasons. First, there is one's grudging tendency to take a fancy to the reprehensible Mr. H. because he is so in love with life (at least, with his own life). Here is a person who knows how to enjoy himself. For a night on the town, he would seem to be a more entertaining companion than that slowly mouldering figure, Or. J. Secondly, there is the fear of being found out. This seems to have been the basic fear of Dr. J. himself for whom death was preferable to exposure. Every Victorian who had ever done-or even thought about doing-some­ thing discreditable would have quaked along with Dr. J. Stevenson had repeatedly considered suicide himself, and in this story may have achieved a kind of healing. The moral he designed for his gentle readers was something like this: Be a whole, person. Discover yourself in your full, personhood. Strive resourcefully, tolerantly, and intelligently to become a person of both thought and feeling. Do not live self-blinded to your true nature, or you will bring great harm to yourself and others.

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES I 43

Some Victorians were ready for this message, others not. Interestingly, the golden age of multiple personalities flourished from about the time this story appeared until The War to End All Wars made the world quite a different place. The typical host to mUltiple personalities had a somewhat drab, conventional face that met the everyday world and a spunkier, sexier, risk-taking face that seized its opportunities from time to time. The alter­ cast self was rarely as monstrous as Mr. H., but the primary self and the community were properly shocked by its unprincipled desires to get a little fun out of life. CAN THE MONSTER BE TAMED?

Evidently so. The evil twinned soul, the vengeance seeking re-animate, and the jaded aristocrat with a fair lady's blood on his lips, these were beyond the compass. Horrid creatures! They made one feel so ... ah, better not describe how they made one feel. There was work to be done, however, by people of good sense, kindly intention, and unwavering faith. One had only to observe that most spirits were friendly. Friendly, and, quite possibly, longing for company. The spirit world did not consist entirely of monsters. In the neighborly spirit one should invite them over for polite and inspirational conversation. It was during the Victorian era that Spiritualism (originally and more accurately called Spiritism) flourished as never before in modern times. Tables rapped and tables tilted. At the peak of these phenomena, there may not have been a silent and immobile table in the British Isles, the Continent, or the United States. This was prime time for seances and for the rather short-lived sensation of ectoplasmic materializations. Even the War to End All Wars did not end the continued fascination. There was, in fact, a temporary upsurge in reports of communications between the living and the dead, owing to the many relationships that had been severed through the deaths of soldier husbands, brothers, sons, and fathers. We will resist the temptation to linger in the occult chambers of the Victorian era. But we will not resist one observation that suggests an intrinsic connection with the monstrous state of mind that has already been described: supposed communications with the dead can be accounted for plausbily as dissociative phenomena. Fraud and self-deception were important factors as well. It remains a viable hypothesis, however, that many of the experiences that were felt as most credible earned this status through their privileged mode of communication. A self-network

44 / DORIAN, GRAYING

ordinarily denied recognition and articulate expression is given the oppor­ tunity to whisper into the ear of the presiding self. The message is received as though from an external source (which, in a sense, it is). It is singularly persuasive, just as it should be. The voice of a spirit control or of a specific departed soul has been transmitted by a split-off self. This hypothesis is now in process of becoming integrated with current research on the process of memory construction by the central nervous system. On this view, memory represents a complex and creative activity rather than a simple search-and-recall operation. We can be so creative that we remember things that didn't quite happen, and we can be so persuasive that we convince ourselves that we have been granted an insight or revela­ tion from afar. These are plausible hypotheses and they are not entirely lacking for evidence. We need not accept them as fully demonstrated at the present time. However, we might want to keep our own memories well furnished with the many hints that dissociative phenomena played a sig­ nificant role in the Victorian state of mind, creating both malignant monsters and polite spirit-guests.

You See, Watson, Our Little Deductions have Suddenly Assumed a Much More Important and Less Innocent Aspect Sherlock Holmes, of course! You would know that cool, elegant, and pedantic voice anywhere. The original Holmes adventures were contemporaneous with the crea­ tion of Dorian Gray. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle was published in the same year and, as with Dorian Gray, first appeared in a magazine. This is a typical story in the series. A crime has been committed. The crime itself, however, serves mainly as the occasion to demonstrate the powers of a superior mind. Others are baffled by the case, distracted by their own entrenched assumptions as well as by false clues. There are occasional scenes between the characters. An emotional outburst or two is to be expected. The center of gravity, however, characteristically is not the crime, the criminal, nor the interactions. The serious action takes place in the mind of Inspector Holmes, assisted by his sharp eyes, ears, and nose for crucial details. "We must start with the irreducible brute fact, and we must take it as we find it" affirmed Carl Becker's surrender to the scientific mode of thought that was aggressively challenging the hold of religious tradition in the Victorian era. Sherlock Holmes not only said the same thing

DOAIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 45

repeatedly throughout his adventures and memoirs but demonstrated how fresh observation of "the irreducible brute fact" and the application of stringent logico-deductive processes could solve one mystery after another. Take, for example, Holmes' cogitations on a hat in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (Doyle, 1890). To Watson, the stand-in for all dear, earnest Victorian society, the hat is perfectly ordinary. To Holmes it is a source of valuable information, his own crystalline logic transforming the stolid topper into a virtual crystal ball. His observations include the follow­ ing. (We are free to imagine Watson's lower jaw dropping open with astonisnment as the lesson proceeds.) I. The hat is three years old. This can be seen from the flat brims curled at the edge, a fashion that was coming in at the time. 2. Because the hat is of the very best quality (that band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining) and because he has bought no hat since, one may infer that "he has assuredly gone down in the world." 3. Attached to the hat is a loop known as a hat-securer. The loop is broken. The owner of this hat was a person of foresight: he would have had to require the addition of the hat-securer; these never come with the hat. The fact that he has not had the broken loop repaired is "a distinct proof of a weakening nature." 4. He has not entirely lost his self-respect, however, because he has tried to conceal some of the stains on the hat by daubing them with ink. 5. One need only to examine the lower part of the lining to establish that he is middle-aged, with grizzled hair that has been recently cut and on which he uses a lime-cream. "The lens discloses a large number of hair ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey dust of the street, but the fluffy brown dust of the house, showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time; while the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the wearer perspired very freely, and could, there­ fore, hardly be in the best of training." Holmes' disquisition does not end here, but perhaps this sample will suffice. These and other details are marshalled by the great detective when he solves the case a few pages later. Details, Watson, details! Logic, Watson, logic! Holmes derives as well as gives pleasure in solving these

46 I DORIAN, GRAYING

cases. He may seek the full weight of the law in punishing the perpetrators of dastardly crimes. With lesser crimes and pitiable criminals, though, he experiences enough pleasure in the "detectiving" that he lets the per­ petrator off the hook, judging that the criminal act was an aberration that would not be repeated. Holmes allows himself contemplative and sublima­ tive pleasures with rarely a full access of direct passion. A recurring type of scene is one in which other characters are flustering, raging, or supplicat­ ing. They feel. He observes and cogitates. What might Holmes say about Holmes? Perhaps, with just the trace of a trace of a smile, he might draw on his pipe and explain in his patented manner, both leisurely and concise, that: • The Victorian personality split has been achieved here by granting unto Sherlock superior powers of observation and ratiocination. He is the observing self. A variety of other characters represent the observed self, all hobbled in some way by tangled passions and motives. • A society that prides itself on propriety and civilized restraint is also a society that thoroughly enjoys vicarious crime. His proper Victorian readers can be both the sly criminal and the master sleuth, both the naughty impulse and the triumphant ego/superego. • Nevertheless, even the pure split-off observer, symbol of the era's victory over impulse, cannot rest easy. It is not natural to be a half-person, no matter which half. Observing and reasoning are pleasurable exercises of one's mental capacities. But-always to observe, always to reason! This is why Holmes attempted to release his mind on occasion from its almost mythic task of unremitting service to irreducible, brute facts. • And this also may be why Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill him off. His creation had become too popular, displacing its author and the other facets of his personality. Doyle, quite an interesting per­ son, needed to preserve his own wholeness. Although pleased at the success of his Sherlock Holmes advertures, Doyle was far from satis­ fied with this monster of rationality. It was only a matter of time, was it not, before this brilliant monster turned on its creator? After only three years of adventuring with Holmes, Doyle arranged to have him killed off. (Readers grieved and raged; Doyle had to oblige with further adventures, and a number of writers have engaged Sherlock's talents in their own stories after Doyle's death.)

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 47

Sherlock Holmes was not a mad scientist, indeed, he was an affable and cultivated person when he was not being called on to deal sternly with criminals. Yet the great detective and the mad scientist would have recog­ nized a kinship. Both were method-oriented and indefatigable in their pursuit of goals whose merits were not to be called into question. The major difference was in their effect on society. Mad scientists tend to be a destabilizing influence, what with blowing things up, unleashing forbidden passions or expanding powers beyond their natural limits. Gentleman­ detectives promote domestic tranquility by demonstrating that offenders are no match for the keenly-honed skills of a civilized person in a civilized society. Crime was delectable to Victorian society, providing it did not touch the individual personally. And delectable crime was essential to Victorian society. Here was safe vicarious release for one's own repressed desires. Here was reassurance that the clear light of reason would prevail. The pleasure of crime helped to ease the anxiety associated with the crime of pleasure. DEATH: THE ONLY SOLUTION?

Frankenstein's monster, practically everybody's vampire, and Jekyll's Hyde (or Hyde's Jekyll) had in common their deaths or, at least, their determined efforts at death. We now must add Doyle's Holmes to this list. The creator and the creature are trapped together. Siamese twins offer a useful although imperfect analogy. It requires extraordinary deter­ mination, resourcefulness and good fortune for both twins to survive. It is also painful at every level to consider saving one twin at the expense of the other. The connection between creator and monster is also an intimate one. It is also difficult for both to survive and flourish, and often very difficult to kill one off. Killer and victim know each other all too well. Victorian murders have kept a fascination for later generations. Why? Have we not enough murders of our own? There is something about the shadowy connection between killer and victim, between a responsible, religious, repressed society and its bloodletting. There is something about the ease with which fact and fiction merge. Jack the Ripper, for example, belongs as much to fiction and drama as to the annals of crime. The same may be said for suicide.

48 / DORIAN, GRAYING

Women werefictionized and mythologized much as were monsters in Victorian England. They too were made into 'others'-weaker vessels or demons, angels in the house or fallen angels-and suicide was displaced to them much as it was to demonic alter egos (Gates, p. 125).

Barbara Gates points out that suicide rates were actually lower for women than for men in the nineteenth century (and the same is true today). Nevertheless, female suicides received more lavish coverage in the press and were much more favored in stories and dramas. Indeed, women seemed to specialize in coming to a sad and bad end. Consider almost any opera written in the last century that is not of the comic variety. Somebody is bound to die in the last act. Who? The soprano, of course. She may hurl herself to her death to avoid dishonor, as does Tosca. She may taunt a former lover and, ambivalently, contribute to her violent death, as does Carmen. She may, like Violetta in La Traviata, do the noble thing by relinquishing her love and perish of a broken heart as well as the emblematic disease of nineteenth-century creative spirits, tuberculosis. Heroines often were the ones who paid the price, and often through suicide or suicide-like deaths. Men killed men and women. Women killed themselves. Death was a common solution to the vexing problem of how to end a story or play. These deaths frequently were romanticized. In turn, real people in their real lives killed themselves or others under the influence of these plot turns and romantic allusions. Love was the other answer. It was offered by creative people who had more or less worked themselves into a corner and needed an acceptable way out. George Bernard Shaw's (1978) comparative analysis of Shelley's poetry and Wagner's Ring cycle provides an outstanding example of the attempt to overcome pessimism, even nihilism by invoking images of transcendental love. These ardent attempts did not work very well, so thinks Shaw. I agree. When love and death embrace, the prognosis is guarded. The Victorians were most memorable, most credible when, despairing of any other solution, they consigned their creations to the flames or the depths. ENTER DORIAN GRAY

We have some idea now of the milieu in which Dorian Gray attempted to live out the ancient fantasy of eternal youth. With the loan of Inspector Holmes' lens we will look more closely at the circumstances of his origin.

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 49

Oscar Wilde: "To be Great is to be Misunderstood" Wilde considered himself to be both great and misunderstood. And he insisted on being misunderstood. Much of Wilde's brilliance was spent freely in conversation. His writings include many glints of wit and insight but, by most accounts, he was at his best when furnished with a table full of friends to shock and amuse. Wilde had a distinctive turn of mind. He loathed conforming to expectations. This need to unsettle others by original and outrageous statements eventually became a burden. First his friends, then the world came to expect from him the unexpected. He was exceptional in meeting this challenge. A social gathering at which one did not receive outrage from Oscar Wilde was not much of an oc­ casion. He was also a serious person. Aesthetics has often been played as a game of shamming, and Wilde did participate in this game in his lesser moments. Nevertheless, he had strong opinions and abiding concerns about the nature of art and the place of the artist in society. He was mainly drawn to the visual arts and to writing, although music could also touch him. Wilde was the acknowledged leader of an aesthetics movement that attracted much attention-favorable and unfavorable-during the 1870's. The avowed aim of this movement was to make each person an artist and his/her own life the subject matter. We are all-or should be-works of art. Wilde survived an unprecedented tour of the United States where he lectured on aesthetics in many an unlikely venue, including a mining shaft (in which he was served whiskey for appetizer, whiskey for entre, and whiskey for dessert). Those who sponsored or witnessed his tour were a little surprised that the United States had survived as well. Wilde was thirty-seven years of age when he published The Picture of Dorian Gray (PDG). He had been a celebrity for some time, though reputation and fortune had declined with changing fashions. There would be other "hits" after PDG, including the enduringly popular plays, Lady Windermere's Fan, and The Importance of Being Earnest. His fairy tales for children (such as "The Selfish Giant") were becoming classics. Wilde's accomplishments as a poet were not as well regarded for most of his life. However, his last poem-also his last work-is a masterpiece: The Ballad ofReading Gaol. This searing narrative was inspired-if that is the word­ by his experiences as a prisoner in Reading Gaol. Imprisonment, poem, and death in self-imposed exile were several years in the future as he put the finishing touches to PDG.

50 I DORIAN, GRAYING

He chose to express his personal credo in the preface to PDG. Here-no doubt to Wilde's horror-is an abbreviated version: The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim .... Those who find ugly meanings in a beautiful thing are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all. The nineteenth-century dislike of Realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass. The nineteenth-century dislike of Romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass .... No artist desires to prove anything ... No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything ... Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art ... All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors .... We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless. Why this glittering necklace of aphorisms at this time? Wilde, as noted, was thirty-seven at the time. He had tasted youth. Now he was just beginning to taste the darker, mingled flavors of age. A man not without vanity, he was starting to dread the slow erosion of his youth­ ful appearance. In PDG, Wilde divided himself into split-off selves. Lord Henry Wotton is the spectator self who can start a bit of mischief but who cannot himself elude aging's gravitational pull. Dorian Gray is the break-away self who would escape earth's gravitational field. He would float freely forever, co-existing with ordinary men and women, but not

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 51

subject to their melancholy fate. Through the character of Lord Henry, Oscar Wilde would shape the unique destiny of his beautiful creature. (Creator and creature. Where have we heard that before?) Because the author was so intimately involved with the story, Wilde judged that it was an appropriate occasion to speak clearly for himself, and hence the credo/preface. Wilde also knew that PDG would shock many people on moral grounds. The selfishness of that young man! The dastardly things he does! The evil influence of his cunning mentor! The dominant Victorian view held that art should be inspirational, uplifting. Wilde thought otherwise. This was a beautiful story, he thought, about a beautiful young man. The beautiful young man in the beautiful story does some ugly things-beautifully. And so he wanted to make his aesthetic credo as clear as possible: "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book ... The artist can express everything ... Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt ... They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty." Wilde was attempting to cast aside traditional morality while at the same time narrating a parable with impeccable moral credentials. Dorian Gray asks for more than he is entitled. Having had his wish fulfilled, he proceeds to ruin himself, while also bringing down some of those around him. Oscar Wilde, par excel/ance at bourgeoise morality, had written his way into a corner. As biographer Richard Ellman (1988), sees it, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a critique of aestheticism, which is shown to bring Dorian to ruin; yet readers have been won by Dorian' s beauty and regretful, rather than horrified, at his waste of it, so that he has something of the glamour of a Faust rather than the foulness of a murderer and a drug addict. Wilde, feeling that the book had too much moral, subverts it with a preface which expounds sympathetically some of that aesthetic creed by which the book shows Dorian to be corrupted (Ellman, p. 99).

Wilde-moral despite himself? Yes, but also asserting the artist's right to create without moral compunctions. Wilde's predicament was also his philosophy: the same person can be-must be-a grim moralist and a free-spirited artist. Eilman observes that Blake, Nietzsche, and Freud were kindred moralists in their resolve to encompass the entire domain of human thought, passion, and deed. Life was not simple for Wilde. Life was not

52 / DORIAN, GRAVING

simple (that is, it became not simple) for Dorian Gray. Life is not simple for those who read PDG with a vulnerability to its resonances. Models for Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray modeled for his portrait. Others, however, seem to have modeled for him. John Gray is the most obvious source. He was twelve years younger than Wilde, approximating the age difference between Lord Henry and Dorian in the novel. The real Mr. Gray was a remarkable person in his own right. He was the son of a carpenter and forced to abort his own education to take a job as a metal worker at the age of thirteen. While his hands performed manual labor, his mind was alive with literature and language. By the time Gray met Wilde he had already published literary criticism, poetry, and a fairy tale in the manner of Wilde. Gray's lack of a proper social background did not deter established authors and artists. His talents as an author were appreciated, and he was made welcome among the elite. The fact that he was handsome might have helped as well. John probably could have played the role of Dorian with credibility in a stage production. According to Ellman, Wilde confided in a letter that "I have made great friends with the original of Dorian: one John Gray, a youth in the Temple, aged thirty (actually 25) with the face of fifteen." Ellman believes Wilde named his character after his new friend in a (successful) attempt to flatter him. It is probable that he also delighted in the opportunity to create a gray who would remain forever green. Gray seemed to have been the perfect disciple. Others in Wilde's circle also coveted him, leading to bitter jealousies. A friend of Wilde' s, now an enemy, started a campaign of innuendo and ill-will against him. This unpleasantness anticipated the developments that would later send Wilde to court, prison, and an early grave. The real Mr. Gray knew how to avoid the fates of both Dorian and Oscar. He took up religious orders and friends saw to it that a church was built for him. John Gray may not have had a supernatural portrait, but evidently he knew how to read the handwriting on the wall. Wilde had known other talented and handsome young men. John Gray provided the most opportune model for Dorian, but it is likely that he was also meant to represent all the youthful and innocent faces that had come into Wilde's orbit. Another source of the PDG was Wilde's own life-long preoccupation with images. Appearance seemed to be more important to him than to most

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 53

other people, even in an era where the visual presentation of self had become a dominant concern. The tennis star who snarls in television commercials that "Image is everything" could have been an unusually forthright Victorian. And no doubt, Wilde would have invited him over for tea. Wilde could outfit himself as the most respectable of respectable Vic­ torians. He adopted this decorous pose during the PDG period. He was never content for long, however, with looking like everybody else. A thorough display ofWilde photographs could also serve as a visual archive for the more fanciful fashions that drifted by during his life. He most often preferred the kind of "get up" that answers to the descriptio]; of "dandy" or "fop." Wilde playing Wilde tends to cut a ridiculous figure today, and some also thought it was pretty funny at the time. Mirrors were important in all of this. Who shall I be today? Which of my many selves shall be given the opportunity to go forth? Wilde did not have dissociated personalities, nor did he lack a sense of identity. Rather, his guiding ego enjoyed selecting just the right costume to impress or outrage his audience of the day. Mirrors were not merely delightful. Observe how one looks back at the reflection. Which is most truthful-the image the looker believes he/she has sent, the image that is reflected back, or the looker's response to that image? Long before reflexivity became a buzzword in textual analysis, Wilde had focussed on the eye of the be­ holder. "It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors." And the rage of the beholder: "Caliban seeing his own face in a glass .... Caliban not seeing his face in a glass." Mirrors were as dreadful as they were delightful. What if I am not there today? What if-oh, spare me-what if the person who is there is not my young and beautiful self? Self-portraits had also been important to Wilde. As a college student and for some time afterward he took brush in hand to fashion his own likeness (with a beard ... clean-shaven ... long hair ... curled hair). This was a man who could entertain himself endlessly with himself. Portraits of other people interested him as well, and he would regale his companions with his opinions (usually acerbic) about their aesthetic merits. Philippe Jullian (1969), another Wilde biographer, believes he has iden­ tified the specific source of the Dorian portrait. It is a good story, though perhaps a little too good to be true. According to this anecdote, Wilde visited an artist's studio about six years before writing PDG. The artist's name? Basil Ward. The model for his painting? A very handsome young man.

54 I DORIAN, GRAVING

Oscar often dropped in after this first visit and kept the sitter enter­ tained. When the portrait was finished, Wilde happened to say, 'What a pity that such a glorious creature should ever grow old.' The artist agreed, adding, 'How delightful it would be if he could remain exactly as he is, while the portrait aged and withered in his stead' (Jullian, p.214). If this is a true account, then Wilde was given the core plot and a critical scene on a silver platter. In PDG, the artist's name is Basil Hallward, an exceedingly light disguise. It is possible, however, that PDG came first, and the "real" painter and incident were invented later. One should not underestimate Wilde's playful way with mere facts. Nevertheless, the story is consistent with Wilde's habits and character. That Wilde often visited artists' studios is an established fact. He was always ready to entertain and advise them. Wilde also was a person who liked to do little favors for people, and it would be just like him to semi-immortalize an artist friend in his book. Another salient characteristic of the author is expressed in PDG. Wilde was an acknowledged master of the art of charming and fascinating others. Once a person had succumbed to his wit and wiles, however, that person also became vulnerable to subversive influence. Andre Gide, Pierre Louys and other brilliant young writers and artists recognized that Wilde was a source of danger for them. To listen was to be charmed. To be charmed was to fall under his influence. To fall under his influence was to surrender much of one's own judgment, inhibitions, and identity. The genial and amusing author could induce impressionable young people to become characters in fairy tales that replaced their own lives. Some of his listeners sensed the danger and took evasive actions. Others accepted Wilde's revised versions of their lives and came to regret it. Speaking through the character of Lord Henry in PDG, Wilde has it both ways. During his first meeting with Dorian, WildelLord Henry warns: There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral ... to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of somebody else's mU!iic, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. He adds another assertion that is both a riddle and a clue:

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 55

The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly­ that is what each of us is here for. It poses a riddle because self-development in PDG and in Wilde's general philosophy differs profoundly from what contemporary students of the human life-span tend to think of as self-development. It offers a clue as to the mindset from which this version of the quest for eternal youth emerged. What is the nature of a self, what, really, is development, and what does time have to do with it all? WildelLord Henry's warning to Gray is both preceded and followed by his attempts to exert precisely the type of influence that he has just cas­ tigated as a threat to self-development. Judged by his own values, Wilde/Gray is behaving in perhaps the most immoral manner possible. He has also semi-absolved himself by giving fair warning! Spinning the gos­ samer web of enchantment to snare new victims was not something Wilde had to invent for a fictional character; it had long been one of his own favorite occupations. And then there was Whistler-that Whistler. Leaving aside Mona Lisa, James A. McNeill Whistler's portrait of his mother was for some time a leading contender as the most famous painting extant. That part of its fame came from all the jests that one could make about "Whistler's Mother" is besides the point. Whistler, twenty years Wilde's senior, was already a celebrated artist when Wilde was still trying to make his way. Their friendship-and, eventually, not-so-friendship-placed Wilde in the role of the youth enthralled by a charismatic titan of the arts. In this relationship Wilde learned what it felt like to be under the influence of a person one admired greatly, and to be treated badly by that person. Whistler was nasty. He treated most people with contempt. He was also one of the select few who could compete successfully with Wilde in the cleverness department. Throughout much of their relationship, Wilde showed admiration, geniality, and his characteristic goodwill. Wilde could accept having jokes made at his own expense, and rather enjoyed being parodied by Gilbert and Sullivan. Wit and fantasy served as entertainment and (usually) were not intended to hurt others. Not so with Whistler. His wit was barbed, and he liked to draw blood. He became increasingly jealous of Wilde's success and, therefore, increasingly contemptuous and insulting. The friends became enemies. They traded clever insults. Whistler was by far the more elaborate, vicious, and persistent. Wilde restrained himself

56 I DORIAN, GRAYING

from responding to the most savage attacks and, after a spell, the two patched things up a bit. Nevertheless ... Dorian Gray would become a killer. Who would he kill? A painter? What painter? The one who made his portrait, an alter ego that thereafter transformed and blighted his life. Furthermore, this literary murder occurred just at the point in Wilde's life when this Victorian gentleman, equipped with lovely wife and adorable children, had decided that his own self-development required accepting his homosexual impul­ ses. Ellman offers a persuasive integration of these elements: That Dorian Gray should kill a painter, who in the original draft (as Wilde told the translator Jean-Joseph Renaud) was clearly and libelously Whistler, makes the book more a record of Wilde's per­ sonal feelings than might appear. His homicidal impulse toward Whistler ran concurrently with his homosexual impulse towards Ross (a young man of the John Gray type), also shadowed in the novel. One fantasy remained a fantasy and, for fear of a libel action, the image of Whistler was removed from the text. The other was realized. For Wilde, homosexual love roused him from pasteboard conformity to the expression of latent desires .... Up to that time Wilde could think of himself as misunderstood; now he had to promote misunderstand­ ing. Instead of challenging Victorian society by words, he engaged it by deeds as well (Ellman, p. 278).

Oscar Wilde had spent years attempting to create Oscar Wilde. His chosen mentor, Whistler, had taken pleasure in humiliating him-symboli­ cally, murdering the person Wilde was attempting to become. Wilde, in turn, created a painter who had responsibility for transforming an affable and handsome young man into a secret monster. As Dr. Victor Frankenstein might have told them (as he did, in fact, tell them), monsters do not take kindly to mistreatment. What Sherlock Holmes might have told Watson had he the opportunity to examine Wilde' s hat as he led Dorian Gray to execute James A. McNeill Whistler! The PDG may have been influenced by literary sources as well. We have already noted that the Victorian era was ushered in by monsters and produced many notable monsters of its own. It is probable that he was inspired in a general way by The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with its dramatic split-off personalities. Stevenson's story also appeared just at the time that Wilde was for the first time openly confronting his homosexual self-in-waiting. The tension of attempting to maintain two

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 57

selves, both seeking their development, would certainly have resonated with Wilde. Jullian discovers many other literary sources for elements of PDG. One of the most intriguing is a story by Edgar Allan Poe (1971). William Wilson was written soon after his much more famous tale, The Fall of the House of Usher. Jullian summarizes this as the story of: ... a young criminal haunted by a man who looks exactly like him; he finishes by killing him and he sees in a mirror 'his own image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood,' but it was his antagonist whom he saw and who said, 'You have conquered and I yield. Yet henceforth art thou also dead-dead to the World, to Heaven and to Hope. In me didst thou exist-and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself (Jullian, p.216).

I had not read this story. Taking Jullian's hint, I did so. Immediately the reader is put on notice that the surface of reality is slippery indeed and the narrator perhaps not entitled to one's complete trust. The first line: Let me call myself, for the present, William Wilson (Poe, p. 277).

Our narrator will not give his right name; furthermore, he reserves to change his name or reveal his actual identity if this happens to suit his purpose. He could also be a Dorian Gray seeking to explain and expiate himself retrospectively: ... years of unspeakable misery and unpardonable crime ... One event brought this evil thing to pass.

"William Wilson" does not expect to be pardoned for his unpardonable crime, but no one ever succumbed to so great a temptation, nor suffered so greatly for it. Generous readers that we are, we might judge that he had extentuating circumstances. Furthermore, he was not exactly in his right mind, so on that basis also he should be cut some slack: Have I not indeed been living in a dream? And am I not now dying a victim to the horror and the mystery of the wildest of all sublunary

visions? (Poe, p. 278)

58 I DORIAN, GRAYING

After experiencing debauchery and humiliation, Poe's suffering narrator turns in a fury on that person who in a "singular whisper" of a voice had treated him with a "disgusting air or patronage," interfered with his will, and subjected him to "distasteful supervision." Perhaps that whisper should not have been called "singular," since it was the sarcastic, mocking echo of his own voice. Murder, Inspector, or suicide? Or a little of both? William Wilson has not the glitter, wit, incident, and complexity of PDG. It does present Dorianesque themes, however, and in a way that help to illuminate the Wilde masterpiece. • The protagonist performs his role in the drama with the aid of masks and mirrors. He is not a completed person unto himself. His apparent identity is a mask and through this mask he must inspect with hope and dread the mask of an alternative self. • This relationship has advantages for a time. The accredited self is emboldened and freed of his ordinary restraints. Life becomes more adventuresome. Ego is fed. • There is a sense of life having become a dream or fantasy. One loses touch with the countless little realities of everyday life that remind others of their moral and mortal limits. • Relentlessly, the accredited self becomes a victim and slave. • The only way out is the one favored by Victorian literature at the time: death by violence. • The killer, however, cannot survive what is, in effect, his own death as well. Creator and creature perish together. One facet of the creator-creature dilemma stands out more clearly in Poe's tale. Here, disguised and twisted, is the desperate young adult break­ ing loose from the parent. And here as well is the punishment. Even or perhaps especially in the Victorian era the young generation had a difficult choice to make. Accept a preset, scaled-down version of what they might experience and what they might become, or leave the security of home and status-or destroy whatever seems to stand in one's way. This is a horrible alternative because what one destroys is also the root of one's own being. A few years later, Wilde would pen some of his most memorable lines in The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 59

Each man kills the thing he loves.

The brave man with a sword,

The coward with a kiss.

Wilde had already expressed this thought in letters and conversation. The brave child must eventually kill the parents that gave life and nourish­ ment. The enslaved creature must eventually kill the dedicated creator that gave meaning and direction. In mythology and religion there had also been notable uprisings against the ranking gods, and these almost always ended badly as well. Prometheus had merely taken a spark of the divine fire to bring to his mortal friends and for this was dealt with most cruelly. It would have been difficult in Wilde's time to find an independent-minded creative artist who did not suppose himJherself to be a modern day Prometheus, and all, in their own way, courted divine wrath. The PDG exceeds William Wilson in the temptation department. Dorian Gray has an extended youth in which to indulge his every desire. He might be compared to a shopper who had been given a credit card with no spending limit. Eventually the pleasure of unrestricted shopping might give way to a sense of obligation and, eventually, of burden. Dorian Gray did not live long enough to test the outer limits. Perhaps, however, he was already starting to feel apprehensive on this account. Did he really have a sufficiency of desire to fill the horizonless future with ego gratifica­ tions? There were opium-dens, where one could buy oblivion, dens of horror where the memory of old sins could be destroyed by the madness of sins that were new (Wilde, p. 204).

Dorian has these thoughts in mind as he tries to deal with the anxieties that interfere with his supposed life of pleasure. Already-after less than twenty years of age-free libertine frolic-he is ready to exchange sense­ tingling gratification for the dulling medicine of forgetfulness. though forgiveness was impossible, forgetfulness was possible still, and he was determined to forget, to stamp the thing out .... The hideous hunger for opium began to gnaw at him. His throat burned, and his delicate hands twitched nervously together .... A dull rage was in his heart; .. (Wilde, pp. 204-205).

60 / DORIAN, GRAYING

Dorian Gray clearly owes something to other Victorian characters, and some of his conflicts and ordeals were also prefigured. However, he is no conglomeration. Dorian Gray is the victim-monster for whom the Vic­ torian era had been waiting.

Is Youth Its Own Punishment? Wilde prefaced PDG with a statement we have already noted: There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Nevertheless, PDG is, among other things, a moral tale. The novel as a novel does not impose a moral position. The reader, however, is presented with situations whose moral implications are all but impossible to ignore. It was typical Wilde irony to assert the independence of art from morality and then to ensnare the reader in a well-sprung moral trap. One trap we can avoid is that of attempting to establish a single "moral lesson." There has been disagreement on this score ever since the book was published, no doubt just as Wilde had intended. Instead, let us identify those implications that bear most strongly on the theme of prolonged or eternal youth. Per.haps I should say "inferences" rather than implications. We become par­ ticipants, co-creators of meaning, as we attempt to interpret a work of imaginative literature. Here, then, are some implications/inferences to con­ sider. 1. We should not ask for perpetual youth. Part l. This demand commits the sin of pride and hubris. Mortals are mortals; gods are gods. We invite divine retribution by insisting on securing for ourselves an indulgence that is not even granted to all gods. It is immoral in the sense that a fractious child is immoral in attempting to steal or win adult privileges. This would be unmistakeable when filtered through the Victorian sense of propriety (well developed even in those who scoffed at conventional morality). One simply does not do such a thing, does one? The morality involved is thus not ofthe elevated sort. It is pretty much the fear of being cast out of the family or thrashed for an insolent and disobedient action. 2. We should not ask for perpetual youth. Part 11. The morality involved here is of a more philosophical nature. We do not necessarily offend the gods by wishing that the good times of youth would go on and on or that the bad times of age would be indefinitely postponed. Instead,

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 61

we should achieve a mature state of mind in which age as well as youth are accepted. This moral sentiment is exemplified in many current writings on life-span development. Eric Erikson' s (1975; 1979) epigenetic theory is probably the best known formulation, but the theme is explicit or implicit in the work of many other life-span and gerontological researchers as well. We do not seem to have a definitive statement of the moral position as such. It certainly includes a willingness to be faithful to one's own self as extended through time: both the child I was and the elder I will become deserve to be respected in the person I am now. It also includes a sense of connec­ tedness and loyalty to the entire human enterprise: I consider it both a privilege and a responsibility to undertake this universal human journey. I am a part of all that I have met and what I return to others should be of value. My purpose is to cultivate the potentials and accept the limits of the human condition. My purpose is to be a complete person or a person seeking completion through experience, reflections, and interactions. It is faithless, immature, and self-decep­ tive to seek release from our own nature. Dorian Gray's fundamental sin was against his own human nature. 3. Perpetual youth would make perpetual fools, caricatures, and monsters of us. The underlying moral lesson here is to control the damages, cut the losses. To be a human is to embark on a career of folly. Nature has wisely chosen to confine this career to some few decades of ignorant, selfish, and misguided blunderings. It is not the part of wisdom to extend this career, whether in the hyperactive boister of youth or the mendacious grasping of age. We harken back to the implicit model of development and aging sketched in the previous chapter: • Who we become depends on who we were. • We are mostly a scurvy, miserable crew who will only become more so if we don't break our necks first in some piece offoolishness. In the previous chapter we touched on the miseries engendered by immortal aging. Immortal youth has its drawbacks as well. Lord Henry reveals to Dorian Gray that "to get back one's youth, one has merely to repeat one's follies." This statement is unexpected from a person who is also asserting that youth is the only thing worth having. What does one have, then, when one has youth? The opportunity to

62 I DORIAN, GRAYING

engage in folly. With everlasting youth? Everlasting folly! Another significant drawback of youth is also limned in PDG. Recall the young man desperately seeking forgetfulness. He is locked into a dull rage against his situation, against himself. Young or old, we do not know how to use time to our true advantage. Keep the meter running! That is the only way the basic flaws of the human animal can be restrained from total degradation. 4. The only moral imperative is to live in and for Beauty. To do so, however, one must accept the consequences: ruin and self-destruc­ tion. This theme throbs relentlessly under the story line of PDG and is to be found as well in its author's conversation, letters, and other writings. We are ushered into the novel by talk of art and artists. Lord Henry, the painter, Basil Hallward, and Dorian Gray are enthralled by Beauty. The aesthetic sense is far more important than any concern about, say, the amelioration of social ills, the prevention of injustice, or any other concerns that might have been on the mind of a thoughful Victorian. Beauty endures only in art, however. It is primarily for aesthetic purposes that Dorian Gray craves perpetual youth. His sensual enjoyment of that youth is never as convincing as his desire to remain as beautiful as Lord Henry and Basil Hallward say he is. Nevertheless, Lord Henry eggs him on to exploit his opportunities to the full. We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us .... The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick.

This is not a new idea by any means. Blake expressed it memorably in his poem, The Poison Tree and elsewhere. As usual, though, Wilde is playing a more complex game with us. We grow sick if we resist temptation. For Wilde and his characters, the greatest temptation is to embrace temptation as a way of life. More specifically, it is to import the privileged amoral status of the creative artist into the dead-serious encounters of the real world. And this can mean only ruin. This can mean only destruction. Blind to the real feelings of real people, the aesthetician turned adventurer is a monster of his own creation. And monsters, as we have already learned, must die, even the prettiest ones. One does not really live without Beauty. Dedication to Beauty kills. Wilde' s fellow Victorians had no difficulty in reading the rest of

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 63

the message: Love between men is beautiful. I will now follow my desires openly. It was a brave statement. It was a scandulous state­ ment. It was a tragic statement. Even within the novel, Dorian Gray and others pay with their lives for this transformation of amorality and immorality into a moral principle. What happened to Wilde's own life thereafter seems to have been prefigured by his own execution of his favorite creature, Dorian Gray.

Self-Loving Young Men and the Virtual Replacement of Reality: Dora Gray's Perspective Long before the phrase "politically correct" achieved its current salien­ cy, the concept was well known within the social sciences. It made sense, too, and still does. We have mostly our anthropologist colleagues to thank for alerting us to the highly consequential errors that can be made if we interpret other people's lives by our own assumptions and standards. After first making their own share of these errors, anthropologists have become mentors whose advice is well worth heeding. The respect for other cultures is also a welcome corrective to the chauvinism and intolerance that remain rampant today. Nevertheless, there is still the question of moral responsibility. Is it ethical, is it wise, is it responsible to observe with passive acceptance what appears to be the cruel use of people and animals and the destruction of earth's resources? Does the tolerant bystander, practitioner of cultural relativity and diversity, escape becoming a moral caricature? Are we not responsible for recognizing evil, ignorance, and folly wherever it appears? Thoughtful Victorians recognized evil, ignorance, and folly in their own times. In this section let us suppose that a Victorian has survived into our own times, thereby having both the insider's and the outsider's perspec­ tive. Dora Gray will be our critic, then, a person uniquely qualified to be politically incorrect.

Ms. Gray? THE DORA GRAY CRITIQUE Turn first to the dictionary. Virtual. The first definition:

Archaic. Of or relating to a virtue, or efficacious power, energizing.

64 / DORIAN, GRAYING

Of course, th;s definition is archaic! It relates to a virtue! Few truly believe in the efficacious power, the energizing impulse of a virtue. The sscond definition: Being in essence or effect, but not in fact. Virtual reality is the bridge we are crossing to the twenty-first century. It should divert us for at least a few years. I would have you know, however, that virtual reality was devised by Oscar Wilde and his consortium. All but the electronics. It was a clever and fatal invention. I will explain. Those self-loving young men prattled about art and beauty as they lounged in the drawing room. Listen to what they did not say. They did not speak of their debt to the forebearers who had provided this life of privilege. They did not speak of their living elders. They did not speak of their hopes and concerns for their children. They did not speak of women when they were in the mood to speak seriously. The listener might be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that these young men had not been born of woman and had themselves no place in the common procession of humankind from cradle to grave. "Family values" is a rather nostalgic phrase in the late twentieth century. It is the Victorian family that provides the time-misted image of com­ parison. The image is not what the reality was. Family influences and obligations were important, though. We were defined through our families, even though some of us would later attempt redefinitions. We were children and grandchildren before we were ourselves. The family connec­ tion, so important to most of us, was sloughed off by the self-loving young men. Social responsibility was even less of a priority. Poverty on the farm. Exploitation in the city. Disease in the slums. The disease of the slums. Misery and scarred lives just a little to the left and just a little to the right of the tunneled vision. No electronic headgear needed to see only what one chose to see. The roaring locomotive? A convenience and a nuisance. The new tech­ nologies could be amusing and expand one's sphere of pleasures. But they were also decried for their noisy, rude, disruptive ways. The self loving lads appointed themselves protectors of the classic arts and finer sensibilities, threatened as they were by the soot of rambunctious industrialization. They were not much interested in these developments for

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 65

their own sake-leave that to the sweaty toilers and the grubbing mer­ chants. It was their virtue, you see, that led them to the virtual replacement of commonplace reality. The womenfolk were assigned to be the respositories of virtue, of course. Virtue was our calling. As a virtuouso of virtue I was expected to do my do's. I was the woman who was done to as required. I was the obedience. I was the acceptance. I was the corseter of my own desires. I was the gray nibble-mouse content with the crumbs of patronization. Mine were the virtues of respect and restraint, forbearance and forgiveness. I kept the mirrors well polished for the admiring inspection of the self-loving lads. Mr. Wilde and Mr. Whistler, and all the Mr. Grays took upon themselves the burden ofthe transcenden­ tal virtues while I kept house. If I desired from my own desires, if I acted from my own thoughts, I was either a ridiculous, notorious, or mad creature. "She is making a bit of a scene, don't you think?" I would have to be put away, poor looney thing. Or my life would have to come to a bloody, tragic, and deeply satisfying end. I might instead subside into the invalid role that was available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The family could not afford to have all its females made useless through this slow suicide. All these deviant yet recognized outcomes proved how little qualified was the female to live as an independent self. The virtuous female could hardly be said to have lived her own life, but, rather, an anti-life in recoil from the denied possibilities. Do I exaggerate? Dorian Gray has just cruelly and unexpectedly rejected Sibyl Vane, the radiant young actress who loves him. This should have been their love scene. Instead, the woman is dazed and crushed by her sudden abandonment. Later that evening, the self-loving young man reflects on the incident: Had he been cruel? It was the girl's fault, not his. He had dreamed of her as a great artist, had given his love to her because he thought her great. Then she had disappointed him. She had been shallow and unworthy. And, yet, a feeling of infinite regret came over him, as he thought of her lying at his feet sobbing like a little child. He remem­ bered with what callousness he had watched her ... But ... his life was well worth hers .... Besides, women were better suited to bear sorrow than men. They lived on their emotions. They only thought of their emotions. When they took lovers, it was merely to have someone with whom they could have scenes. Lord Henry had told him that, and

66 / DORIAN, GRAVING

Lord Henry knew what women were. Why should he trouble about Sibyl Vane? She was nothing to him now (Wilde, p. 104).

We women were not to be taken seriously. Yet we were better suited to bearing sorrow. He was still playing with Sibyl Vane in his mind. It had served his mood of the moment to treat her cruelly last night. Ah, but today, after a refreshing night's sleep, today he is of a mind to marry her. Lord Henry must break the news to Dorian Gray: Sibyl died last night, evidently a suicide. At first, Dorian reacts like a normal human being. "It is terrible!" His mentor agrees: Yes; it is very tragic, of course, but you must not get yourself mixed up in it ... mustn't let this thing get on your nerves. You must come and dine with me, and afterwards we will look in at the Opera. It is a Patti night, and everybody will be there.

Dorian's continued reflections lead to the conclusion that: You don't know the danger I am in, and there is nothing to keep me straight. She would have done that for me. She had no right to kill herself. It was selfish of her.

Of course she had no right either to kill herself or to live herself-she was but a woman! Their conversation leaves no doubt about the place of women in the minds of men who have a more exalted of life. 'My dear Dorian,' answered Lord Henry, taking a cigarette from his case, and producing a gold-Iatten matchbox, 'the only way a woman can ever reform a man is by boring him so completely that he loses all possible interest in life. If you had married this girl you would have been wretched.'

His dear Dorian has still the remnants of a conscience. At least, he thinks he still should have a conscience. It was his duty to behave honorably but, then, it was hardly his fault if Sibyl Vane had not given him the chance. Splendid self-loving lad that he is, Dorian is more concerned about his own feelings than about the lifeless body of the woman who loved him. What is it that I cannot feel this tragedy as much as I want to? I don't think I am heartless. Do you?

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES I 67

Dear, dear, dear Dorian, who, knowing you, could think that? There follows another conversation about aesthetics! Actual life and death seem to be interesting only as addendum to the virtual reality of Victorian aesthetics. Lord Henry explains that ordinary tragedies often occur, in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of sty le. They affect us just as vulgarity affects us.

How offensive to these sensitive minds that others should die with an entire lack of style! What is needed are tragedies that possess "artistic elements of beauty." These stylish tragedies enable us to enact the role of both participant and enthralled spectator. Dear Dorian, what a fortunate man you are! Someone has killed herself for love of you. I wish that I had ever had such an experience .... The people who have adored me ... have always instigated on living on, long after I had ceased to care for them, or they to care for me ....

Sibyl Vane was virtuous in her final act-providing Dorian with a dramatic love-gift and then exiting forever. Lord Henry not only bemoans the lack of such a stylish tribute to himself, but also the tenacious habit of one's past women to reminisce. That awful memory of woman! What a fearful thing it is!

The self-loving lads cannot abide having a history. To be reminded that one does have a past, that one did make committments, that one is con­ nected to other people through time? How tedious! How common! Infinitely preferable are the visions enjoyed through the magic glasses of a virtual reality. Lord Henry has been truly impressed by Sibyl's suicide: There is something to me quite beautiful about her death. I am glad I am living in a century when such wonders happen. They make one believe in the reality of the things we all play with, such as romance, passion, and love.

The things we play with ... love. For the self-loving lads: play. For the woman: death. Dorian still needs absolution for the fact that he had treated her cruelly. Lord Henry obliges

68 / DORIAN, GRAYING

.... women appreciate cruelty ... more than anything else. They have wonderfully primitive instincts. We have emancipated them, but they remain slaves looking for their masters, all the same. They love being dominated. I am sure you were splendid.

No need to feel even the slightest twinge of guilt, dear Dorian. It is Sibyl who should dispatch a thank-you note from the other side. You met her needs so splendidly. The virtual replacement of reality achieves one of its defining moments when Lord Henry springs his conclusion: The girl never really lived, and so she has never really died.

Brilliant, Inspector Holmes! A mere female would never had persevered to reach that inexorable solution. Devilishly clever! Sibyl Vane was real only as an actress, that is to say. when she was not herself but an invented character with invented words and passions. The moment she touched actual life, she marred it, and it marred her, and so she passed away. Mourn for Ophelia, if you like. Put ashes on your head because Cordelia was strangled. Cry out against Heaven because the daughter of Brabantio died. But don't waste your tears over Sibyl Vane. She was less real than they are.

Repeat: do I exaggerate? Loving with all her heart, and dying with all her love, Sibyl Vane became ... nothing. Only her invented characters on stage, only her passing impression on Dorian were real. She herself had no right to exist. Now, step into the next room, if you please ... and perhaps we should keep our voices down. Here we see another of Mr. Wilde's most memorable characters: the prisoner in Reading Gaol. Even many of those who were repelled by certain of Mr. Wilde's affectations and behaviors honor this poem, and we will let that pass. Speaking only as the defective female creature that I am, however, I find it difficult to add a bouquet. The key refrain, again:

Each man kills the thing he loves.

The brave man with a sword,

The coward with a kiss.

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 69

Question: Precisely what was the "thing" not each man but this very

man killed?

Answer: A woman, his wife.

So! "thing" = womanlwife

Question: Is this a brave or a cowardly man?

Answer: Brave, certainly, because he killed with the sword.

Question: Did he really kill with a sword?

Answer: Actually, he slit her throat with a knife.

Question: Where did this happen?

Answer: In bed.

I see! Sword = kiss: Both kill in bed.

Do I have this straight? This is a man who thinks of loving and killing as alternative forms of the same action. Furthermore, he aggrandizes the tawdry and confused crime beyond description. He would have us imagine him playing the intrepid musketeer, dueling to the death with a formidable adversary. But there was no adversary, no duel, no sword. The reality of a horrible action is replaced by melodramatic balderdash. Did he kill the thing he loved? Or did he make a thing of the woman he once thought he loved, and then kill that thing? On top of it all, we are expected to feel for this killer. He is being punished for his bravery, you see, while other men, cowards that they are, murder slowly by their kiss. He has proved his manhood and awaits the laurel wreathe. He can keep waiting. This ponderous self-deception seems to have gone unnoticed. Perhaps it is because men have appointed themselves curators of this poem and are easy marks for the imagery. And perhaps it is because this exaltation of evil is so much of a piece with the aesthetic's virtual replacement of reality. One more failure to accept responsibility, one more refusal to own one's actions is scarcely noticed as such. Ah, but I have been too well indoctrinated not to feel pity for this poor monster, though a creature of his own creation. Pretty, pretty Dorian Gray is the more pitiable monster, however, because he was given indefinite leave to indulge his indefinite self. It was Dorian who took the first space walk in time. It was Dorian who, on the best of advice, severed his connections with woman, with social responsibility, with what a sensitive historian describes as The Journey ofLife (Cole, 1992). It was Dorian who, afloat in hypertime, lost the distinction between gravity and levity. Why

70 I DORIAN, GRAVING

finger him for blame? In both PDG and his own life, Wilde could never quite decide whether to worship or mock the aesthetic spirit. He exposed the perils with scathing humor in his writings, but continued to exemplify them in his leisurely self-destruction. The homosexuality-there, I said the word, overcoming my Victorian scruples-was not simply a casual matter of preference. "You like mutton? I prefer escargot." The homosexual choice was essential to our precocious Victorian form of virtual reality. The self-loving young man could accept being adored by woman, but not bound to a generative relationship. Himself a child, how could he be a father? Marital, filial, and social responsibility presumed a person who had an authentic stake in the real lives of real people. Pretty, pretty Dorian was such a child that he did not even have an authentic stake in his own future. He could not imagine himself the middle­ aged patriarch of a thriving family. He dared not imagine himself a silver­ whiskered elder whose support and counsel was widely sought. His only future was to remain a child, that is, to have the present extended indefinitely. Intimate contact with women was horrifying, but not in the way you might suppose. Beautiful young women were appreciated. They enhanced the decor. Arouse their passion and they were also amusing in bed. But we women do not stay young, do we? And we have habits that pique the aesthetic male. As Lord Henry observed, we remember. In our weak, feminine way, we find intimate relationships to be of value and try to protect and preserve them, and in memory, when all else fails. The Vic­ torian aesthetic-an unlikely Hollywood cowboy-preferred to tip his hat, mumble, "Thank you, Ma'm," saddle his ego and ride off into the sunset, a new adventure awaiting on the morrow. Even more distressing was our habit of becoming pregnant and, on occasion, surviving agonies and infec­ tions to become mothers. The self-loving lad who marries a decorative young beauty is appalled to discover that he is living with a mother and with a houseful of children who call him, "Papa." Good heavens! People change. They grow up. They grow old. They have responsibilities beyond seeing to their own pleasure. It is no wonder that a pretty young man might choose Plan B. Lord Henry and Dorian Gray were not about to make that mis­ take. Time, change, and aging were more of an affront to them than to the vainest of women. Please don't take my word for this. Look about you today.

DORIAN IN HIS OWN TIMES / 71

The tradition of celebrating male beauty has been an important part of the gay male sensibility that emphasizes youth and good looks. The high value placed on looks tends to have a negative effect on attitudes toward aging. Ageism is still pervasive in the United States ... and gay men have not resisted this cultural attitude (Nakayama and Corey, p.212). The excessive fear of aging is not caused by homosexuality. It is more the other way around. Some men who cannot deal with their mortal limits and responsibitities select homosexuality as an evasive maneuver. Aes­ thetic pursuits take the place of generativity. Style and fantasy constitute the virtual reality that virtually replaces the seeding, nurturing, flourishing, and withering of the natural seasons of humankind. With women? Lesbians have been much more successful at not playing into lookism. This resistance stems from the feminist rejection of patriar­ chal constructions of femininity and beauty by lesbian feminists (Nakayama and Corey, p. 212). Men, some of them, remain trapped by their own constructions of masculine beauty. Poor dears. Why did Dorian Gray retreat from the radiant love of the beautiful Sibyl Vane? It was not because he found her repulsive (quite the contrary), nor because he was incapable of enjoying sexual relationships with a woman. His harsh treatment of her seemed so unconvincingly motivated. Sibyl was so engrossed in her love for Dorian that she had given a poor performance at the theater that evening. This offended Dorian' s aesthetic sense, and so, off to your suicide grave, Ms. Vane! Was his anger not fear? Was it not the challenge of taking a real woman into his real life that so panicked the pretty young man? It was so much more comfortable to continue with his self-love and with the flattery of his male friends. (I say, Inspector Holmes, how is the little woman and all the merry rascals you have sired? No need to flush and blush, Watson: I jest.) Yes, I know that I am expe;cted to liJake a disclaimer here. I will do so. Many homosexual men are simply men who are homosexual. They are butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers like everybody else, part of the community, part of the common journey of life. I have spoken here only of the aesthetic males who attempted to become privileged spectators of the human condition, and for whom Aristotle's discourses on generativity and corruption held special terror. They would co-construct an alternative

72 I DORIAN, GRAVING

realm to inhabit, a realm that existed in "effect, but not in fact." A bubble. And then, with PDG, a bubble within the bubble. Endless youth. A social club for the elite of the elite. No changelings, no women need apply. Thank you for listening. You were listening, weren't you? I will leave by the back door .... I know where it is.

PARTII

Intermezzo Lord Henry suggested to Dorian Gray that they "look in at the Opera" after dinner. What follows next is an opera that definitely needs looking into. Here is a brief program note to scan as the nineteenth-century charac­ ters depart this book and the musicians take their places. Dorian, The Opera moves the theme of extended youth to our own times. The characters have faces that we can more easily recognize and that live in the same world that we do. These characters include the literary descendants of the original Lord Henry, Dorian Gray, Basil Hallward, Sibyl Vane, and Jim (her sea-faring brother not mentioned previously here). In the new version, Jim is her half-brother. As previously noted, Lord Henry easily enough becomes Henry Lord and Dorian Gray, ap­ propriately, remains unchanged. I could not bring myself to write seriously for a Basil (the only two I know are Rathborne and metabolism), so he was renamed to honor two artist friends of Wilde, Ricketts and Shannon. Sibyl is lovely, but I felt the need for a name that would open the dark Victorian curtains and let the sunshine in. There are other changes, including the introduction of new characters and the elimination of subsidiary characters in the original. The most significant dramatic encounters have their parallels here. For example, you can readily find the Lord Henry character first gaining control over Dorian Gray, and, of course, the final encounter between Dorian Gray and Dorian Gray. New scenes have been developed. We are given a little more perspective, for example, on Henry Lord's own motivation, and the young woman now has both a legitimate love scene as well as a monologue of despair. It would be distracting, however to read Dorian, The Opera in a detec­ tiving state of mind. That would certainly interfere with the flow. Ideally, the new version would be read as though a new tale. Spirits and 75

76 / INTERMEZZO

phantoms of the original will then play their shadow game at the edges of our mind. Oscar Wilde is given the opportunity to express several of his thoughts in his own words. There was no doubt as to which of his observations should be included: Oscar simply rapped his gold-tipped cane and I had no choice but to obey. With these few but significant exceptions, the dialogue was invented to serve the needs of the present characters and, of course, the composer. But why an opera? The Picture of Dorian Gray started life as a novel. It obviously wanted to become a movie some day, and became, in fact, an excellent film. I refer of course to the 1945 version with George Sanders as the impeccable Lord Henry, Hurd Hatfield also perfection as Dorian Gray, and Angela Lansbury (still a vibrant and popular actress today) as Sibyl. (Years later a trashy remake appeared about which the less said the better.) I have felt for sometime that there was also an opera implicit in the novel. By opera I do not mean a soporific snooze-through ordeal in which patrons keep whispering to their companions, "Did the fat lady sing yet?" I mean a strong, forward-moving drama in which believable characters sing their hearts out. I mean a drama in which the characters are clearly etched and their conflicts made palpable. I mean the power of music reaching across from the loves, hopes, sorrows, and fears of the characters into our own lives and there making a new home. The theme of perpetual youth deserves something more compelling than drawing-room chatter or seminar-room analysis. It deserves its full measure of passion. Dorian, The Opera is an attempt to realize on a different plane the dramatie potential of the original and at the same time re-unite the idea of perpetual youth with its conflicting passions. It is also a little experiment. In a previous book I offered a selection of my short plays dealing with themes of development, aging and death (Kastenbaum, 1993). This book concluded with an essay in which I observed that "Gerontology has not yet succeeded in providing a com­ prehensive, coherent, and theoretically invigorating account of its subject matter" (p. 180). I suggested that we add the idea of dramatic truth as well as the dramaturgical method and vision to our repertoire of investigation. Dramatic truth must be sought in context, not in statistical reconstructions of human thoughts, feelings, relationships, and actions. The dramaturgical approach is not intended to replace psychometrics, surveys, laboratory experimentation or any other existing mode of registering and interpreting

INTERMEZZO / 77

information. Rather, it is both a way to begin research from the heart of our own experiences, and a way to return to ourselves with fresh dis­ coveries. We will have to save the rest for later. Listen ... the music begins.

DORIAN the opera

libretto: Robert Kastenbaum mUSIC:

Herbert Deutsch

Principal Characters

HENRY LORD, bass-baritone, a professor of literature YOUNG WOMAN, soprano, a worried student RICK SHANNON, baritone, director of the university's Compumusic Research Laboratory SUNBEAM, mezzo-soprano, a music student JIM, brotherly friend to Sunbeam DORIAN GRAY, former student drifting toward a possible career as pop singer and composer STELLAR, mezzo-soprano, one of many young people attracted to the biggest party in town POLLY FOX, soprano, looking after Stellar

81

The Where and When ACT I

Scene 1: Henry Lord at the podium Henry Lord, Worried Student, other students Scene 2: Compumusic Research Laboratory, later that day Bus stop Jim's apartment Rick Shannon, Henry Lord, Sunbeam, lim, Dorian Gray Scene 3: A view from Dorian's roof, that evening Sunbeam, Dorian Gray

ACT 11

Scene 1: Compumusic Research Laboratory, some months later Henry Lord, Rick Shannon, Dorian Gray Scene 2: Sunbeam's apartment, some months later Sunbeam Scene 3: A small park, later that evening Rick Shannon, Dorian Gray, a couple strolling by 83

84 / DORIAN

ACT III

Scene 1:

Twenty years later. A post-conference party at the Rick Shannon School of Compu­ music A small park Henry Lord, Dorian Gray, Stellar, Jim, people at the party

Scene 2:

A few minutes later Dorian's house Live: Dorian Gray, Stellar, Polly Fox, Jim, Henry Lord Video-computer: Dorian Gray, Rick Shannon, Sunbeam, Jim

Act I: Scene 1

Solo flute pierces the silence with lucid but distancing modal figurations. Image of a Grecian urn appears as though suspended high in space. The urn will rotate, slowly revealing its shepherd-seeking-nymph scene, accompanied by flute. The entering voice-over introduces a cool, syncopated rhythm that both enriches the flute pattern and brings it closer to our own time. Subtle percussive touches contribute to the flute/voice recitation. HENRY LORD:

Oh Thou Still unravished Still unravished [mocking laugh] Still unravished bride of quietness ... What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both In Tempe, Arizona or the dales of Arcady?

Zoom-zoom of revving Harley-Davidson replaces flute. A series of photo­ graphic images replace the urn. HENRY LORD continues his recitation with percussion accompaniment as we see the progression of a contem­ porary "courtship" between hot young man and woman. HENRY LORD:

What men or gods are these? What mad pursuit? 85

86 / DORIAN

What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

The next andfinal photograph isfrozen: we see the couple on the verge of their sexual encounter. HENRY LORD:

Bold lover, never never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal-yet do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou has not thy bliss. For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Scrim light rises, stage right. We see HENRY LORD standing behind a podium, completing his lecture. Any questions? MALE VOICE: HENRY LORD: FEMALE VOICE: HENRY LORD:

MALE VOICE: HENRY LORD:

They never make it?

Ecstasy is always a moment away

But that moment never comes Safe sex! [Laughter] Who would trade places with these marble men or these overwrought maidens?

What, no takers?

Remember: "When old age shall this

generation waste: Thou shall remain-"

Horny as a toad! Well-croaked, young tadpole! Be faithful, then, to your mad pursuits and wild ecstasies! You will find them in chapters seven through nine.

Groans from the class. HENRY LORD flips off a switch at the podium, ending the photograph projection. Sound of people getting out of their chairs and leaving the room. One attractive YOUNG WOMAN approaches the podium where HENRY LORD is replacing his notes in his brief case. Their scene together is accompanied by earthier music. YOUNG WOMAN: Is all of this stuff­

ACT I: SCENE 1 /

HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD:

87

Yes, it will all be on the test! Oh! Or perhaps not. Find out for yourself!

YOUNG WOMAN's imploring is enhanced by nervous, restless body lan­ guage offerings: a sort of implicit dance.

YOUNG WOMAN: [sighs] What an idiot I am, that's what I'll find out. What an idiot I am! This poetry stuff is over my head­ It's all from another worldI mean I like it, And you and this class and Everything and you and every thingBut all those words just make my head spin around and around. You wouldn't have a little time to spare for me­ would you? YOUNG WOMAN maintains her despondent but hopeful posture as she awaits his answer. To audience:

HENRY LORD:

A little time to spare? There's not a moment, Not a moment, not a moment to spare, My dear; I'll take you right there my dear­ On a desk, on the floor, With a growl, with a roar I'll grind you with my lust I'll grind us both to dust-

YOUNG WOMAN has a suddenand alarming thought.

YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN:

I hope he doesn't think that 1­ With my rageIf he does, III just die­

88 I DORIAN

HENRY LORD comes reluctantly to his senses

HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN:

With my ridiculous and pathetic age I'm old enough to be her .. . He's old enough to be my .. .

A moment for both in thought, then: Dissociated duet: HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD:

YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD:

YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN:

HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD:

What of it? I might love it. A man of the world. Deserves his prize A man of the world Before he dies Should taste every pleasure On this spinning, spinning Spinning, spinning Toy of the gods hurling through space Spinning, spinning Why not taste every pleasure Before pleasure dies with age Age? What of it? I even might love it! A man of the world! Deserves his prize But: never mind! [to YOUNG WOMAN] You have confessed a fear to me.

I will confess one to you.

For real?

Every year you are younger,

You and your sisters and your brothers­

Is that your secret?

That you feel like an old guy!

But you don't look so old-for an old guy!

Remember the urn, the urn spinning and

spinning?

Was it the urn? I thought that was my idiot head

spinning ...

How do I keep my own head in its place?

ACT I: SCENE 1 /

YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD:

89

I feel another confession coming up?

With my Grecian-

With your Grecian urn?

"Leaf-fringed, unravished" whatever?

Not! With my Grecian Formula!

YOUNG WOMAN laughs with surprise and delight. HENRY LORD joins in. YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD:

YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD:

YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD:

YOUNG WOMAN: HENRY LORD: YOUNG WOMAN:

Time has dyed in your hair­ Get it? Time has dyed? Got it.

Now: you got it?

You are no kind of idiot.

I'm not?

There is a world of flesh­

Oh, I know, I know

-And a world of words and images

A strange and confusing world

We all feel like idiots when we are caught between

these worlds.

But the real idiots are the ones who don't

Know the difference and don't care.

Make both worlds your own.

Claim your heritage!

He's right! I'm not! Not an idiot!

It all belongs to me, flesh, word, and image!

Spin, spin that urn around inside your

Own head;

Feel the passion, taste the words

Feel the passion ...

Capture time before time captures you ...

Taste the words ...

YOUNG WOMAN extends a handand grips HENRY LORD briefly by the wrist, then quickly lets go. Thank you, Professor Lord.

I think I will do just fine on the test.

90 I DORIAN

HENRY LORD:

[Turning to leave] And your secrets will be safe with me! [To seif] So there you are, Professor Lord! You are not only aging. Worse! You are becoming-responsible! How pathetic! How ridiculous!

[To audience] Each statement is preceded by a harp glissando, as though pages are being turned. • Beautiful sins are denied me • But an angel screams like a devil inside me • And must have his say, must have his way! Gestures as though sprinkling a magic dust. Notices ruefully that nothing happens, that he is still standing there. Shrugs. Calculating smile. He gestures for another glissando, then: • Those Greeks who turned the artful urns

themselves have turned to clay,

And mine grows colder with each day

Somebody-somebody must pay!

[Hint of a smile] But then: what are friends for, any way? BLACKOUT

Act I: Scene 2

Computer style music is heard. Lights soon rise on the Compumusic Research Laboratory. SUNBEAM, a shy and conservatively dressed stu­ dent, is completing her peiformance at a synthesizer keyboard while RICK SHANNON, professor and laboratory director, observes intently. HENRY LORD has made himself at home at another computer station, his feet propped on a table. SUNBEAM finishes and awaits judgment. RICK SHANNON remains frowning, arms folded, for a moment. RICK SHANNON:

SUNBEAM: RICK SHANNON:

Good-and terrible. Good that you already have the skill to imitate my style. Terrible that you imitate my style. One Rick Shannon is enough­ Probably too much. Be Sunbeam. Be yourself. Yes, I know. Ah, well. But mostly good! Just trust yourself. Next time, give us Sunbeam music.

With a quick little smile at RICK SHANNON and HENRY LORD, SUN­ BEAM ducks out of the room. RICK SHANNON strides to the keyboard and runs off a glittering glissando. RICK SHANNON addresses HENRY LORD as though he were a large audience. You are probably wondering Why I sent for all of you. 91

92 I DORIAN

HENRY LORD:

Not at all. Your command is my wish!

RICK SHANNON's explanation swells into a proud little aria with secon­ dary contributions by HENRY LORD. RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

You missed itthe invention of the wheel. I must have been in Cleveland You missed itthe decimal point. I must have been asleep. You missed itthe first split infinitive and atom I must have been asleep in Cleveland. But: no matter! You will be the first to see the Future as the Future would choose to be! Hither, Professor, Hither!

RICK SHANNON motions for HENRY LORD to approach another com­ puter station. He places an arm around HENRY LORD's shoulders while he cues up the computer screen. HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD:

I see a Future blank as a computer screen See instead a Future limited only by The courage to imagine. What should I imagine? Rolling, the beautiful rolling, Imagine the rolling, then imagine the wheel. The rolling ... Numbers, the beautiful numbers, The architecture of numbers Imagine the numbers, then imagine the dec-i-mal point The rolling architecture of numbers ... Energy, imagine the beautiful energy, Then imagine the atom blowing its cork The rolling architecture of numbers blowing its cork-and also, incidentally, us!

ACT I: SCENE 2 I 93

[To a tum-of-the-century-sounding dance tune] RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD:

So Henry, don't fall asleep in Cleveland­ Wake! For the Future is here! Raise up the bannerAnd pass me that scanner: 0, Imagineer, gallant Imagineer Our bold journey's but begun: Light that screen and man that scan And I'll not fall asleep in Cleveland town.

While discussion and demonstration proceeds unheard, soft lights rise at the forward edge of the stage. Sunbeam stands pensively behind the bench at a bus stop. Her thoughts are expressed in a hesitant, hushed little song, perhaps with violin-cello accompaniment. It builds slowly to a passionate climax, then retreats. The accents fall on the who-where­ when-why-how' s. My heart is yours

But who are you?

Where are you?

When are you?

Why are you always never?

How are you ever there

Just beyond.

Will I ever be me without you?

My heart is yours

So come to me

You whoever You where ever

You whenever

So come to me

Must you be always never?

How will I ever be me

Without you?

SUNBEAM looks down the street, checks her watch. Where is that bus?

94 I DORIAN

An agitated young man in leather jacket, jeans, and boots appears behind SUNBEAM. He tries to speak, but words seem to fail him.

I don't belong here. The young man finally gets one word out:

JIM:

Sunbeam!

She is pleased but surprised and puzzled to see him.

SUNBEAM:

Jim! What are you doing here?

As JIM tries to explain himself to her, she responds to his difficulties in expressing himself by taking his arm and petting his hand.

JIM: SUNBEAM: JIM: SUNBEAM:

I had to see you before I go. To Alaska. Yes. To Alaska. Oh, Jim, you're not in trouble­ Ajob. I got ajob. Yes. Ajob. Good money. [Squeezing him arm] Why, Jim, that's wonderful! But what will I do without my big brother?

JIM produces an airline ticket and shows it to SUNBEAM.

JIM: SUNBEAM: JIM:

So soon! So soon! I had to had to see you I'm glad you caught me. [To self] I had to had to see her Had to see her one more time Have to tell have to tell her How I need how I need her How I love how I love her

ACT I: SCENE 2 I 95

SUNBEAM: JIM: SUNBEAM:

JIM: SUNBEAM: JIM: SUNBEAM:

[To seif]

I'm glad he caught me.

I was falling again.

[To seif] I will make make her proud [To seif] I was falling again into my fears Ready to quit. Ready to run. [To seif] My life. She is my life. [To seif] My strength. He is my strength. [To her] Will you Will you promise me Promise you what?

He is struggling even harder for expression

JIM: SUNBEAM:

JIM: SUNBEAM:

JIM:

Promise you will not not give up

Jim, you have always caught me

When I was ready to fall from my music into some

dark and silent place.

I confess, brother: I was flying away,

Falling away when you came just now.

But just seeing you-how could I give up?

[To seif] Have to tell her have to tell her more [To seif] How did I get so lucky?

Even real brothers are not so strong and kind.

And they say that Jim is the one who doesn't fit, the

one who doesn't understand!

[To seif] Have to tell her have to tell her all

SUNBEAM kisses JIM on the cheek in her new enlivened mood.

96 / DORIAN

SUNBEAM:

JIM: SUNBEAM: JIM: SUNBEAM:

Can you have dinner with me? No? Then, I'm going right back to the lab and make something of my music! See how you inspire me! SunbeamYou even gave me that name! And when I felt most in the dark! SunbeamJim! Be my Alaska hero! Maybe I will be a real musician Next time you see me!

SUNBEAM smiles and exits. JIM sits vacantly on the bench for a moment. Softly: JIM:

Sunbeam!

As lights fade on the bus scene, we hear again what is happening at the computer station. HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

My hat's off to you, Prof. Shannon! In fact, you can take my head with it. I have no idea how this works. I should hope not! I'm supposed to be the only genius in this lab. But it does work? With a little glitch here and there And once in a while, a monster glitch But, yes, it does work. And here is the other hero of the piece:

Large computer screen reveals the image of a very handsome-a beauti­ ful-young man in a sharp athletic outfit. HENRY LORD is impressed. HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

Image or reality?

Yes.

Ah!

And, of course, he can do more than just stand there

and look beautiful.

ACT I: SCENE 2 /

HENRY LORD:

97

Is that necessary? Standing there and looking beautiful has always been enough for me!

RICK SHANNON makes a move on the computer. Balletic music is heard to which the young man gracefully executes a series of gymnastic exer­ cises. A close-up then appears: the face of the young man is now the face of RICK SHANNON. HENRY LORD:

Now-really!

RICK SHANNON makes another set of adjustments and the com­ puterized image whirls around, the next time displaying the face of HENRY LORD.

RICK SHANNON:

That's more like it! This is only child's play, child! With my new interactive program Even a professor of literature Can experience a semblance of life. Any body can be every body, Every body any body

The computer portrait has returned to its original form. HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD:

Anybody ... everybody On digital wings We can live beyond our skins Every body ... any body Let me explain the principles again. The devil with your principles­ Who is that dazzling young man? His name is Dorian. Dorian Gray. He is also a wealthy young man And quite a pleasant young man. Youth, beauty and wealth! Is there anything he doesn't have? Purpose. Does an angel need purpose?

98 I DORIAN

RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

He has given me hours, days, weeks. Today I give him his liberty. Not before I meet him! That is why I invited both of you this Afternoon. Any moment now.

Quirky rhythms propel the soliloquy. HENRY LORD:

[To himself] I am excited: why? What's all this rubbish to me? Images on a screen And the whole stupid world waiting to watch them Where has intellect fled? Who has absconded with wit? When will they appreciate true art? What's all this rubbish to me? I am excited: why?

A pulsating, energetic music is heard, with a character unlike any of the preceding. DORIAN GRAY enters: t-shirt, jeans, open, good-natured atti­ tude. He offers an exaggerated slalom to RICK SHANNON, not having yet noticed HENRY LORD. DORIAN GRAY: RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON:

Oh, Master, I hear and I obey! Sure, you do, sure you do! You hear what you want to hear and Obey your own juvenile impulses. [Aside] So this is Dorian? I would have thought, Adonis, or the young Tithon, ensnaring the Heart of Jupiter's lovely daughter. Dorian, I would like you to meet Henry Lord. He is the frosty eminence of our Literature Department and, Heaven help me, my friend of friends.

DORIAN GRAY smiles as he salutes HENRY LORD.

ACT I: SCENE 2 /

99

And, heaven help me, we are going to Party. Just a little. A celebration. RICK SHANNON is producing a tray from a small refrigerator. It bears a bottle of champagne and three champagne glasses. DORIANGRAY:

You must be the good influence on Rick, The friend who keeps him at least Half human.

The bottle will be opened and the champagne disseminated during the following trio: HENRY LORD: DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: RICK SHANNON: DORIANGRAY: RICK SHANNON: DORIANGRAY:

There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral, Mr. Gray. Good Lord, why is that? Because to influence a person is to give him One's own soul. Give him what? "One's own soul" He becomes an echo An echo Of someone else's music. Dorian-don't listen Listen Listen Enjoy him, but pay no attention to Enjoy His words His words

RICK raises his glass to propose a toast RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: RICK & DORIAN: HENRY LORD:

Gentlemen!

To computer science!

To youth and beauty!

To more champagne!

We are but

Bubbles!

Air-headed

100 I DORIAN

RICK & DORIAN: HENRY LORD: RICK & DORIAN:

Bubbles! Elated, fated, intoxicated Bubbles!

They drain their glasses.

DORIAN GRAY: RICK SHANNON:

DORIAN GRAY:

HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

But what are we celebrating?

The end and the beginning.

Our little project is finished.

You are released from your chains.

[Laughing] I will have to find new chains, then!

Or I will float away, float away for sure.

[Aside] Yes, I can see that. It's the truth.

It's the end of a project that has kept me in

Chains for years. Now I can begin to enjoy

My own freedom.

Not to mention fame and fortune.

[Soberly] Actually-not.

It was an experiment to prove something to myself.

I won't go public with it.

Surprised and impressed, HENRY LORD and DORIAN GRAY toast RICK SHANNON with their empty glasses.

HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD:

Sooner or later

it would be abused-

A prison-box for special interests

A cage, not a compass for the mind

An instrument of pain and restraint,

An invitation to madness.

Sooner or later, it would be abused.

The pleasure was in the intention

And the invention.

You said it.

I was an experiment!

You are still an experiment!

ACT I: SCENE 2 /

DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIANGRAY:

101

Nobody else gets to be me! Unless yourself. One more time! Cue me up again.

RICK SHANNON moves to the computer console. We see first a repetition of the previous series of gymnastic exercises (but not interrupted by the superimposed faces). Let's have my song.

I wrote it myself--on the computer.

The large computer screen now presents a video. There is a title in the lower left corner: "I Feel Like Morning." We see DORIAN GRAY ascend a hill at sunrise, perch on a boulder, and accompany himself on the guitar as he sings. I feel like morning.

I feel like another new day.

I feel like warning

The world to stay out of my way.

I'm so me, you must be all so you.

SUNBEAM slips quietlyback into the laboratory and takes in the scene­ especially DORIAN GRAY-without being noticed. I feel like morning.

I feel like another new day.

I feel like warning

The world to stay out of my way.

Dance with me, sunbeam-

I'm so much like you.

Dance with me, sunbeam-

And I'll never, not ever be blue!

Video freezes on last frame: DORIAN GRA Y with his arms upraised to the rising sun and embraced by its beams. SUNBEAM cannot resist applauding, and is embarrassed at being noticed. SUNBEAM:

I'm sorry! I didn't think anybody'd be here.

102 / DORIAN

RICK SHANNON:

Came back to work on your piece, didn't you? I was hoping you would. Hold on a minute and this place will be yours.

DORIAN GRAY offers a passing glance and smile to SUNBEAM, but is more attentive to HENRY LORD's response. DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

It's not much, Professor Lord, but it's my kind of song. Why apologize? What other kind of song should you sing? Preserve me, 0 Lord, I feel a lecture Coming on.

DORIAN GRAY refills the glasses and gallantly offers his to SUNBEAM who shyly accepts. DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD:

DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD:

SUNBEAM: HENRY LORD:

Lecture away, I will drink it all in. Who is the bravest one among us? Don't tell me! He will still be afraid of his shadowShe will still be afraid of her shadow. Courage has gone out of our race! There's not a brave soul in this place! Afraid of our shadows, afraid of ourselves! You, Mr. Gray, with your rose-red youth You, Mr. Gray with your rose-white mind You, Mr. Gray, have had passions that Make you afraid, thoughts that fill you with Terror, dreams you dare not recall. You're going too far, Henry. "I feel like morning." "I feel like another new day." But you will grow old with regret Like all the rest of us. Regret? Please ... I don't understand. The life we did not live. The love we did not dare. Believe me, we are punished for our refusals.

ACT I: SCENE 2 /

103

Every promising little sin we strangle in our minds Returns as a rope from hell to hang us. SUNBEAM: I do understand. Thank you. [Raising his glass] RICK SHANNON: Here's to Henry­ Our expert on hellHell, our expert on everything­ Except when to keep still! HENRY LORD: Keep still? We will all be experts bye and bye Friends, drink to your bones DORIAN & S'BEAM: To bones!

In the form of an ornate, old-fashioned round: DORIANGRAY: SUNBEAM: HENRY LORD: DORIANGRAY: SUNBEAM: HENRY LORD: DORIANGRAY: SUNBEAM: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: DORIAN GRAY:

A drink for our bones A drink for our bones A drink for our bones So dusty and dry So dusty and dry Oh, so dusty and dry So expertly still in the sweet bye and bye Sweet bye and bye Sweet bye and bye Wait! What happened to today? And tomorrow? Do you really think that I will grow old with regret? Why, I don't even believe that I will grow old!

At this point, RICK SHANNON throws up his hands in mock disgust at DORIAN GRAY and HENRY LORD and attends to SUNBEAM, apparently speaking with her about her music as they drift together toward the synthesizer. We do not hear their conversation. DORIAN GRAY is now sitting at the edge of a table. HENRY LORD approaches him from behind and puts his hand on his shoulder. HENRY LORD:

You are a wonderful creation. You know more than you think you know. Just as you know less than you want to know.

104 / DORIAN

DORIAN GRAY seems to have something stirring in him: a thoughtful, unsettled look that we have not seen before. Time steals from us all. But for you of all people, Time will be a master criminal Because in you Youth has such a treasure To grow old, year by year, ab! To lose the spring in your step! To lose the ring in your voice! To lose the bright animal gleam in your eyes! To grow old, year by year, ah!

DORIAN GRAY tries to shrug off this horror DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD:

DORIANGRAY: It can't be that bad Others get by It can't be that bad DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY:

Oh, it can't be that bad­ Others get by; Others creep by; Others weep in their hearts every Lost morning and every empty night. Others creep by, sustained by feeble memories and frail intentions, and Always regrets. Always, the regrets. LORD: To grow old, year by year, ah! Others creep by And always, the regrets [Laughing] No! What can it matter? I don't feel anything in what you say. It should matter to you, Mr. Gray! Why? Because you have the most marvelous youth-and youth is the only thing The only thing? The only thing worth having. Well, perhaps, I should feel something. But I don't.

ACT I: SCENE 2 /

HENRY LORD:

105

No, you don't feel it now. Someday!

HENRY LORD comes around and studies DORIAN GRAY'sface intently.

DORIAN GRAY:

HENRY LORD:

DORIAN GRAY:

HENRY LORD:

DORIAN GRAY:

Some day, when you are old When you are old and wrinkled and ugly When thought has seared your forehead with its torture lines When careless passion has branded Your face with its disfiguring marks: Then you will feel it­ You will feel it terribly. [DORIAN just smiles] You smile? Ah,

When you have lost it, you won't smile,

Mr. Gray, you won't smile.

So-you think Time is picking on me?

Time is jealous of you.

He is already at war against your lilies and

Your roses!

Time wars! Yes, that's good! I like it!

And Time will win. How can Time not win?

You will become sallow and hollow-cheeked­

-and dull-eyed?

And will I suffer horribly?

HENRY LORD seizes DORIAN GRAY by the shouldersfora moment, then regains control and backs away. Softly now . ..

HENRY LORD:

DORIANGRAY:

HENRY LORD:

DORIAN GRAY:

Mr. Gray, enjoy what you have

While you have it.

Oh, yes.

Don't squander this gold on trash.

Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you.

Oh, yes.

DORIAN GRAY rises now with a more centered and determined attitude. They are side by side, confronting the world.

106 I DORIAN

HENRY LORD: DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY:

The world belongs to me! For a season. I was meant to be free For a season. There is such a little time­ Such a little time-and no time to waste. The pulse of joy­ -Throbs within me For a seasonFor one hell of a season! [Both laugh].

RICK SHANNON approaches them, SUNBEAM trailing a little behind.

RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD:

DORIANGRAY:

Well, I have a home

And a full schedule tomorrow.

I don't know about you idlers.

My schedule is filled-with idling.

I will start a new season tomorrow.

Noticing SUNBEAM more carefully.

RICK SHANNON:

Perhaps tonight. Forgive me. Dorian-Sunbeam.

Sunbeam-Dorian.

SUNBEAM obviously has already been taken with DORIAN GRAY. They speak a little uncomfortably to each other (unheard by us) while HENRY LORD, standing back to back with DORIAN GRAY, offers his opinion.

HENRY LORD:

DORIAN GRAY:

Yes, there is more to her than First sight reveals, A beauty that must be coaxed from hiding. A still unravished bride of quietness And slow time. But you heard my foolish little song And you didn't even laugh at me. I certainly won't laugh at yours.

SUNBEAM has folded herself up in her own arms, both eager and apprehensive.

ACT I: SCENE 2 I 107

RICK SHANNON:

You might do that, Sunbeam. There's a good ear attached to that pretty Face, but it needs some solid music Poured into it.

RICK SHANNON and HENRY LORD exchange glances and prepare to exit the laboratory together, looking back with amusement at the two young people. HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON:

I enjoyed meeting both of you. On with the season! Last one out, turn off the light! [To HENRY LORD] Did you fill that young man with Your terrible theories? Worse than that! With his own self! But, come to think of it, A turned-on Dorian may be too much for Your wispy little Sunbeam. Guard your own virtue, 0, Lord. Sunbeam has managed just fine with hers.

[RICK SHANNON and HENRY LORD exit}. DORIANGRAY:

[To SUNBEAM, smiling gently:] Will you play for me?

BLACKOUT of this setting is immediately followed by lights rising at forward edge of stage. This time we see an unmade bed with a duffle bag, a back pack, and a few items of clothing. Restless, heavy anxious music, with a theme we will hear again. In a moment JIM enters with his shaving gear, and angrily tosses it into one of the bags, then does the same with the remaining items. Closes the bags. Steps back and looks at the shabby room he is leaving. His recitation-aria is punctuated by brass exclamations. JIM:

I'm out of here! Out of this room! Out of this town!

108 / DORIAN

Alaska's where A guy doesn't have to talk Alaska's where A guy doesn't have to think: Alaska's where! He remembers something, removes a large knife from under his jacket and places it in one of the bags. Now he is looking for something else. Now where's that ticket? Where's that damned ticket? Wouldn't that be just like me to lose that damn ticket! Finds it under one of the bags. Regarding the ticket he becomes more reflective and his music more lyrical, though still with afierceness blazing through. Fly me to nowhere. I've been there before. Make me as stupid as everyone says. Give me anger and give me strength And if this is getting to be a prayer, Then forgive Yourself Forgive Yourself God For making a Jim. Amen. Yeah. Amen, amen to hell and back! Places ticket inside his jacket. Hoists the bags, ready to leave. What say, God?

Do you really have a plan for Jim?

Do you mean for Jim to die in ice and blood?

Or do you have one more miracle up your sleeve?

You know the one I mean:

The one where she says to herself:

"Hey! lim-that's been the guy all along!"

The one where we don't miss a day and

We don't miss a night.

ACT I: SCENE 2 /

And one morning we look at each other, We look at each other and we Laugh and laugh like fools "Look at you!" I say and "Look at you! she says, and "Look: we've grown old together!"

Pausing, as thoughfora sign of his future. Then: A guy can go crazy thinking. I'm out of here!

BLACKOUT

109

Act I: Scene 3 later that evening Intermezzo: music of intimacies, stirrings, anticipations Subdued lights rise on the second story rooftop of a Victorian-styled townhouse. A crystal clear evening. As lights rise a little more we see SUNBEAM standing alone, arms crossed on her chest. The intermezzo music will transform itself in her recitation-aria. SUNBEAM:

His beautiful face His beautiful voice How did I live before Dorian? But-not so fast, lady! His beautiful eyes His beautiful smile How did I live before Dorian? But-not so bold, lady! His beautiful mind His beautiful frame How did I live before Dorian? But-not so hot, lady! How do you make love to an angel?

Footsteps. She falls silent, DORIAN GRAY has returned to the roofwith one of his light jackets. He places it around her shoulders. DORIAN:

[To her] It is colder than one might think. 111

112 I DORIAN

SUNBEAM: DORIANGRAY: SUNBEAM:

[To self] It is warmer than one can imagine.

You can see almost everything from here. This is

my favorite place.

This will be my favorite place.

DORIAN GRAY slips his arms around her. She leans back slightly against him.

DORIAN: SUNBEAM: DORIAN GRAY: SUNBEAM: DORIAN GRAY: SUNBEAM: DORIANGRAY: SUNBEAM:

DORIAN GRAY: SUNBEAM: DORIANGRAY:

Sunbeam by moonlight! [Laughing] And an angel, just passing through! Is that what I am, an angel? I should be saying that of you! I supposeI suppose we are just two people Two people Two people on a rooftop Two people on a roof I suppose we are just two people standing on a rooftop looking at the evening and facing the danger of­ -Falling Rising! Rising?

She turns, they face each other, take hands and dance slowly and lightly together, but with a distance between them.

SUNBEAM:

DORIAN GRAY:

SUNBEAM:

In danger of rising

SUNBEAM:

DORIAN GRAY:

SUNBEAM:

DORIAN GRAY:

SUNBEAM:

Rising from the rooftop ... Just two people ... DORIAN GRAY: In danger of rising In danger of rising In love I take you for an angel You should be more careful I have always been careful But it is hard to be careful Standing on a rooftop,

ACT I: SCENE 3 /

DORIANGRAY:

113

Looking at the evening And feeling yourself rising And feeling yourself rising to love.

DORIAN GRAY brings her close to him.

SUNBEAM: DORIANGRAY:

SUNBEAM: DORIANGRAY:

You're not afraid to be here with me? I am here. You're not wondering about my Other loves? My intentions? My past? My future? I am here. How can a woman be as fresh As the first day of creation?

DORIAN GRAY circles slowly around SUNBEAM, the better to appreciate her. SUNBEAM vocalizes a gentle countermelody as DORIAN GRAY sings.

Lady, you are not the first

To smile at my smile

To step at my step, and

Breathe at my breath.

The moon could tell you that.

The stars could tell you that.

Lady, you are not the first.

SUNBEAM now circles DORIAN GRA Y moving daintily, hands behind her back and lightly swaying. He vocalizes the countermelody.

SUNBEAM:

My heart was yours Why were you always never? How were you ever there Just beyond. My heart is yours So come to me You whoever You where ever Must you be always never? How would I ever be me

114 / DORIAN

DORIAN GRAY:

SUNBEAM:

Without you?

We are here now for each other.

What else do we need to know?

[To self] It's all too easy!

Well, what do I want?

She will give me anything!

So come to me

How could I ever be me

Without you?

Afugal kind of logic-seeking music here:

DORIAN:

SUNBEAM: DORIAN GRAY:

SUNBEAM: DORIAN GRAY: SUNBEAM: DORIAN GRAY:

SUNBEAM:

[To self] Does an angel tell the truth to himself? What is the truth? I hardly know her-but I love her. Yes, that is the truth. So: let's be logical. I have always been careful But it is hard to be careful Sacrifice the moment and You will have her for a lifetime. Is she everything you want? Standing on a rooftop, Looking at the evening. Yes, she's everything I want. And feeling yourself rising Then bring her along slowly, Let our relationship ripen .. . There will be time enough .. . Yes, that's logical! And feel yourself rising to love.

DORIAN GRAY suddenly dismisses his logic, and approaches SUNBEAM ardently.

DORIANGRAY:

My love!

ACT I: SCENE 3 /

115

DORIAN GRAY circles her waist with his arm andleads her slowly to the steps as the intermezzo music returns with heightened passion. As they leave, pianissimo:

SUNBEAM: And feel yourself rising to love. BLACKOUT

DORIANGRAY: And feel yourself rising to love.

Act II: Scene 1

Setting: Compumusic Research Laboratory. Some months later. At rise: RICK SHANNON and HENRY LORD at the main computer console. VIDEO: Male athlete, nude, runs silently through a pastoral scene. He carries an unlit torch. RICK SHANNON:

Sound track one-

Trumpet and bracing rhythm accompany a repeat of the previous scene. Sound track two-

Consort of plucked instruments more lightly accompanies repeat of the previous scene.

HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON:

Which soundtrack do you prefer? And do you approve of his outfit? I never approve or disapprove of anything. Not even murder? Murder I disapprove. Murder is always a mistake. One should never do anything that One cannot talk about after dinner. About the soundtracks? 117

118 / DORIAN

HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD:

The trumpeting is effective enough,

But I feel more of a creative spirit in the

Plick-plucks!

Excellent taste!

The trumpet is mine.

Sunbeam came up with the plick-plucks!

Outdone by your student!

Yes-isn't it wonderful!

Isn't it wonderful how you can exult

In your own demise.

Call me "Demise-tersinger!"

And the booby prize for your song!

You mad old cobbler-

Can you really step aside for the young,

Cheer them as they pass you by?

Cheer them or not,

They will pass me by!

Hear them or not,

They will pass me by-

And pass you by too, dear Henry!

[To himself] He might be quoting from the review!

"A new generation has made Henry Lord's

Language and tone their own.

And so his latest book forks no fire.

Indeed, dare one say, it is but an imitation of

His imitators."

What a loathsome review!

Unfortunately-correct!

Here's the best part,

I speak now from the mad cobbler's standpoint:

As I've explained before,

The computer can be instructed through

The usual means, key strokes or mousing ...

[Still to himself: Funky, eccentric march] Mousing! Mousing my way to a mousy age

And a mousy grave

As the young go streaking by!

I won't have it!

ACT 11: SCENE 1 /

RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON:

Or through the fluttering wings of fairy magic!

I don't believe you put it that way before.

I try to speak my colleague's language!

All you need to know is that

I won't have it!

A user

Who has entered into an interactive compact

Should be able to access the system

Without direct physical contact

That's all people talk of these days: safe sex!

Not so safe, perhaps.

It is the most open system ever created.

I can't predict what it will do in all situations.

And I'm still only half way there.

[Crooning maliciously to a lightly prancing tune:] I'd say you are only half way here

So if you're only halfway there,

Your intellect once thought vast

Now is but half-asst.

Drifting between the known and the un­

You're neither cool as the moon

Nor hot as the sun.

Return, Ricky-tick, before it's too late,

Before the computer cues up your fate.

For if you are only half way here

And only half way there,

You are no longer whole

And the good Lord a-weeps for your soul!

My soul will take care of itself,

Once the glitches have been dispelled.

Which maybe they have been and maybe not.

RICK SHANNON operates the computer. VIDEO: The runner sequence starts, then halts with a freeze frame. RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

119

Observe the torch.

It's not torching!

A deficiency we can overcome by a simple

Key stroke

120 I DORIAN

VIDEO: Runner starts to move again, with the torch now flaming.

Just as easy to extinguish againVIDEO: Flame goes out

HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNO~:

HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON:

De-lightful!

Here comes the interesting part.

The system and I have this "relationship."

I should be able to light its fire

By gesture and intention when it has

Checked my identity.

Fluttering wings of fairy magic!

And then-oh, and then, and then, and then!

The system could, the system should­

Light your fire!

In principle, in theory, in everything so far

But fact-

The first ever interactive system that

Really interacts!

[To himself, variation offunky march:] What if the damn thing works?

Hell, it's working already-

See how he glows.

And me in his shadow!

Cheer them all as they streak by!

Yes, isn't it wonderful!

Mousing my way to a mousy grave­

I won't have it!

Oh,then, and then, and then, and then!

Well, go ahead.

Torch that damn torch with your fluttering fairy

magic!

[Subdued:] I can't.

Or it can't

We can't.

ACT 11: SCENE 1 /

121

RICK SHANNON places his hands over the keyboard and concentrates intensely. VIDEO: Several attempts are depicted; the image becomes temporarily distorted and deteriorated, but the torch remains unlit. It knows me, you see.

It just doesn't take me seriously enough!

Laughing, HENRY LORD places a consoling arm on RICK SHANNON's shoulder. Sharp rap-rap-rap on the door. RICK SHANNON rises and both cross to the door. VIDEO holds a freeze frame of the runner with the unlit torch. DORIAN GRAY enters and is greeted -warmly. RICK SHANNON will continue to be open and celebratory, but HENRY LORD will settle even further into his underlying dark mood. HENRY LORD: DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: DORIAN GRAY:

HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON: DORIAN GRAY:

HENRY LORD:

Where is your beautiful Sunbeam? Growing a beautiful baby. Nobody told me that! And they didn't ask your permission, either! We sort of surprised ourselves, too. I don't want the wedding to be too much of a Surprise, though. I hope I'm looking at my Best man, Henry. Ah, best man! Rick has already agreed to give away the bride. Nearest thing to a father that Sunbeam's ever had. I hadn't heard about that, either! How much did baby and carriage have to do with Marriage? Henry, let it be. Oh, that's OK. I think it's great that I have both of you looking Out for me. It was just meant to be, obviously, Sunbeam and me"And baby makes three!" Spare me!

An upbeat, finger-snapping, moving-about number, more natural-innocent than raucous.

122 / DORIAN

DORIANGRAY:

I am more than I thought I ever could be! Not a toy of a boy Pretty well pleased just to be pretty Drifting from sweet to sweet: Now I have a place for my face­ Always by Sunbeam A family man! Hey, a family man! Yes, Mr. Gray, with his rose-red youth! Yes, Mr. Gray, with his rose-white mind! Hey, a family man! Mister Responsibility! I am more than I thought I ever could be!

HENRY LORD, disapproving, drifts back to the computer terminal where he tries his luck at gesturing the torch to flame-no luck. RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD:

I'm so happy for the two-three of you. [To himself:] It continues to continue. Now Dorian has all that he thinks he wants.

Music now recalls HENRY LORD's soliloquy Act I: Scene 2: I feel murdered: why?

What's all this rubbish to me?

Another golden youth throws his life away

Where has adventure fled?

Who has called off the quest?

When will they appreciate time's cold edge?

What's all this rubbish to me?

I feel murdered: why?

With his persona back in place, HENRY LORD approaches DORIAN GRAY:

DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD:

Mister Responsibility! I'll answer to that name. Have you selected a name yet?

ACT 11: SCENE 1 /

DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD:

DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD:

DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD:

RICK SHANNON: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD:

DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD:

DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: RICK SHANNON:

123

A name? Oh, for the baby! Or perhaps Little Ms. Sunbeam has chosen the name. Actually, yes, sort of ... Ah, I can imagine her soft sweet voice: "Darling, there is no name I love more than Dorian: Let's name him for you." Amazing! That's what she said! A new Dorian. A compact little package of­ -Love­ -Hope­ -Selfish energy! A hot little tot, charming as a picture, Draining the youth, draining the youth From his Old Man Old Man? Me? Thee. Yes, Thee, Mr. Responsibility. Draining your youth, day by day. A new toy of a boy, a new pretty face Taking whose place? Taking your place. Henry! I don't see it that way. You don't see yourself in another year­ -A family manA frustrated man. Bored with the routine. Putting up with the demands. A wholly owned subsidiary of wife and child. -A man with a familyYou don't see yourself in another few years: Yoked to a wife who is no longer a thrill; Locked to the clock; Domesticity's captive: only halfway there But already over the hill! It won't be like that! You don't see yourself at forty! A defeated man, a residue. That can't be true! Henry!

124 / DORIAN

Music changes character: increasingly intense and relentless:

HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD:

DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: RICK SHANNON: DORIAN GRAY: RICK SHANNON: DORIANGRAY: RICK SHANNON: DORIANGRAY:

Leave her now, Dorian! Henry, I can't believe you are saying this to him! Before it's too lateYes, before you marry. I can't believe you are saying this to me! I am only saying What you would be saying If you could bring yourself to say it. I am only saying What you suspect-what you know­ What you should be saying had you The courage­ -The courage? To speak your own heart. I am dreaming I am dreaming this scene It's not really It's not really happening I am dreaming Not really happening

Trombone-oriented pronouncement, followed by uncompromisingly com­ manding expression by HENRY LORD. The music becomes more conflict­ ful as it develops.

HENRY LORD:

DORIANGRAY:

HENRY LORD:

DORIAN GRAY:

HENRY LORD:

Dorian Gray! Each man kills the thing he loves. Some do it with a bitter look. Some with a flattering word. I am confused. The coward does it with a kiss. The brave man with a sword. I don't want to hear any more! Some kill their love when they are young, And some when they are old; Some strangle with the hands of Lust,

ACT 11: SCENE 1 /

125

Some with the hands of Gold: The kindest use a knife, because The dead so soon grow cold. RICK SHANNON retreats to a corner of the lab.

RICK SHANNON:

HENRY LORD:

DORIANGRAY:

HENRY LORD:

DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD:

DORIAN GRAY: LORD: Each man kills The thing he loves The brave man With a sword Some kill their love

What is Lord doing? Is this murder? Or suicide?

What has come over him?

Some love too little, some too long,

Some sell, and others buy;

Some do the deed with many tears,

And some without a sigh.

[Quietly and tentatively] For each man kills the thing he loves, Yet each man does not die ... [More compassionately:] Do not, Dorian, die a death of shame

Spare your youth the chill of age

Let none but Dorian bear his name

Let no wife prepare his cage.

I might come to ...

Resent her.

I might come to ...

Resent the child.

I might come to .. .

Hate and loathe .. .

Myself, Lord, myself!

It would be so much easier now­

More caring, really,

More healing, in the long run.

So much easier ... More caring ... More healing

DORIAN: The coward With a kiss Each man kills The thing he loves When they are young

126 / DORIAN

When they are young Some love too little Some too long Use a knife With many tears RICK SHANNON: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY:

Use a knife Use a knife The kindest Use a knife Without a sigh. Dorian-I'm sure Henry was only Teasing you, testing you. You know women, Dorian. They live on their emotions. They think only of their emotions. Women are better suited to bear sorrow. Women take lovers only to have scenes. They live on their emotions. They think only of their emotions.

Animated music of resolution. As DORIAN GRA Y moves about, "conquer­ ing" the lab, he will end up by the computer terminal to which he has, so far, not given attention. I know who I am: I am youth I am freedom, I am beauty, I am truth! A Sunbeam that brightened my morning Cannot hold me back To fade with the pack I'm on the right track again I am freedom, I am beauty! I am truth!

DORIAN GRAY catches a glance of the video screen image, and, without a second thought, snaps his fingers. Immediately the torch starts to flame. He has whirled away from the screen, and now moves swiftly toward the door. I am youth!

RICK SHANNON stares accusingly at HENRY LORD who seems rather pleased with himself. HENRY LORD finger-waves him a nonchalant

ACT 11: SCENE 1 /

127

goodbye and exits. After a short pause for reflection, RICK SHANNON turns to face the video screen. He notices the flaming torch and also the quickened pace of the runner.

RICK SHANNON: BlACKOUT

Oh, dear God! What have we done?

INTERMEZZO: hesitant, lonely, searching music that continues as back­ ground when scene opens

Act 11: Scene 2

Setting: SUNBEAM's apartment. Some months later. SUNBEAM is in her bathrobe and nightclothes. She enters kitchen with newspaper in her hand. A neglected cup of coffee is on the table.

SUNBEAM:

No Jim! Has it been a year? No one to stand by my side. Oh. Jim!

She seats herself by the table and tries to read the paper. Disconnected, toneless statements.

Huge Oil Spill Threatens Coast Senator Denies Charges Black Hole at Center of Galaxy. Experts Told Please see page eight Trying to thread her thoughts together:

Please see page eight And the weather today is partly Please see page eight Stocks mixed in slow trading 129

130 I DORIAN

Please see page eight, Experts told Looks at her coffee cup, can't bring herself to drink it. Experts told Black Hole at Center of Galaxy I could have told them that. A dramatic aria develops: Through that door Someone must enter my life Must center my life Must stand by my side No matter, no matter what. Through that door Someone must take my hand Must make my hand Strong for its work No matter, no matter what. Someone must enter Through that door. Removes a letter from the pocket of her robe: Listen, Jim:

"Sunbeam, my dearest, my love, my heart!

How can I go on, go on without you?

A cruel, blind pain I don't understand

Led me to leave, to leave all I adore.

More than ever we were, we yet will be.

Only forgive. Only forgive me."

Should I forgive him, Jim?

Of course. How could I not forgive him?

Sinks into chair, and deeper into depression

ACT 11: SCENE 2 /

131

Black Hole at Center of Galaxy, Experts Told Please see page eight. Starts reading quietly, flatly from letter, but becomes more expressive.

"Sunbeam:

This money should cover the abortion,

And let you get started again.

Don't try to contact me.

What is over is over."

What is over is over is over is over

How can anyone, how can anyone

Not understand?

What is over is over is over is over

What is there not to understand?

Has it been a year?

SUNBEAM rises and opens the kitchen window. Ambient urban sounds in background. Places her hands on the sill and looks down. The music is a recognizable commentary on the love music of 1:3.

I supposeI suppose we were just two people Two people on a rooftop Looking at the evening And facing the danger ofHuge oil spill Stocks mixed in slow trading Black Hole at Center of Galaxy­ I have always been careful But it is hard to be careful Standing on a rooftop And feeling yourself rising Sharp intensification:

And feeling yourself rising!

132 / DORIAN

Turns slowly to consider the door. Pause, then series of quiet, shuddering chords in altered instrumentation

Through that door.

Nothing.

Nothing more.

BLACKOUT

Act 11: Scene 3 No musical bridge or introduction. Setting: Late that evening. A small park in DORIAN's neighborhood. A lamp post provides the only clearly illuminated area. RICK, not dressed warmly enough for the chilly evening, approaches from the right. Pauses as he reaches the lamp post to look back in the direction from which he has come. A solo low-voiced instrument accompanies his recitation. RICK:

The worst day of your life, You never know when it will arrive The worst day of your life, And it's not over. Sunbeam dead. Dorian-where? Not home. Lost in grief? Blaming himself? Reading between the lines, knowing it was suicide, Thinking he was her killer? Vowing he must now be Dorian's killer? Will this day end with two deaths? And did I lead them to this? Dorian ... Sunbeam.

Offstage. Approaching footsteps and a jaunty whistle. The man entering from the left is attired in an elegant Victorian-type gentleman's outfit, including top hat. He also sports a handsome walking stick. Confused by and wary ofthis unlikely apparition, RICK steps back into the shadows and 133

134 I DORIAN

observes its passing. When the man has almost exited stage right, RICK steps out of the shadows: RICK:

My god, it's ... Dorian! Dorian Gray!

And so it is. DORIAN whirls about, recognizes RICK with surprise and pleasure, notices his astonishment at his outfit and shows it off with delight. DORIAN's perky quasi-Victorian music contrasts with RICK's troubled, contemporary response. DORIAN:

RICK: DORIAN:

RICK: DORIAN:

Egad, it's Rickety-tick! I say, Old Man! Are you out for a prowl? I will teach you to howl-(howls) I don't understandIt was a party, Old Man! A Come As You Might Have Been Party. I was feeling Victorian and Every inch a gentleman! Well, perhaps not every inch! How am I going to say this? These are all rented feathers, Except for the cane, a gift from Henry. I feel this look suits me very well, Don't you agree?

RICK approaches DORIAN compassionately RICK: DORIAN:

RICK:

DORIAN:

There's something you don't know. I hate to be the one to tell you. Then don't! What we don't know Don't hurt us, right Old Man? (howls again) The worst day of your life, And it's not over. Dorian-listen to me! Very well. Listening mode is activated. Beep!

ACT 11: SCENE 3 I 135

RICK: DORIAN:

RICK: DORIAN: RICK: DORIAN:

RICK: DORIAN:

RICK: DORIAN: RICK: DORIAN:

RICK: DORIAN: RICK: DORIAN: RICK:

It's about ... Sunbeam. Sunbeam, yes, poor little Sunbeam There was something in the news at five Sunbeam, poor little Sunbeam: But nobody leaves this world alive. I can't believe his heart has turned so cold! Don't look at me that way Am I seeing you for the first time? That way people look You know how people look When they give that look Sunbeam is dead-do you understand? And she died for me. Old Man, I understand. "By her own hand," as they say. I understand. Then how can youDon't you understand, Old Man? She was already dead. Already dead? Tome. How could she die twice? Each man kills the thing he loves! Henry! It's poison from Henry! The coward does it with a kiss The brave man with a sword! You're talking nonsense! I'm talking literature, drama, poetry, art-culture! Nonsense! Poison!

RICK rushes at DORIAN-who spins him away with a graceful and non­ chalant move. DORIAN:

Weep away your life when a dead love dies? That's nonsense for you, Rick. And what is poison? The secretion of little minds, Little minds that blink at beauty like toads Dazed by the sunrise.

136 I DORIAN

(To himself:) RICK:

Of course! He's crazed with grief; He can't face the facts. Dissociation. Denial. He can't face the facts.

Rick, be patient; this boy needs help.

Rick, this time-do something right!

(To Dorian)

DORIAN:

RICK: DORIAN:

RICK: DORIAN:

Dazed, Dorian, yes, dazed.

We are all suffering, all confused.

And so we need each other more than ever.

You think me confused?

Wrong!

I have never seen things so clearly.

All right, then:

What do you see so clearly?

I see a short, sweet chapter closing

in the book of Dorian Gray;

in the book of Dorian Gray

A new chapter starts each day.

Patience ...

She gave her life for love of Dorian

For love of Dorian Gray

And that was just one chapter­

A new one starts each day.

I am free to live for Dorian,

For love of Dorian Gray

For beauty, youth, and freedom:

A fresh page starts each day.

(To himself): RICK:

This will take more time than I thought. And Henry, that cynic, must do his share!

ACT 11: SCENE 3 I 137

(To Dorian): If you are going home now ... May I walk along with you?

DORIAN shrugs his acceptance, and they start to cross stage right. There is something else

I've been meaning to tell you.

It's about the interactive program.

DORIAN halts abruptly, turns to RICK:

RICK: DORIAN: RICK: DORIAN: RICK: DORIAN: RICK: DORIAN:

Your program's in trouble again, out of control. Why, yes. How did you know? I have been playing with my copy. Yes, well, I think it best if You return that copy until I can make it behave. My copy is behaving now. (Resumes whistling) Is it! All the same. I'll take it back. That won't be necessary. Until I can be sure it is safe. Then I will give you the new, improved­ That won't be necessaryAnd I can see myself home, Rick.

(Raising his voice alittle): RICK:

I'm afraid I must insist.

(Also raising his voice): DORIAN:

Good night, Old Man!

RICK and DORIAN freeze in a tableau of near-belligerance as footsteps are heard. A young couple walks by, arms around each other. The couple notice RICK and DORIAN, and hurry on past. After they have exited, the discussion continues in hushed tones.

138 I DORIAN

RICK:

DORIAN: RICK: DORIAN:

We've both been through a lot today. Let's not put any more pressure on ourselves. I will come by in a day or two ... For the program? I'm afraid that I must. Whatever you say . You know best. A good night to you, good old Rickety-tick!

The two men exchange a rather clumsy embrace and turn in opposite direction. Suddenly, DORIAN turns around, raises his cane, triggers the release of the concealed sword blade, and taps RICK on the shoulder. When RICK turns around to face him, DORIAN runs the blade into his heart. After a moment of shock, RICK slumps to the ground. DORIAN carefully extracts the blade and wipes it off on RICK's Sleeve. DORIAN:

Don't look at me that way. That way that people look When they give you that look. You should have gasped first, and asked "Why, Rick, why?" "Why ask me?" I might have said. "Why not ask Dorian? Why not ask the Dorian you created? The one who so much wanted to be me And who is, every day, more and more Yesterday'S me. You are a genius, Rick. I wish you could have known how great a genius.

(Starting to drag RICK behind a bush) I know you would have wanted me to stop now.

It is your genius that I bring forward into the future.

Your genius, and Henry's philosophy!

I am your love child, dear friends.

I intend to do you proud.

(Completes the task of concealing RICK's body. Restores perfect order to his attire).

ACT 11: SCENE 3 I 139

One day, and two have died for me. The lover, and the genius. Professor-how am I doing? (Strolls off, whistling) BLACKOUT

Act Ill: Scene 1

Setting: An evening twenty years later. The Rick Shannon School of Compumusic has hosted an international conference that will now con­ clude with a dance party. The crowded scene is populated by a mostly youthful international set along with a few older dignitaries. It is a lively and responsive set of people. Center of attention is Beatrice Kay, the DEAN, a tall vibrantly dressed woman who is speaking from a dais: At rise: Laughter and applause. The DEAN, smiling, rises and waves her hands for silence. DEAN:

Friends, friends! I know everybody is ready to "boogie" As my grandmother used to say. But we cannot let this moment pass Without recognizing among us A man who more than any other made possible The Rick Shannon School of Compumusic. He was appalled by the act of random violence That ended his good friend's life. His award-winning book expressed not only the Sense of rage and loss that everyone felt But also provided the wisdom to guide the future. We would not all be here today were it not for Henry Lord. 141

142 I DORIAN

A markedly older but fit HENRY LORD mounts the dais. After an impres­ sive round of applause, he gestures self-deprecatingly.

HENRY LORD:

CHORUS:

HENRY LORD: CHORUS: HENRY LORD:

Don't you believe it.

Rick Shannon is why we are all here today,

His genius, his vision, his eye on the future.

He even helped me to escape the lure of the past.

[Song] I remember when Remembering when Was just my style [Invites crowd to repeat the verse] I remember when Remembering when Was just my style No, you don't! [Laughter] No, we don't! Of course, you don't! And let's hope you won't! At least for a while! In my youth I adored the past Yet wanted my youth to last. Now I'm as old as Methusalah's Dad Here to tell you-it's not so bad

HENRY LORDS conducts:

CHORUS: HENRY LORD: CHORUS: HENRY LORD: CHORUS: HENRY LORD:

Now I'm as old as Methusalah's Dad Here to tell you-it's not so bad Take heart, my friends, from me The best is yet to be The best is yet to be! With age, the future is today: It's much better, my friends, that way! Take heart, my friends, from me The best is yet to be! And if the truth is meant to be told: I should not have waited so long to grow old!

ACT Ill: SCENE 1 /

143

Laughter and cheers. HENRY LORD is helped downfrom the dais. People now turn their attention to dancing as an on-stage synthesizer ensemble starts to play. A dashing young man emerges from the throng to take HENRY LORD by the elbow. DORIANGRAY: HENRY LORD: DORIAN GRAY:

Bravo! Dorian! Here? Where else, Old Man? See you laterI sense there are brides of quietness In need of ravishing.

DORIAN GRAY disappears into the increasing swirl of dancing bodies. Attention is on the dancers and their music. DEAN Kay is keeping HENRY LORD company on the sideline. After a moment or two, POLLY FOX, a middle-aged woman, hesitantly approaches them. POLLY: DEAN: POLLYFOX:

DEAN: POLLYFOX:

HENRY LORD:

Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt anything ... Not at all-have me met ... Ms ... ? Fox. Polly Fox We have never met, and I really don't belong here. I just have a question ... if you don't mind. We don't mind. Do either of you know a man by the name of Dorian Gray?

I was hoping that he might just happen to be

Here tonight.

And so he is.

Their conversation continues unheard for a moment as the music shifts to a slower, funkier mood. HENRY LORD has offered POLLY FOX his arm and they start to thread their way among the dancers. With a smile, HENRY LORD invites her to dance their way together, and so they do, while keeping an eye out for DORIAN GRAY. HENRY LORD spies him before long, surrounded by a growing circle of admirers. DORIAN GRAY and a dark-skinned woman are improvising a sensual "postdynasty" Egyptian dance that somehow accords surprisingly well with the music. There's your man.

144 I DORIAN

POLLYFOX: HENRY LORD: POLLYFOX: HENRY LORD: POLLYFOX:

HENRY LORD:

That's Dorian Gray? Guaranteed one hundred percent. Accept no substitutes. I. .. I Surprised? [Whispering, and inducing HENRY LORD to lead her away from DORIAN GRAy] I thought he was a much older man. Could there be some mistake? He is the only Dorian Gray in these parts and One seems quite sufficient.

[Observing paLLY FOX's confusion and distress with increasing sympathy] If you have a Dorian Gray story to tell, I can provide the ears.

They move back to the periphery. HENRY LORD listens thoughtfully to a story we cannot hear against the background of dance music and general conversation. Shifting lights of various colors play across the scene so that we see some areas more prominently than others from moment to moment. A distinctly out of place figure now enters. A large, roughly dressed and heavily bearded man has slipped into the hall. He is trying to be unobtru­ sive as he looks for somebody, butc1zis looks, intensity, and somewhat clumsy ways mark him for a stranger. Here and there, afew people look at him with curiosity and an intuitive easiness. The tempo of the music now quickens, along with a lively new rhythm. As most of the dancers start to adjust to the new challenge, two women "case" the bearded man and smile and whisper to each other. DORIAN GRAY can now be seen again at the side of the hall opposite from HENRY LORD and paLLY FOX. DORIAN GRAY has a new companion, STELLAR: a very attractive young woman who is notable for her fresh and natural look and manner. To their own considerable amuse­ ment, they are trying out various steps and moves that might work with the new music. Some of these steps are intentional parodies that are good fora laugh.

ACT Ill: SCENE 1 I 145

STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR: DORIANGRAY: STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR:

DORIANGRAY:

STELLAR: DORIANGRAY:

I can hardly keep up with you! Where do you get all those moves! I learn one new move a year, dear! Adds up after a while! It would take me twenty years to learn those! That would be twenty years well spent, my dear! I do have a name .. . And that name is .. . Stellar Stella! What an old-fashioned name! No-Stellar! S-T -E-L-L-A-R A new-fashioned name! [Accompanying his words with extravagant mime] Stellar-I could make space for you And I've all The time in the world What's your name, Silly Person? Oh, I am as gray as you are green­ Dorian-Dorian Gray, at your service.

The two whispering women have now approached the bearded stranger. He seems at a loss and is resistant as they smile, take his arm, and try to induce him to dance with them.

FIRST WOMAN: You look like a man who can handle two SECOND WOMAN: A man we can really hold a candle toJIM: I I am not here I am not here To dance They laugh in delight

FIRST WOMAN:

What did I tell you! A man after my own heart! SECOND WOMAN: I don't think that's what he's after! JlM: I have to find somebody FIRST WOMAN: I like him! He's so up front! And that's what counts! SECOND WOMAN: I saw him first!

146 I DORIAN

A man. I have to find a man Oh, no! Another hunk down the drain! The story of my life! I was told Told he might be here. Maybe you know him. Now, tell me honestly: FIRST WOMAN:

Don't we look good to you? I have business Business with this man. JIM:

SECOND WOMAN: It's hopeless! OK, OKSo what's his name? HENRY LORD:

JIM: STELLAR: Dorian Gray!

Dorian Gray! Dorian Gray! My advice:

[To himself] [To herself] Let him be

Let him be Let him be, please, Ready for Forme! What must be JIM:

FIRST WOMAN:

SECOND WOMAN:

JIM:

Music again slows down and lighting fades for a more romantic dance. In a moment, JIM will start to move through the room, escorted by the two women. DORIAN GRAY and STELlAR are dancing together seriously. HENRY LORD: POLLYFOX: HENRY LORD: POLLYFOX: HENRY LORD: POLLYFOX: HENRY LORD: POLLYFOX: HENRY LORD: POLLYFOX:

Dorian is surrounded by stories

Yours may be all too true

But I don't understand­

Neither do I, my friend:

He is beyond the Dorian I knew.

I thought if perhaps she­

Could meet him-

Yes, could meet him-

Her heart could find some rest­

Yes, find some rest

But it might now be best­

Yes, I think now it is best-

HENRY LORD and paLLY FOX continue their conversation unheard. DORIAN GRAY leads STELlAR by the hand to the edge of the dance space, near a door.

ACT Ill: SCENE 1 /

DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR: DORIANGRAY: STELLAR: DORIANGRAY: STELLAR: DORIANGRAY: STELLAR: DORIANGRAY:

STELLAR: DORIANGRAY:

STELLAR:

DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR: DORIANGRAY: STELLAR: DORIANGRAY: STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR:

DORIAN GRAY:

I have not felt so vibrant in years

And it's all because of you.

In years? You talk like an old gray man!

Life is gray when there is only,

Well, hormones, and no-

Don't say it!

But shouldn't a man say what he means?

You couldn't know me

We have barely just-

But shouldn't I say what I mean?

I do feel that I know you

Though we have barely just­

[Taking both her hands in his] There are times for talk

And times for thought

And times that come when they will

When they will ...

There are times when time

Plays us for ill

And times that come when they will

When they will ...

Will I open my door?

Through that door-

Who will enter?

Who will center my life?

Come-if only for a moment.

Who will enter.

The view from my roof is spectacular.

Who will center my life

And they call me: Mister Responsibility!

I shouldn't.

For only a moment­

Polly would have kittens!

A moment ... the view ...

But I suppose she doesn't have to know,

If it is only a moment ... the view.

Dorian-Iet me tell her some little story.

I will be waiting.

147

148 I DORIAN

She kisses him lightly on the cheek and rushes off to find POLLY FOX. True, it is true.

I have not felt so vibrant in years

And it is all because of her.

Just when I felt I was becoming

A very jaded old young man.

JIM suddenly reappears. He is at DORIAN GRAY's back. JIM: DORIAN: JIM: DORIANGRAY: JIM: DORIAN GRAY: JIM:

DORIAN GRAY:

Mr. Gray? [Turning around] Yes? Mr. Dorian Gray? Do I know you? [Studying DORIAN GRAY with care and puzzle­ ment:] Mr. Gray. Can we step outside? Outside? I don't see any need for that. I have something. I have something for you. From an old friend. I promised. I promised to give it to you Personally. That's very nice, but why not Give it to me here?

JIM produces a large knife from inside his bulky jacket. He holds the knife against DORIAN GRAY's throat while at the same time attempting to screen the knife from the dancers. JIM:

Mr. Gray. Can we step outside?

STELLAR is completing her unheard little story, kisses POLLY FOX lightly on the cheek, and heads back to where she left DORIAN GRAY. Meanwhile, JIM is forcing DORIAN GRAY out the side door. When he closes the door behind them, there is BLACKOUT and SILENCE for the previous scene. We hear both pair of footsteps for a moment, then lights rise through a scrim and we see the park scene (Act ll: Scene 3). JIM pushes DORIAN GRAY toward the lamp post. Now he studies DORIAN GRAY again.

ACT Ill: SCENE 1 I 149

DORIAN GRAY: JIM:

DORIANGRAY: JIM:

DORIAN GRAY:

JIM:

DORIANGRAY: JIM: DORIAN GRAY: JIM: DORIANGRAY:

Who the hell are you? And what the hell do you want? Mr. Gray. Mr. Dorian Gray. So this is the man. So this is the man she fell for. I don't know what you are talking about. [Raises DORIAN GRAY's chin with hisfist.] Sure. A pretty boy. Not like Jim.

Pretty words, too. You must have loaded

Her good with pretty words.

[To himself:] So this this is the man I have lived I have lived To kill and I will To kill This is the man B ut is this the man? He looks like Looks like an angel How do you kill an angel?

For God's sake-

Who do you think I am?

What do you think I have done?

Sunbeam.

You did Sunbeam

You killed Sunbeam with your false love.

Who is this Sunbeam?

Don't! Don't lie to me!

You are as good as dead.

But what am I dying for?

Who is this Sunbeam?

The girl The girl The only girl-

Your girl? The girl you wanted?

An unusual musical passage through which DORIAN GRAY works out his ruse. Although held at knife point, he takes the part of a prosecuting attorney.

JIM: DORIAN GRAY:

So-when did this happen? This terrible thing? After I left for Alaska. After you left for AlaskaAnd you left for Alaska-when?

150 / DORIAN

JIM:

DORIAN GRAY:

JIM:

DORIANGRAY:

A long time ago.

When-when-when?

Years ago. Twenty years ago.

Ah, years ago, twenty years ago,

After you left for Alaska,

That was when

This terrible thing happened.

Easily restraining DORIAN GRAY with one arm while wielding his knife with the other:

JIM:

DORIAN GRAY:

JIM:

DORIAN GRAY:

JIM:

DORIAN GRAY:

JIM:

DORIAN GRAY:

None of that None of that matters

Sunbeam-how old was Sunbeam when

This terrible thing happened?

How old? I say-how old?

Nineteen. She was only nineteen!

Ah, she was only nineteen!

And how old was the man who did her wrong?

How old was he?

[Angrily:] Don't play with me! You were­

You were-

He was­

-About twenty.

Ah-she nineteen, he: twenty!

So young, so long ago

Can't you see?

Let me go, you poor fool!

Can't you see you've got not the man

Who did her wrong

But the wrong man!

JIM relaxes his hold on DORIAN GRAY and studies him again carefully.

JIM:

Is this the face of a man of forty?

Is this the face of a man who would be false?

Dorian Gray! I was sure of the name! I had that to go onI had that to keep me going.

ACT Ill: SCENE 1 /

DORIAN GRAY:

JIM:

DORIAN GRAY:

JIM:

151

I would hate to be the man you are after. If he was as evil as you believe, Then he must deserve your blade. I don't know. I don't know any more. Kill me and the wrong man goes free. Kill me and you will be caught and end your days While the wrong man goes free. I don't know what What to think any more.

lfM lowers his knife and steps back. I-I am sorry. Sorry, Mr. Gray.

Sorry Mr. Gray to have disturbed you.

DORfAN GRAYplaces his hand on lfM's shoulder. DORIAN GRAY:

JIM:

DORIAN GRAY:

You must have loved her very much,

This Sunbeam. [Cautiously]

So what will you do now-back to Alaska?

[Showing his knife] Find the right man!

Ah, find the right man!

Yes, and no doubt you will.

Perhaps somebody at the dance can put you

On the right track.

Ah, I know I could use a drink-you, too?

I'm buying!

DORfAN GRAY gently turns lfM about and leads him back toward the School of Compumusic. We now hear the footsteps but they become shadowy figures difficult to see as they leave the area of the lamp post.

JIM:

DORIAN GRAY:

JIM:

That is some knife! I'll bet you could kill a bear with it! I did. Killed a bear! Why, I have never even held a real knife. It's nothing special. Just a big knife.

152 / DORIAN

DORIAN GRAY:

Ah! Such a big knife.

Footsteps cease. After a moment a whistled tune is heard, starting tenta­ tively and nervously, becoming more relaxed and jaunty.And after another moment the dance scene returns to life as the side door is opened. DORIAN GRAY stands in the doorway, somewhat breathless. STELlAR hurries to him. STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR:

Oh, Dorian, I didn't know what became of you! An old friend had my ear for a moment. Come-it is such a beautiful evening. [Taking his arm:] The most beautiful evening­ Through that door!

They scamper out. Just as DORIAN GRAY and STELlAR leave, they are observed by HENRY LORD who is carrying a drink in each hand. His surprise at the sight turns to rage. Before he can say anything, they have disappeared into the night. The dancers are reaching a new peak of exuberance. BlACKOUT

Act Ill: Scene 2

Music: Elegant but spiced with adventuring. This prelude continues into the action. Setting: About half an hour later. Interior of DORIAN GRAY's house: the top floor with staircase connecting to the roof, and to lower levels. Subdued lighting from Victorian-style lamps. Several closed doors can be seen. Light laughter from the roof Footsteps descending. DORIAN GRAY accompanies STELlAR, who is wearing the same jacket that had been placed around SUNBEAM's shoulders (1:3). STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY:

STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY:

You have that view every night-amazing! Amazing how that view is improved When there is somebody special to Share it with. I see I will need to watch you very closely: YI)U are so smooth with words! Please do! And please allow me the same privilege!

They have reached the landing. STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY:

Perhaps that can be arranged! But I must get back now. Polly is waiting. Polly this, Polly that. Who is this all important Polly? 153

154 I DORIAN

STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR:

DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY:

I guess she is my Mom-Dad. I never knew either. Oh? [Pensively:] You don't want to hear the story, not tonight. There must be a million depressing stories Walking around in this city. But only one Stellar. Tell me your story. Another time. I really must go now. If you mustBut how about giving me the Abridged versionAnd let me warm you up with a Cup of my famous espresso.

Amused despite her increasingly apprehensive mood:

STELLAR:

Your famous espresso! Everything about you seems to be famous!

DORIAN GRAY leads her past one door, opens the next door, and turns on a lamp. Not much of the room can actually be seen: it appears to be filled with Victorian-stylefurnishing and knick-knacks.

DORIANGRAY: STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY:

STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR:

I keep this room for the queen.

Any queen in particular?

Why, Victoria, of course! Is there any other?

We would want her to feel at home,

Wouldn't we?

I still think-I should go.

Without telling me even the abridged version?

[Sighing:] Actually, that's all there is.

[A pensive, ironic aria:]

I was born: that much we know.

I was born to a woman,

Yes, that we know, too.

I was born to a woman

Who had loved a man.

ACT Ill: SCENE 2 I 155

DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR:

DORIANGRAY: STELLAR:

Yes, I was born to a woman who had loved a man. Well, he left her, you see. He left her, you see, And then came me. I was born to a woman now alone Who loved a man who turned to stone. And then? She died. Oh! "Of a broken heart," That's the usual phrase: I think now it was the kind of murder They call suicide Anyhow: she died. End of story. I told you it would be depressing! So Polly is all you have hadYes, and this bracelet that my mother wore.

DORIAN GRAY takes her hand and examines the bracelet.

DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR:

DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR: DORIANGRAY: STELLAR:

It must be precious to you. [Trying to be upbeat: ] It's more than precious­ It's magic! A magic ring! I should say, "a magic bracelet," But all you ever hear about are rings. It keeps me safe, you see, and Guides me to happiness ever after. Pretty good for one ring, isn't it! It keeps you safe? Oh, yes, even right this moment! And guides you to happiness ever after! So far, so good.

DORIAN GRAY slips his arm around her.

DORIANGRAY:

That's a lovely story.

156 I DORIAN

Thanks for not laughing. It's one of the stories I have invented To patch up some of the holes in the Story of my life. Dorian-What is the story of your life? DORIANGRAY: Perhaps we should discover that together. DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR: My life The story of My life is a story Has many a twist of a story that is The surprises go on for Missing all too many Pages; Pages; Like a strange circle Like the blade Ofaknife Of light in the mist It shreds as it goes; Without start, without finish The story of my lifeMy life is a story Unwritten. Like the blade A story Ofaknife. Unwritten DORIAN: Story to be continued-with espresso! STELLAR:

DORIAN GRAY gives her a little squeeze and walks downstairs. STELLAR, now alone, stands with one foot in the hallway and one in the room. Improvising a little dance to her own song: STELLAR:

One foot in And one foot out: A position of doubt. Will you look at this girl! And who took to this girl! What should she do? One foot out And one foot in: Is it safety or sin? Will you speak to this girl before it's too late! Tell her she's wiser, much wiser to wait ... What should she do? For the one thing she cannot do

ACT Ill: SCENE 2 /

157

is to stand here forever One foot in and One foot out and One foot in and ... Lights rise in a small room downstairs. DORIAN GRAY has the espresso machine steaming, and is setting up two small cups on a tray. Meanwhile, lights fade on STELLAR.

A variation on his earlier finger-snapping music (II: 1): DORIAN:

Stellar! Is she more than one more entry? Oh, that list, that tiresome list of Easy pleasures! Yes, more-but why? You snapped me, snapped me out Snapped me out of my stale old youth Stellar! You make a young man feel young again! Ah, but Dorian-isn't that the reason? Isn't that the reason you have sought? The reason to end this charadeEnd this charade and join the parade And join the parade to slippered old age And a restful grave? To feel really young and then Grow really old? To surrender this life of compulsory pleasure, And casual crime? Of all things sweet dropping into my lap? Stellar! Shall I take you Take you and keep you For the long walk downhill? Or, Stellar, shall I just take you? Snap me, Stellar, Snap me out of this stale young age!

158 I DORIAN

Lights rise upstairs for STELLAR as we see DORIAN GRAY start to pour the espresso. STELLAR:

One foot out and ... But what does Polly always say? When in doubt or looking for a way out: Go to the bathroom!

She steps into the hallway, opens the next door, and turns onthe light. We see not a bathroom but a fantastical room filled with high-tech equipment, including computers, a synthesizer keyboard, several large monitor screens and other hard-to-identify but impressive looking items. Oh,my!

Dorian is a mad scientist, too!

What a man!

Hesitantlyatfirst, but increasingly driven by curiosity, STELLAR starts to play with various pieces of equipments. Power lights come on. One by one, the oversized monitors light up, each bearing its own logos. A menu presents itself to her on the monitor associated with the keyboard terminal. Why not? Have a little peek? Why not?

She selects one itemfrom the menu at random. VIDEO: The runner with the torch appears and moves resolutely across the central monitor. Why, that's Dorian!

While STELLAR continues to play with the computer system, becoming increasingly involved with it, DORIAN GRAY places the cups on the tray and prepares to leave the kitchen. DORIAN GRAY:

Blake! What did Billy Blake say! "He who has a desireWho has a desire and ... acts not!" Yes: "He who has a desire and acts not

ACT Ill: SCENE 2 /

159

Breeds pestilence."

Act not. Breed pestilence.

Sounds unhealthy.

[Starts to slowly climb the steps.] Wilde! What did Oscar Wilde say!

Who knows! Old Oscar was

Always saying something.

Yes, something about pleasure ...

"In nearly every joy, cruelty has a place."

But there was something else as well.

"Youth is the only thing worth having."

And "To get back one's youth,

One has merely to repeat one's follies."

So then: pleasure, cruelty, and youth­

How cruel I would be to resist.

Ah, Henry, who is your prize student

If not Dorian?

Lightfades on kitchen scene. As DORIAN GRAY nears the top of the stairs, the VIDEO screen is dominated by DORIAN GRAY completing his exer­ cise routine. Naturally, STELLAR is fascinated. The menu then presents itself again. One choice is simply "x." Shrugging her shoulders, she selects "X. " The menu responds: "YOU HA VE CHOSEN "x. " ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT "X?" STELLAR:

Sure, I'm sure. I mean, I guess I'm sure I'm sure!

She keystrokes "x." The menu responds: PLEASE WAIT. DORIAN GRAY has reached the top floor, carrying the tray and cups. He is startled and disturbed to discover STELLAR's whereabouts and doings. DORIAN GRAY has an impulse to rush in angrily, but makes an effort to control himself and handle the situation smoothly. DORIAN GRAY: STELLAR:

Now what was that about curiosity? About curiosity and a cat? Oh, Dorian! I think it was that they became The best of friends:

160 / DORIAN

DORIAN GRAY:

The mad scientist and the curious cat!

Don't be cross with me-please.

I was just looking for the bathroom!

Ah, of course. And I have been a thoughtless host. You will find Queen Victoria's Powder Room Just across the hall, one door down.

Smiling gratefully, STELLAR slips out of the room. A grim and troubled DORIAN GRAY sets down the tray and approaches the terminal. As he reaches the terminal VIDEO displays his youthful music video, which starts to play just as it did years ago. VIDEO DORIAN:

I feel like morning I feel like another new day

DORIAN GRAY angrily tries to turn it off. The video continues: VIDEO DORIAN:

I feel like warning The world to stay out of my way.

With intense determination, DORIAN GRAY places his hands over the keyboard and attempts to control by gesture and intention. DORIANGRAY: VIDEO DORIAN: DORIAN GRAY: VIDEO DORIAN:

Off! Damn you! Off!

I'm so me, you must be all so you.

One more word, and I'll pull the plug!

I feel like morning.

I feel like another new day.

DORIAN GRAY has triumphantly pulled the plug. All computer functions cease. DORIAN GRAY:

There!

Immediately, the functions turn themselves on, and VIDEO continues as before. VIDEO DORIAN:

Dance with me, sunbeam­

ACT Ill: SCENE 2 /

161

Video slips into a repeat modality. Dance with me, sunbeam­ sunbeamsunbeamDORIAN GRAY rages. He checks the plug again, looks around for some other way to turn off the computer. VIDEO now has a running message across the screen, superimposed on the repeated: "Dance with me, sun­ beam sunbeam- sunbeam-. The message is itself repeated several times: "Caution: Fully Interactive Mode Activating." DORIAN GRAY:

Don't you dare!

VIDEO starts to repeat itselffrom the start of the song. But it now plays at a much slower speed. Furthermore, the VIDEO DORIAN is starting to age as he sings. This is at first a subtle and then an increasingly invasive process. The music is also changing in tone, becoming ever more anguished and expressionistic. VIDEO DORIAN:

I feel like morning I feel like another new day I feel like warning

STELLAR has returned-transfixed by the scene she remains quietly with one foot in and one foot out of the room. DORIAN:

I warn you!

Now-stop now!

VIDEO picture becomes a still frame. The picture in this frame continues both to age and to take on a ravaged and evil appearance. DORIAN GRAY thrusts his fist toward the monitor. DORIAN GRAY: VIDEO DORIAN:

I warn you! [Thrusting its fist in return:] I warn you!

Voices from three different places around the room:

162 I DORIAN

RICK SHANNON: I warn you! STELLAR:

SUNBEAM: JIM: I warn you! I warn you! [To herself, and nervously fingering her bracelet:] I should go! I should go now!

DORIAN GRAY, distracted, stares wildly around the room. He sees STELlAR, but does not really take her in. To VIDEO DORIAN:

DORIAN GRAY:

You old, you evil, you miserable thing!

Repeating DORIAN GRAY'sfacial expression and gestures:

VIDEO DORIAN: DORIANGRAY: VIDEO DORIAN: DORIANGRAY: You old Miserable Thing

Stop Stop repeating Damn you! Dorian!

You old, you evil, you miserable thing!

Stop repeating me!

Stop repeating me!

VIDEO DORIAN:

Evil

Evil

Evil

Evil

Damn you!

Dorian!

There is a pause at this standoff. Both DORIAN's fold their arms and study each other. The VIDEO DORIAN then croaks a few lines from the song while gesturing grotesquely as though inviting a partner to a dance.

VIDEO DORIAN:

Dance with me, sunbeam­ I'm so much like you. Dance with me, sunbeam-

SUNBEAM, young and beautiful, appears on VIDEO MONITOR B. She is repelled by VIDEO DORIAN, and tries to shrink away from him in horror. RICK SHANNON, dressed as on the night of his death, appears on MONITOR A. He, too, is repelled, but also furious. JIM, dressed as he was earlier tonight, appears on MONITOR C, looking confused and vulnerable.

ACT Ill: SCENE 2 I 163

RICK SHANNON: Dorian!

SUNBEAM:

JIM: Mr. Gray!

Oh, my love! Oh, my god!

COMPUTER SOUND EFFECTS: A sound wave from RICK SHANNON, SUNBEAM and JIM on "Dorian!" reverberates and alters its character, like a wave changing form as it charges against the rock and recedes. There will be several repetitions of the "Dorian!" wave, each somewhat different in character during the following action. Dorian!

Dorian!

Dorian!

Alarmed, disoriented, but still fighting for control: DORIAN GRAY:

RICK SHANNON: Dorian!

I am the only me! What are you? Nothing! What are you to me? Nothing! SUNBEAM: Dorian!

JIM: Dorian!

A new music is heard: something that is VIDEO DORIAN's own: alien and tormented, but also incisive and relentless. As he sings, VIDEO DORIAN's face appears on all the monitors, each in a slightly different and constantly changing state of distress and decay. VIDEO DORIAN: DORIAN GRAY: VIDEO DORIAN:

I am the you who is more than you are I am the real Dorian Gray. No! I am your evil I am your age

I am the real Dorian Gray.

DORIAN GRAY has finally realized STELLAR is there. She recoils as he approaches, but he seizes her hands: DORIAN GRAY:

Don't listen to him!

164 / DORIAN

VIDEO DORIAN: DORIANGRAY:

STELLAR: VIDEO DORIAN:

STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY: VIDEO DORIAN: STELLAR: DORIAN GRAY: VIDEO DORIAN:

Don't listen to him! [To STELLAR, in a manic variant on the snap­ dance music:] Snap me up, Stellar! Snap me up while you can I am the true Dorian I am your true man Snap, snap, snap me up!

[To herself:] He's lost his mind!

[In a grotesque parody of DORIAN GRAY:]

Snap me up, Stellar! Snap me up while you can I am the true Dorian I am your true man Snap, snapStop it! I want nothing to do with either of you You must love me, SunbeamIt's my only chance. No, you must love me, Sunbeam I am the one who has suffered for you. Sunbeam: Why are they calling me Sunbeam? Come to your lover I will be like a father to you­ Come to your fatherI will be like a lover to you-

DORIAN GRAY sinks to his knees in front of STELLAR. His desperation is sincere. VIDEO DORIAN shows varying aspects of disgust, mockery, parody, and anger as he observes the scene.

DORIAN GRAY:

I know you As from a former life As from a better life I foolishly destroyed. There is nothing worse than filling oneself With oneself

ACT Ill: SCENE 2 /

Through the days, through the months,

Through the years, with oneself,

Nothing worse than feeding oneself

With oneself

Through the days, through the months,

Through the unmoving years,

With oneself, with one's pathetic little self.

You know me,

As from a former life

As from a budding life

I foolishly destroyed.

STELLAR is appalled yet fascinated. STELLAR: VIDEO DORIAN:

DORIAN GRAY: VIDEO DORIAN:

I don't understand. I don't think I want to understand. No-I am the one you must set free! I am the future-don't you see! I must be as I was meant to be! Come with me-away! Come with me-away!

Rising, and reaching for her hand, which she does not offer: DORIAN GRAY:

VIDEO DORIAN:

Away from the sinning, away from the sorrow, Away from the crimes great and small: Let these rest forever in the Bastard sleep of a brute machine. Come with me to the spinning, spinning world Where there is time, sweet swift passing time Where there is time for love to grow And for love to grow old. Love me and let me grow old! Never trust in blazing youth. Enter me for timeless truth. Me, that old, evil, and miserable thing? Not with the magicNot with the magic of your ring!

165

166 / DORIAN

Save yourself, girl!

Save yourself by saving me!

I must be as I was meant to be!

Becoming faint, STELLAR backs herself against the door, her hand on the knob. The desperate DORIAN GRAY produces his swordcane from its stand by an end-table. He rushes toward the main terminal. Simultane­ ously, VIDEO DORIAN is armed with a cane, and, indeed, all the monitors show different images of the VIDEO DORIAN's raising their canes in desperation. Coming up the steps now are HENRY LORD, POLLY FOX, and a wounded, but determined JIM. STELLAR recovers her poise and rushes to interpose herself between cane-wielding DORIAN GRAY and the terminal with its cane-wielding VIDEO DORIAN. BLACKOUT Shouts of wrath and sounds of violence. A series of energy flashes and rapid movements of light ripples through the darkness. SILENCE. LIGHTS RISE AGAIN. HENRY LORD, POLLY FOX, and JIM have gathered by the doorway. DORIAN GRAY and STELLAR are motionless on the floor. The main VIDEO flickers feebly, then the signal grows stronger. The image of decayed old VIDEO DORIAN appears, then it gradually phases back to his days of youth and beauty. STELLAR, with POLLY FOX at her side, stirs, and rises to her knees, supported by her relieved friend. JIM approaches DORIAN GRAY, turns him over. JIM:

That's not the one either. This is the oldest man I've ever seen. I'd hate to see anyone older.

The music now has an elegiac, after-the-battle quality. STELLAR is on her feet, with POLLY's help. JIM notices something on the floor near DORIAN

ACT Ill: SCENE 2 /

167

GRAY-the bracelet. Resting on one knee, he studies, then clutches the bracelet, looking to STELLAR with tears in his eyes. HENRY LORD:

[Quietly] What men or gods are these? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? [Even more quietly] Forgive me, you dear, dead gods. How can I ever forgive myself.

STELLAR, POLLY, JIM and LORD slowly approach each otherandform a ring of hands. HOLOGRAPH OF GRECIAN URN APPEARS. AS IT SLOWLY TURNS: BLACKOUT

PART III

Dorian In Our Times

Much has changed since Lord Henry persuaded Dorian Gray that youth is the only thing worth having. Nevertheless, the prospect of extended or perpetual youth remains an attractive proposition to many of us. Examples of our preference for youth are so obvious, abundant and diverse that we do not need to linger on this point. To cite but one, here is an unsolicited inducement that arrived in my mailbox the other day: SHOCKING NEWS FOR MEN ONLY! New research uncovers the startling truth about those ageless ... MEN WHO NEVER SEEM TO GROW OLD Pushing 40, but in the best shape of his life! (Photo of muscular weight-lifter) 52 years old, but looks and feels 32! (Photo of smiling man tossing a ball to attractive woman) THEIR ASTOUNDING HEALTH SECRETS ARE SO SIMPLE, YET SO EFFECTIVE THEY WILL WORK FOR ANY MAN! 10 years from now, your buddies will be balding, straining bathroom scales, losing interest in sex and bonding with bifocals-BUT NOT YOU! You are going to STOP AGING TODAY -because you looked inside this envelope! Right! All these welcome assurances are found on the outside of the envelope. Think what one could learn by opening the envelope, and what further miracles would ensue if one sent away for the books (not available in stores!) described inside. Why waste time reading (let alone writing) about Dorian Gray when one can learn how to STOP AGING TODAY! 171

172 / DORIAN, GRAYING

(Dora Gray is quick to add that advertisements of this kind remind us that women have no monopoly on the desire to maintain a youthful appearance. ) I continue to await an inducement such as: SHOCKING NEWS FOR MEN ONLY! Old research uncovers the startling truth about those aging men ... MEN WHO NEVER SEEM TO BE YOUNG Only 20, but looking for all the world like 80! (Photo of 80-ish looking man, dozing in rocking chair) 32 years old, but looks and feels 52! (Photo of 50-ish looking man, smiling as attractive woman tosses a laxative to him) THEIR ASTOUNDING HEALTH SECRETS ARE SO SIMPLE, YET SO EFFECTIVE THEY WILL WORK FOR ANY MAN! 10 years from now, your buddies will still be virile hunks who drive women crazy-BUT NOT YOU! You are going to STOP LOOKING YOUNG TODAY ... Perhaps this alternative inducement will be in the next mail? Until it arrives, and until media and commercial interests launch a convincing campaign favoring age over youth, we will proceed with the working assumption that there is still a market for perpetual youth. The research literature is consistent with this assumption. Negative attitudes are prevalent toward elderly people in general (e.g., Palmore, 1990), and in specific domains such as sexuality (e.g., Starr, 1993), and the work place (e.g., Sheppard, 1994). Of course, the actual experiences and performances of elderly adults are much more diverse than what is attributed to them by social stereotypes, and some are having the time of their lives. Leaving reality aside as the encumbrance it is, we postVictorians still appear to favor youth over age. The Dorian Theme, however, plays itself out differently in our times. We have seen only hints of this in the opera version which kept its roots securely in the original Picture of Dorian Gray. One such hint was Dorian's self-encounter through an interactive computer program. The Victorian era paused and posed for its portrait. A moment after the painter sets down the brush for the last time, the portrait is what it will continue to be, exclusive of accidents and depredations. Not so with us. We prepare our interfaces for the interfaces we meet. Dorian today would tweak his portrait much as a director "postproduces" what the

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 173

camera saw. In a sense, there is no final or definitive image. One might always edit to suit the purposes of the moment. There are many other differences to consider. Here are some that we do not want to miss. These include phenomena that are well familiar to people who study aging or provide services to elderly adults, and perhaps also a few that we do not often think about in this context. GRAY IN A GRA YING SOCIETY

Age: No Longer Terra Incognita A child born the day that Picture of Dorian Gray (PDG) was published had a life expectancy of less than fifty years (Achenbaum, 1994). This number, like most numbers, can be deceptive. Infant and child mortality rates were very high by current standards. Those who made it into adult life had a fighting chance to reach their fifties and sixties. There were also, of course, some very long-lived people as well. A healthy and vigorous old age was the exception to the rule, however. Consider these observations with which a distinguished physician, Arnold Lorand opened his book, Old Age Deferred (1912). Whoever takes up this book with the idea that the aged can be transformed into sprightly adolescents will be disappointed .... But while it is still impossible for us to create a young man out of an old one, it is quite within the bounds of possibility ... to prolong our term of youthfulness by ten or twenty years. In other words we need no longer grow old at forty or fifty ... (p. iii).

Yes, you read this passage accurately. Dr. Lorand means what he says. Here: he says it again in the next chapter. As a general rule the first symptoms of old age do not appear before the fortieth or forty-fifth year. There are, however, many persons who, much earlier, occasionally even before thirty, show some of the typi­ cal features of senility ... (p. 1).

A worn-down, worn-out condition was not unusual during the period of time we now consider to be midlife. Dorian and his friends feared not only the prospect of very old age, but also the much closer prospect of losing youthful attractiveness and vigor within just a few years.

174 / DORIAN, GRAYING

The child born at the same time as PDG would already had become a young adult-if he or she had survived the perils of infancy and childhood-by the time Lorand's book appeared. Oscar Wilde, Lord Henry, Basil Hallward, Dorian Gray and all that set would have observed many men and women looking and behaving "oldly" in their forties and fifties. Working class people were often worn out by their labors. Women who had received little care during and after their multiple pregnancies tended to see their youth flee all too quickly. Industrial pollution was already in the air. Dietary habits of the time would have appalled the greasemeisters at today's fast food restaurants (which have of late responded to the public's desire for a healthier cuisine). Alcohol and drug problems existed in Dorian's time as well as our own. Furthermore, many medical conditions that can be treated effectively today became chronic problems for the Victorians, increasing stress and sapping energies. So it was not just decrepit old age that was feared. Lords and ladies had before their eyes all too many examples of people who had been folded, spindled, and mutilated by their forties and fifties. Just a few years prior to PDG, Gerard Manley Hopkins, a then-unknown and unpublished poet, had written that the mind has cliffs of fall

Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed; Hold them cheap

May who ne'er hung there ... (Hopkins, 1953, p. 610)

Despair came early for those who could conceive of no value beyond the protective bubble of youth. The cliffs of fall were already present in their minds, and not that far away. We come, then, to a matched pair of propositions regarding the percep­ tion of aging in Dorian's times and our own: • Proposition I-A: Anxiety about leaving one's youth behind has been diminishing because the middle adult years are now associated with continued health and vigor. • Proposition I-B: There is an increasing desire to prolong one's stay in the middle adult years. These years have increased in attractive­ ness because health and vigor often are retained, and well-being is enhanced by the resourcefulness and know-how that comes with suc­ cessfullife experience.

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 175

The ancient quest for eternal youth now has emerging competition from the wish to remain in the middle adult years. The "forever 40" (or 50) wish may not take hold until people have actually experienced that phase of life for themselves. Many midlife university students have told me that they had never felt so centered and confident as they do now, pursuing their own goals and appreciating life at a new level. Other educators have heard similar comments and observed the sense of renewed self discovery that can occur when adults have completed enough oftheir obligations to others and now have the opportunity to further their inner development. Even the media have started to recognize that a vigorous and knowing person of middle adult years can be very appealing to audiences, e.g., the recent film successes of "graybeards" Clint Eastwood and Sean Connery. (Unfortunately, the adult woman has not yet had as much opportunity in the media.) The next proposition calls attention to the fact that long-entrenched stereotypes are being challenged by the words and actions of elderly persons. • Proposition Il: The later adults years have also become less of an unknown territory because many older men and women have shared their experiences in their own words.

The Victorians tended to construct their elderly characters and, in so doing, provided them with stereotyped, usually negative, characteristics. Mr. Scrooge is perhaps the best known of these characters, but he could also scout up a supporting cast of gullible fops, ridiculous suitors, and mendacious meddlers. These stereotypes were themselves variations on themes that had developed over many centuries, including, for example, the stock theatrical character of a foolish old man lusting after a young woman (Minois, 1990). The Victorians updated and refurbished these prevailing negative stereotypes and passed them on to us as part of our cultural heritage. However, we no longer have to accept this heritage uncritically. In our own time we can turn to the personal narratives of elderly adults as offered in their own words. For example, the fiftieth anniversary of D-Day brought forth remembrances from many of the armed forces personnel and some of the civilians who had experienced the Allied invasion of Nazi-held Normandy, and the subsequent ordeals. Millions of people had the oppor­ tunity to see and hear these survivors reflect on their experiences. One

176 I DORIAN, GRAVING

person after another shared a little of their experiences and how these experiences have affected their subsequent lives. These personal narratives were trenchant, moving, and often poetic. Viewers who were too young to have their own memories of World War II could build upon the memories of those who had been there. More significantly, they did not see any stereotypical elders, any pathetic wrecks, any old fools. They saw people who had come through hell and shaped from their experiences a strong, rich, and compassionate perspective on life. Similarly, a 60 Minutes documentary on elder abuse (Family Crimes, December 6, 1992) provided the opportunity for an aged victim to speak for herself. It is unlikely that viewers came away from this experience with their stereotypes reinforced: what we discovered instead was how much courage and character a person could bring to a situation in which she was being outrageously exploited and neglected. Again and again, reality is hammering away at stereotype. There are not as many elderly adults on television as one might prefer, but we do find a variety of older men and women speaking for themselves, and often to great effect. Print narratives have extended the range of the elderly person's voice as elicited by astute interviewers (e.g., Berman and Goldman, 1992; Gubrium, 1993; Mullen, 1992). Audio tapes (Goldman, 1988; 1993) make the experience even more direct. Stereotypes dissolve. Individual humanity emerges. I was afraid of the dark. I was afraid of noises. I was afraid of bridges. I was afraid of authority. I was afraid of, oh, everything. I was just petrified all the time, because I had been taught so much fear so young. So growing old is a lot less frightening to me than growing young again (Berman and Goldman, p. 70).

These autobiographical reflections were shared by comedian Phyllis DilIer at age seventy-four. Her life as her own self did not begin until, in her thirties, she was able to confront and overcome the fears that had blighted her youth. It was her midlife growth in self-confidence that made the difference and enabled her to bring a more open, comfortable, and effective self into the later adult years. "Until I overcame my fears I could never have done what I've done." Having overcome the fears that stole pleasure from her youth, Diller felt equipped to deal with the new chal­ lenges age would bring.

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 177

Dorian's theme is countered by Diller's belief that she has become both a stronger and a more joyful person with age. There are a great many joys to growing older. For one thing, you aren't as impatient as you were as a child. You don't throw an acorn on the ground and say, "Where's my tree?" You gain patience because you finally found out that things don't happen overnight. So you are patient with other people and you're patient with yourself. And you do gain wisdom and . . . have worked out a way to live happily. If you haven't any wisdom and some real know-how by the time you get to be seventy, eight, or ninety, it's been a real loss (Berman and Goldman, p. 73).

Diller's life review also emphasizes the pleasure she feels in providing pleasure to others as an entertainer. She notes that Bob Hope, George Bums, and Milton Berle are others who, in their eighth and ninth decades, are renewed by their audience's responses. "The thrill of hearing a lot of people laughing in unison" keeps the entertainer happy, and being happy leaves no room for feeling old and sorry for oneself. • Proposition Ill-A: What is really worth having is a mature self that is realistic, confident, and capable ofboth giving and receiving pleasure, a self that one can live with. • Proposition Ill-B: The salience of life-span position (youth, middle­ age or old age) is diminished when the emphasis is on the quality of the experiencing self.

On this view, Dorian Gray and his mentor may have misplaced their faith in youth. There is not much point in having youth if it is an anxious having, a confused having, a destructive having. Youth, in fact, can possess its possessor. One can be tormented by poorly understood passions and conflicting impulses and, at critical moments, tripped up by inexperience. • Proposition IV: Youth does not wholly, persistently, and automat­ ically bestow that which is worth having. To assert otherwise is to deny the stress, disappointments, conflicts, and vulnerabilities that can make youth an ordeal as well as a delight.

That suicide remains the third most common cause of death among youth (defined as ages 15 to 24) in the United States is a fact that speaks for

178 I DORIAN, GRAYING

itself. Lord Henry and Dorian Gray envisioned not only an extended youth, but a youth miraculously free of anxiety and sorrow. Statistical reports, being much less imaginative than Oscar Wilde, tell a different story--of young men and women who already feel that they have lived too long. • Proposition V: The Dorian Theme is flawed by its comparison of an uncritical model of youth with a hypercriticalmodel of age. It is true that elders as well as youth commit suicide. In fact, the suicide rate for the V.S. population as a whole reaches its peak among aged men (Kastenbaum, 1995). Elderly people are certainly vulnerable to bereave­ ment, poor health, financial concerns and many other sources of stress and loss. The Dorian Theme, however, contrasts the ordeals of age with the fantasies of untroubled youth. Credibility is thereby weakened. No competent observer can fail to note both the thriving elder and the strug­ gling youth. In this crucial respect, The Picture of Dorian Gray is not drawn from life, either in Victorian times or our own. And speaking of drawing ... I believe that a comic strip artist should get better the older he gets, as long as he remains healthy. Mechanically I have a slight problem in that my hand is not as steady as it was back in the middle twenties when I first started drawing seriously. I used to pride myself on having a good pen line, and so this caused me a slight bit of despair several years ago, but now I've learned to live with it. I simply prop one hand against the other and I don't try for the effects that I might have tried for when I was younger and had a steady hand (Berman and Goldman, p. 248).

At seventy, Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip can discuss an age-related problem in a straightforward way. He is secure enough to admit both the physical difficulty and the despair it occasioned. Schulz has a problem-but he does not have a problem about the problem. Vmberto Eco, the renowned semiologist and novelist (The Name of the Rose) devotes a chapter in his latest book (1994) to "The World of Charlie Brown." Eco takes Schulz seriously as a poet: "If poetry means producing from everyday events, which we are accustomed to identify with the surface of things, a revelation that causes us to touch the depth of things ..." (p. 36). Everyday events are what Schulz touches on in his autobiographical reflections. As we have already seen, he despaired, then

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 179

"learned to live with" a problem that threatened to end his career. It was natural to despair at first: Good grief! (or, Misericordia!)as the Italian translators of Peanuts say it). One does not remain in despair, however, nor does one hesitate to make the necessary adjustments. Although Schulz took pride on having "a good pen line" in his youth, he did not allow pride to prevent him from accommodating to age. Dorian, a dabbler in all the arts, would have found it difficult to under­ stand and accept Schulz's philosophy. "Why does the man go on?" he might have demanded. "He will never again be the young, effortless artist who can achieve any effect he desires. But to speak of his desires! The desires of an old man had best be left unspoken!" Other listeners, though, might discover in Schulz's reflections a negotiable path through the terra incognita of age. He has discovered where the hazards lie. I think the big danger with growing older is the danger of becoming a boring person. And if you are boring yourself (and a lot of old people are boring), then the things that you create will be boring, too. This could very well happen. It's one of the few things I worry about.

Schulz is demonstrating here the art of self-monitoring. He does not just think, speak, and act. He listens to his inner and outer speech. He observes his actions and their effects. He does not simply run off a frequently­ repeated sequence of verbal and nonverbal communications. Some people do seem to talk for the sake of talking. They appear to be more devoted to impressing or comforting themselves than to communicating effectively with others. The listener is only a convenient device through which they talk to themselves. There is a variant in which the other person is made to serve as a stand-in for somebody else with whom the speaker seems to have had an unfinished conversation. For example, the listener may wonder what he or she did to be recipient of a long self-justifying diatribe. The listener really didn't do anything. The speaker was still making his/her case against a long departed family member, lover, or boss. The boring person of any age is seldom speaking to the listener as an individual, attending to that person's response, or critically evaluating what he or she is saying. Boring old people differ from boring young people in that they have had a longer period of time in which to develop their spiels and to perfect the fine art of noncommunication.

180 I DORIAN, GRAYING

Schulz's concern that his comic strip might become boring is a concern shared by many creative people in various spheres of activity. Paintings, manuscripts, and musical scores often have been destroyed by their creators because they were judged as lacking that indefinable spirit that endows an artistic production with life. However, to overcome the risk of boring self and others requires more than skill in creative production or interpersonal communication. Something else that is much more profound is that you could run out of life experiences, which is what makes you boring. If you cease to become interested in people around you, if you cease to do any productive reading, listening, looking, watching, and all of that, then you will have used up all the experiences of your life and will begin to draw upon your capital. Dorian Gray associated aging with feared changes in his appearance. The first gray hair. the first wrinkle ... with signs such as these the dread process would announce itself. This response is a form of anticipatory grief (Rando, 1986). Strolling in the sunshine of youth, Dorian borrows anxiety from his imaginings of the horrors to befall him in the evening. By contrast, Schulz and Diller have more actual experience with the physical signs of aging, not merely the cosmetic but also the functional. In their seventh decades they miss the athleticism and physical resilience they commanded earlier in their lives. Unlike Dorian Gray, however, they do not focus either on physical appearance or physical ability. Both give much higher priority to who they have become and what they share with others. Beauty was, literally, skin-deep for Dorian; age is a far more complex and profound experience for Schulz, Diller, and a great many other elderly adults. In our own times, millions of people could tell Dorian that he has so filled his mind with fantasies of endless youth that he has left little room to discover the potentials of age.

• Proposition VI: The quest for endless youth makes the error of treat­ ing both youth and age as static spaces of time. Even today, many young people tend to think of the later adult years as a dark and homogeneous zone. "Forget all hope, ye who enter here." What alarms them is the transition from the blossoming fields of youth to the wintry wastes of age. Not much thought is given to the procession of

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 181

experiences and events through which one moves along life's journey. In my early studies of time perspective, it was clear that adolescents and young adults had few thoughts about what actually happens down the road of life and that these few were conceived as a vague and dysphoric zone with few internal markers. The adolescents could identify a number of turning points and events that were in near prospect (graduation from high school, getting ajob, having their own car, etc.). Thl;;re was also a powerful sense of acceleration into the future. Almost all the adolescents felt they were going some place in a hurry-but where, they could not say. This orientation was not just a matter of limited future perspective. It involved a sense of foreboding about the middle and later adult years. One young woman summed it up this way: "Nothing much happens. People sit around and feel sorry for themselves until they fall over dead." There is a tendency to oversimplify both youth and age. Individual differences and situational contexts often are not given sufficient attention. Even more neglected are the patterns of change over time within youth and age. Consider, for example, the statistician's definition of youth, as utilized in the presentation of demographic, morbidity, and mortality data. A per­ son is a youth at age fifteen and still a youth at age twenty-four. This statistical convention is influential because of its widespread use and also because of its implicit dismissal of differences within this ten-year time frame. A moment's thought will remind us that significant changes occur within the "youth" cachet. For example, the fifteen-year-old cannot enter into contractual agreements, legally purchase cigarettes or consume alcoholic beverages, or vote. If nothing else happens, the process of social enfranchisement would be sufficient to assure that the youth's self-concept would be affected by the empowerment and the range of choices and actions expanded. But, of course, much else happens as well. Physical growth continues. One moves from high school either to college, work, or unemployment. "The old gang" starts to break up as people go their separate ways. Romances ensue. Early teen fantasies start to collide with adult realities. Etc. The ride through "youth" may be relatively short, but it is full of events, discoveries, ordeals and, above all, change. Statisticians should re-invent youth, perhaps using an index of change to replace a fixed number of years, but I doubt any proper statis­ tician would do so. And aging? As they say, nothing is more constant than change. Con­ sider this limited sample of changes that are likely to occur in our lives as we move through the later adult years:

182 / DORIAN, GRAVING

• Opportunities for new roles and transformed relationships in the kin­ ship network. Especially gratifying here are the unique relations that can develop between elderly people and their adult children. These matured relationships may involve more than two generations. For example: a sixty-year-old may now be more appreciated than ever by hislher forty-year-old child and, in turn, have a more reciprocal and companionable relationship with hislher eighty-year-old parents. Twenty years later, these relationships will have altered, but the now­ eighty-year-old will have the opportunity to experience family life as part of the most senior echelon. There is the possibility (not the guarantee) that with advancing adult age individuals will continue to deepen and transform their most significant interpersonal relation­ ships. (I would know my father less well if he were not still around at age ninety-two-and-a-half with his memory sometimes all too sharp and his humor still intact; no doubt he would have some additional things to say about me, but he will have to write his own book!) Relationships with others do not remain static when a person turns sixty or seventy unless there are serious unresolved problems. • Attachments to previous routines may be replaced by opportunities for a more satisfying life style. In one typical, if fading, pattern, a long­ wedded couple has organized its life style around the husband's work and the wife's devotion to both the nuclear and extended family. Ifwe looked in on this family around the time of the husband's retirement we would observe apprehension, excitement, doubt, and other indices of a transitional situation. A little later we might observe a somewhat different situation. The retirement has actually taken place, and the couple is trying to deal with its ambivalence about the new "after life." Both are still quite attached to their long-standing patterns of daily routine and value priority. Nevertheless, both are aware that things have changed, giving them new opportunities that are not without anxiety. Check in with this couple a few years later and we will probably find that they have severed many of their previous attach­ ments and taken up some new or renewed interests. In fact, liberated from their former obligations, they might look and feel younger than five or ten years past. Some elders treat their release from previous obligations as liberation, others as abandonment and trauma. In either case, the process of accommodating oneself to changed circumstances will continue throughout the remainder of their lives. The person who does not make a series of adaptations to the changing circumstances

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 183

within the later adult years has something oddly in common with ever-young Dorian: "Time be damned, I am not going to change!" The refusal or inability to change with time is not a universal attitude among either the young of the old, nor is it rare among either the young or the old. • Physical changes continue to occur. People who have not yet been touched by age often think in dichotomous terms. There are young people, and there are old people. When people become old they stay old-that's it! This perception is related to Proposition VI: the error of treating both youth and age as static spaces of time. It is also fostered by the younger person's focus on points of transition. "A gray hair­ therefore passing from youth to age." I have seen many Fiftyish staff employees of geriatric facilities devote scrupulous attention to the differences between the residents and themselves. "She is old-I am not! Right?" This focus on differential markers of youth and age reduces attention to the overall course of aging. The "old" person will become older still. There will be a continuing need to cope and adjust. Good-bye, single lens; hello, bifocals.

Good-bye, hot buffalo wings; hello, chicken fingers.

Good-bye, driver's license; hello, dial-a-ride.

Good-bye, heels; hello, flats.

Individual differences must certainly be kept in mind as well. The sedentary sixty-year-old is moving along a different track from the eighty-eight-year-old who nimbly ascends a ladder and cheerfully repairs his roof. (The particular roofer I have in mind took a nasty, bone-splintering tumble when the ladder slipped during his descent. This mishap delayed Chris Horn's completion of his masters thesis until the age of ninety! Topic? Youth's stereotypes of age, and age's stereotypes of youth.) Our preoccupation with the transition from youth to age and with dif­ ferential markers of youth and age often leads us to underestimate the changes, challenges, and decisions that continue to occur once we have, in fact, entered the senior zone. The Palpability of Age

We have seen that the later adult years today no longer comprise unknown territory about which fears and fancies may be spun with impunity. Now let us attend to some implications of that most obvious fact,

184 I DORIAN, GRAVING

the graying of the population. Age is palpable as never before, in post­ Dorian England, in the United States, and in many other lands. Although gerontologists must surely grow weary with reading and writing the demo­ graphic profiles, it might be useful here to dispel any lingering doubts about the life expectancy and population trends. Our review will be a little different from most because of our particular interest here in the relation­ ship between population structure and the fantasy of perpetual youth. An infant born in the United States in 1900 had an average life expec­ tancy of 47.3 years. At this time the median age of the population was twenty-three. By present-day standards, then, most people did not live very long, and most of those alive at a particular point in time were quite young. Let us transplant Dorian Gray, still a new literary sensation at this date, to the United States (where the demographic numbers are more plentiful and accessible). The Dorian who asserts that youth is the only thing worth having would have been at about the median age for the U.S. population. He would not have known a great many elderly people, but he would have known prematurely weakened and disabled people who seemed old in their forties and fifties. It would be natural for him to mistake debilitated middle age for healthy aging. There were only about three million people at age sixty-five-plus, and a mere 123,000 at eighty-five-plus (Haas and Longino, 1994). Furthermore, if Dorian Gray had given a fig for statistics he might not have troubled himself about the horrors of aging. Chances were that he had already lived about half of his life! (And even in the novel, Dorian meets his doom early.) Fast forward to 1950. The infant born at this time had a life expectancy of 68.2 years. Incredibly, two decades had been added. The median age of the population has also advanced, but only to a still youthful thirty. What if Dorian were this infant? He would now be young in a society that had more than twelve million at sixty-five-plus and almost 600,000 at eighty-five­ plus. There was now a more favorable opportunity to come into contact with resourceful and vigorous adults who were flourishing past their youth. His own fear of outgrowing youth might have been tempered somewhat by the realization that the road did not end just a few miserable years ahead. Another consideration entered in by mid-century: long-lived people could now expect to have more peer companionship. Although the number of aged people was still relatively small by present-day standards, the odds of finding peer companionship had increased fourfold from the turn of the century. This trend has implications for the insistence on perpetual youth. Here are Dorianesque reflections.

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 185

• I must stay young. • Why must I stay young? • Because one becomes less attractive with age. • Why is that a problem? • Because people will neglect and abandon me. I will not be interesting to them. • What kind of people do I want to be interested in me? • Everybody. But, mainly, I want to be interesting to people who share my values, interests, experiences, who are within my own world of experience. • Are there people of this sort now? And do they like me now? • There are some (not enough!). And, yes, they seem to like me now. • I wish these people could stay with me through the years and come to appreciate and respect me even more. • But how could I make that happen? • Stay alive. Help my friends stay alive. Use my abilities to the max. Don't sweat the wrinkles. • That is certainly a relief! To live a long while in good company is quite a different prospect from growing old, neglected, and abandoned. But-I can hardly wait until Grecian Formula is invented! Fear of rejection, loneliness, and devastated self-esteem must surely be a component of the obsession with perpetual youth. It is not the whole story, but is a component that is subject to intensification or diminution by social context. In Dorian's times (and in all prior times), the long-lived person was the uncommon survivor. Few if any remained of the cohort with which he/she entered life. There were few with whom to celebrate or mourn the old days. There were few with whom a deep and immediate understanding could be achieved by reference to shared histories. The social and physical survival of the long-lived person depended much on hislher remaining functional abilities (Minois, 1990) and on the variable fortunes of cir­ cumstance. Aging has remained a precarious experience, but we now have enjoyed half a century in which many people have had the opportunity to companion each other through the later adult years and thereby avoid the loneliness of "the last straggler." We now complete the demographic update. By 1991, longevity at birth in the United States had increased to 75.5. The rate of increase has slowed in recent years, not a surprising trend because many common causes of premature death were reduced in previous decades. There are now well

186 I DORIAN, GRAVING

over thirty-two million people age sixty-five-plus and more than three million eighty-five-plus. What was said about Dorian in 1950 has con­ tinued to hold true and become even more pronounced as we approach the end of the century. Graying of the population is in the future as well. By 2050 the median age in the United States is expected to be about forty-three (nearly twice the age at the turn of the century), about 23 percent at age sixty-five-plus and 5 percent at eighty-five-plus. It should be kept in mind that the percentage of elders in the population depends on more than the number of long-lived people. Fertility rates vary over time, therefore the infusion of youth into society is greater at some times than others. A reduction in fertility along with increased longevity would lead to a much grayer society, while an increase in fertility would lighten the shade of gray even though there are still as many elders. There is another interesting way in which the statistical data can help us to appreciate the ageward movement of contemporary society. We might inquire into life expectancy at age sixty-five instead of at birth. Interna­ tional data for 1987 collated by Haas and Longino (1994) are useful for this purpose. Here are selections from their presentation: Table 1. National Life Expectancy at Age 65 (1987) Life Expectancy at Age 65 Country

Females

Males

Japan France Switzerland Netherlands Sweden

20.4 20.2 19.7 19.3 19.1

16.4 15.4 15.4 15.4 15.4

United States England and Wales

18.7 17.9

14.8 13.9

Yugoslavia Czechoslovakia Hungary Bulgaria Romania

15.6 15.5 15.4 15.0 14.7

13.3 11.9 12.1 12.6 12.8

Table 1 begins by presenting the five nations with the highest life expectancy at age sixty-five, using females as the standard. The middle section shows the data for Dorian's homeland and the United States. For

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 187

added perspective, the table concludes with the five nations who had the lowest life expectancy at age sixty-five when these most recently available data were compiled (1987). We see that there is nothing spectacular about life expectancy at sixty­ five for the United States and EnglandlWales when compared with other nations. Both countries are a little above the average, but do not make the top echelon. The point here is that throughout much of the world the person who reaches the advanced adult years can expect to have a number of more birthday parties ahead. Women at sixty-five have an average of two full decades ahead in Japan, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Sweden. Even the least favored people in the statistical array have well over a decade in prospect: men at sixty-five in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. Life expectancy at birth becomes an underestimation when it is applied to people who have already come a long way in their journeys through time. Furthermore, demographers project that longevity is increasing even more rapidly for people eighty-five-plus. • Proposition VII-A: The older person is becoming less marginal. • Proposition V/-B: Life-conceptULllization must be extended through the advanced adult years.

Taken together, these propositions cast doubt on the aesthetic theme with which Lord HenrylHenry Lord and Dorian bedecked themselves. This is how I think it goes: • Daily life is mostly ugly, trivial, and corrupt. Therefore, one does not want to become fully immersed in this gutterly stream. • Daily life is also unappealing because it consists of perishings. Little endures, and little of that is of value. • Art rises above the vulgarity, mediocrity and transience of everyday life. • Creation and appreciation of beauty is rewarding both in itself and in its transcendence of time. • Unfortunately, human beauty fades as "youth's sweet-scented manu­ script closes." Up to this point the argument is coherent, although not beyond chal­ lenge. It begins to wobble seriously, however, when "having youth" is

188 / DORIAN, GRAYING

chosen as the all-eclipsing value. Some previous and some new considera­ tions will help us to see why. First, we recall the qualifier that youth is not always beautiful. Few young men and women escape periods of stress, doubt, confusion, disap­ pointment, frustration, even despair. One would not choose to extend these episodes. "Having youth" loses much of its appeal if we are observing the actual experiences of actual people, rather than peeking through the rose­ tinted spectacles of retrospection. The Dorianesque selective perception of youth introduces a significant distortion. Next, we notice that something is missing from the portrait of the human life course as sketched by the Dorian clique. Where is adulthood? Where are the reproductive decades? Where are those years in which mates are selected, children raised, careers established, full adult privileges enjoyed? One contributing factor has already been emphasized: the combination of relatively short life expectancies and accelerated decline. It was not dif­ ficult to feed one's imagination with images of men and women who shriveled away in their forties and fifties. Another contributing factor may have been even more significant: the disinclination to accept social responsibility. Lord Henry and Dorian Gray were not interested in nurtur­ ing the young, comforting the aged, or ameliorating the rampant ills of their society. In a word: narcissism. Having youth (in the Dorianesque sense) is incompatible with having children. Dorian is his own child; no others need apply. Having youth is also incompatible with conceptualizing and accepting the total lifespan. As we have seen, it is not just that he feared the vulnerabilities of extreme old age. Dorian wanted no part of productive and responsible adulthood. This constricted orientation toward the human lifecourse was not the norm in Dorian's day. Most people hoped to have a rewarding family life and achieve at least a moderate level of prosperity. They certainly expected to earn respect for their experience and achievements. This aversion to adult productivity and responsibility would be even more anachronistic today. There are more four- and five-generation families in existence today than ever before. The people in the middle-also known as "the sandwich generation"-are the primary source of support for the young and the old. Holding two jobs, looking after their children and assisting their parents, many couples are demonstrating the determination to meet responsibilities in all spheres. They would like to avoid growing old prematurely (hence, exercise, diet, and other health maintenance activities), but they are not

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 189

obsessed with the quest for perpetual youth. What they really would like is a little more time for themselves to enjoy the adult years. These considerations require us to refine our understanding of Dorian's quest: • Proposition VIII: The "youth" that Dorian wanted to keep is not the youth that we experience and observe in real life. It would be erro­ neous to equate a split-off zone of suspended time with the throbbing, directional, preparatory phase that leads into subsequent phases. The Dorian version is a part attempting to substitute for a whole. It is a decontextualized youth. It is a youth that will not mature into full adult­ hood. It is a youth that will not be directed toward goals, ambitions, and dreams that must be tested through the vicissitudes of time and circum­ stance. It is a youth that will not be recalled by the reminiscing elder. If you like, it is the prologue without the play-and what kind of prologue is that? Theories of human development once emphasized infancy and child­ hood to the almost complete neglect of the adult years. Even so, the youth-oriented theories all took account of the implications for adult life. Theories of child development attempted to explain more than childhood. In more recent years there has been a robust trend toward conceptualizing the entire human life course. Erik H. Erikson's (1963; 1975; 1979) epi­ genetic theory is perhaps the most influential of these approaches and has contributed much to the growing awareness that we continue to shape and reshape our lives from birth to death. It is active adaptation (Erikson's italics, 1979, p. 64) that is emphasized. Life does not just happen to us. We happen to us. We face or evade challenges at every step along the journey of life. Dorian's "youth" is not really going any place. It does not take risks to achieve developmental objectives. Furthermore, the freshness and inno­ cence of true youth is denied to the Dorian version. One cannot come to repeated experiences with the fresh sensitivities of the actual young. And yet one does not mature and move ahead into more complex sensitivities as do real people in the real world. Boredom and disappointment inevitably fill the vacuum created by the lack of developmental progression. Sharper sensations are sought. Pain might become more welcome than fading pleasures because pain, at the least, reminds Dorian that he is still alive. Self-hatred and impulses toward self-destruction are among the natural consequences of living a suspended life.

190 I DORIAN, GRAVING

In our own time, sated but unsatisfied celebrities have turned to drugs in the attempt to fill an emptiness and dys-ease much akin to Dorian's. Death by suicide, subintentioned suicide (Shneidman, 1985), or other forms of violence appears to be more common in people who live such an egoistic (Durkheim, 1966) lifestyle. Each individual's circumstances are unique, but all confront the consequences of abandoning the basic pro­ gression of personal development and social responsibility throughout the life course. Dorian's decontextualization of youth leads to self-deception, self­ distortion and, of course, deception and distortion in one's relationships with others. If, in a limited sense, Dorian has transcended the trivialities, obligations, and perishings of everyday life, it is at the expense of his fundamental connection to the human community. Dorian does remain young and handsome through all of this, thanks to his tormented portrait/interactive computer program. Has he therefore fulfilled his desire to endure in beauty? This question requires further attention to the concepts of time, identity, and loss (see Anxious Beauty, p. 224). What we can observe immediately is that a person frozen in youthful beauty will never have the opportunity to develop the more complex and nuanced beauty of subsequent years. It has often been remarked that youthful beauty is a gift from the gods. This gift may not long survive dissolute living. The beauteous youth who has made extensive use of alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes is especially vulnerable to loss of "those endearing young charms." A special form of admiration is reserved for those who are beautiful in their mature and [as Avery D. Weisman (1974) likes to put it] "hypermature" years. The ob­ server is likely to appreciate that this person has done something right. Dorian and his clique did not seem to have this appreciation for mature beauty. They were, however, acutely aware of the influence of a person's character on hislher looks. It had long been a literary device to portray criminals and other evil characters as physically deformed. Shakespeare's depiction of King Richard III ("I, that am rudely stamp' d, and want love's majesty") is one of the many examples that would have been very well known to Oscar Wilde. This stereotyped relationship between appearance and character is central to Dorian Gray's fate. What Wilde adds is the synergistic power of age stereotyping. The aged person had not usually been regarded as criminal or evil. Rather, advanced age was abhorrent because it revealed the marks of passing time. The Picture of Dorian Gray added evil to

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 191

abhorrence. Aging was now a crime and the aged person a collection vessel for the evil that one does. This connection performs not only moral and social but also cognitive mischief. "Ugly and evil old person!" is bad enough. Less obvious is the insult to logic. One might be tempted to conclude that: "If age is ugly-evil, then youth is beautiful-good." We have, then, dichotomous attributional sets. Goodness/evil covary with youth/age. One should, however, hesitate to accept this conclusion. Notice first the ambiguity of "good" and "evil" in this formulation. Each of us might project our own conceptions of "good." You might, for example, hold that the good is that which provides the most benefit to the most people, or that which is consistent with one's faith in God, and so forth. Not so with Dorian. Youth is the value, and what is most valuable about youth is beauty. The "good" does not have an essence or quality of its own. Instead, the "good" is that which preserves youth. There is not much here of conventional morality. "The good" is a kind of fixative, a preservative, an agent that retards change-both aging and growth. By no means should we equate his highly specialized concep­ tion of "the good" with the more familiar spectrum of values. And what, then, is "The evil?" It is not cruelty, revolt against the gods or any of the other more usual formulations. "The evil" is that which deprives one of youth. Dorian's "evil" is probably not identical to yours or mine. Time is the agent of this evil. Were Dorian to have remained vulnerable to the stream of time, he surely would have lost his prized youthful beauty. But here is where a contradiction lies. Time is also endurance. We could not even conceive of endurance without time. Although a much admired work of art may be said to transcend time, it is its endurance through time that testifies to its value. Dorian wanted to escape from Time, The Evil, but to survive as a living icon of beauty through Time, the Good. There is a definite logical wobble here, to say the least. Why, for example, should the aged person not be admired because he has endured through time? As a little thought experiment, suppose that we insert some traditional values. Let us say that personal integrity is a positive value. We delete "youth" and substitute "personal integrity." According to Dorian's formula, the good is that which preserves the primary value. It is a "good," then, when an individual demonstrates personal integrity throughout his or her life. The eighty-year-old person of integrity is even more admirable than the forty-year-old. We might substitute a number of other traditional values, for example, "being of service to hislher fellow humans." Each

192 I DORIAN, GRAYING

time we insert a positive value we will find that its persistence through the years seems to us a "good." Dorian will have none of this, however. He does not seem capable of imagining that there is a significant positive value other than youth-and indefinitely prolonged youth indefinitely excludes the possibility of achieving a positive old age. To minds less in the grip of obsession it might appear that age can represent the triumph of virtue as measured by endur­ ance through time. Dorian applied his formula inconsistently. He might have valued age as well as youth. One of the obstacles to his doing so was his insensitivity to the principle of development. Paradoxically, this revealed Dorian as an "old fogey" in youth's clothing. He had already made change his enemy. He had already narrowed his agenda to the conservation of the status quo. He had, in effect, enacted the stereotype of the egocentric old miser although he might look to the world as the fairest of youths. Dorian's logic is not unknown in our own times. There are people who have great difficulty in recognizing that development can occur throughout the entire life course. Even more remote to them is the idea that certain forms of beauty and other values might require development through a lifetime. Like Dorian, they may also be apprehensive about the prospect of any change. "The good" becomes stasis. "Having youth" becomes less a positive value than the avoidance of the evil of change. This view is hardy enough to persist despite the palpable evidence that beauty, personal integrity, and other values are embodied in many elderly men and women.

Generational Equity and the Transfer of Resources The graying of society is more than a cosmetic alteration. It is contribut­ ing to a socio-economic disequilibrium that will probably be with us for many years. Dorian seldom troubled his pretty head with public policy issues, and perhaps we should follow his lead. Life is complicated enough already. On second thought, though, we might be missing something important if we did not allow ourselves at least a brief look at the possible relationship between the quest for perpetual youth and current tensions regarding generational equity. As already noted, the shape of the family constellation has become more extended than ever in recent years. Children have parents who have living parents of their own to worry about their parents, some of whom are still

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 193

trying to win the approval of their parents. Each generation can be said to have a claim for its share of the available resources. Generational equity could be said to exist if there were "a fair distribution of the available resources among all members of society according to their needs and regardless of their age" (Wisensale, 1994, p. 178). This ideal situation does not seem to have prevailed-at least not for long-in any mass society. Industrializing societies have been especially hard on the very young and the very old. Neglect and abuse of children was barely noticed by those in power. In Dorian's own England, Dickens helped to make the plight of children less invisible. The advent of photography provided startling evidence of society's neglect of many of its children, evidence no less startling to contemporary eyes than graphic television documentaries of today. Look into the eyes of the street children of New York City as captured by the photographer's lens a century ago and it is stark tragedy that we behold. Destitute elders were also common. "Over the hill to the poor house" was not the merry refrain that some have tried to make of it. There were few safety nets for the many who had fallen on hard times in cities. Cheap liquor, newly available on a wide scale, became both a contributing factor to and a consolation for decline. Family support could still protect some elders in the farmlands. The countryside was also chang­ ing, however. The novelists and chroniclers speak mostly of old men and women dying in misery in the cities, but suffering was also experienced in villages and hamlets with few resources to offer. Generational equity? Hardly. In fact, social equity was still a dangerous cause rather than a credo. Dorian's England was but one of many nations with a long tradition of inequality. Bluebloods and common folk occupied different strata and had differential expectations. Traditional class distinc­ tions were more readily overcome in the United States, but opportunism created its own echelons of "haves" and "have nots." Winners were free to relish their success and wield their power. Losers had themselves to blame (even if many had not had much of a chance to begin with). Dorian grew up (to the extent that he did grow up) in a society that helped to foster the concept of equality but which itself at the time con­ tinued to perpetuate divisions across class, gender, and age. The very limited expression of generational equity was part of the larger picture of inequity. Many young men and women, about to step into the harness of ill-compensated meniallabor, could already foresee their dismal prospects. This apprehension is depicted in The Rake's Progress, a Stravinskyl Auden-Kallman opera based on the famous series of drawings by Hogarth.

194 I DORIAN, GRAVING

Tom Rakewell would be allowed to wed his sweetheart if he would agree to take a dead-end position arranged by his prospective father-in-law. Tom spurns the offer: / submit to the drudge's yoke? / slave through a lifetime to enrich others? and then be thrown away like a gnawed bone? Not I! (Act I: Scene 1: London CD set 411644-2) Like many another youth, Tom could see himself already old, used-up, and rejected. Unlike most others, he rebelled. Dorian was also a rebel, though of a different stripe. He did not have to concern himself with the unpleasantries of making a living, nor would he have been any more reconciled than Tom to devoting himself to the enrichment of others. The differences? As a member of the upper class, Dorian could devote his life to Dorian without really astonishing anybody. Tom, by contrast, was being "uppity" in refusing to take his modest place in society and do as he was told. Even in his rebellious mode, however, young Rakewell did not attempt to resign from the natural progression of life: he just wanted to make the journey in style and ease. Already possessed of style and ease, young Dorian now demanded to remain young Dorian The fundamental concept of social equity has come a long way since Dorian's time, although one must immediately add that it has a longer way still to go. Colonial-type exploitation, religious intolerance, chauvinism, racism, sexism, ageism, and homophobia still occur, but now must contend with determined and at least sporadically effective opposition. Within this altered context, generational equity is becoming an ever more salient issue. It usually attracts less media attention than other equity issues, requiring as it does a good bit of homework and grasp of social policy. It comes down to two related questions: 1) Do we really want to estab­ lish generational equity and, if so, 2) how can we accomplish this with­ out creating serious new problems? We will not even touch the second question because it would take us too far from our subject here (for useful readings, see Bass et aI., 1993; Kaye, 1988; Kingson et aI., 1986; Longman, 1987; and Wisensale, 1994). In the practical politics of daily life there is often resistance to genera­ tional equity. Perhaps the best known examples are those in which elderly voters turn out in great numbers to defeat school bond propositions or other spending proposals that do not seem to benefit them directly. (There are notable exceptions to this trend, and elders often do not vote as a block.) Young adults may resent having to put some of their hard-earned money

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 195

into programs for the aged-and even into a Social Security system which they are not convinced will do them much good when the time comes. The special interests of the moment often mitigate against generational equity. We can always find reasonable reasons to resist sharing our resources with those who are younger or older. These reasons may be further bolstered by the contention that the young and the old are in competition for the same limited resources, a significant controversy that we must bypass here. What we will not bypass, however, is a pair of related propositions: • Proposition IX-A: Generational equity is not possible in a society of Dorians who decline to fulfill productive, reproductive, and other communal obligations. • Proposition IX-B: Generational equity is not possible in a society that has failed to reach a consensus on the meaning and value of a human life.

A positive response to the concept of generational equity requires seeing the larger picture. Potentially, this could be one of the most consequential applications of life-course theory. Whether with Erikson's theory or any other encompassing framework, it is possible to envision the individual occupying successive positions on a personal time-line from birth to death. If we believe that all individuals possess inherent value (a "good" that persists through time), then we should be motivated to support and protect this person at all phases of his/her life journey. The individual will need different types of support at different points in the life course. At some points the individual will be in the position, to provide vital support to others; at other points the individual will be primarily a recipient of support. Although the flow of support will tend to follow principles of age-related dependency, there will be many an exception. A vigorous person in middle adulthood may become incapacitated for a period of time. A child may prove willing and able to provide valuable support to its family when times are hard. An elder may have the knowledge and skills, and/or financial resources to help a family facing stress and deprivation. Ideally, the flow of caring and support would take a bidirectional form from childhood through advanced age, even though at some points there is more "going out" and at other points there is more "coming in." From the economic standpoint, generational equity requires the smooth and effective transfer of resources. Money should go where it is most needed. A family might look after its own through a voluntary and flexible

196 I DORIAN, GRAYING

manner. Society at large, however, needs a coherent system that the public accepts as fair and feasible. Socially integrated citizens would see the economic value as well as the justice in helping the young to get off to a good start---eventually these will be the people on whose productivity and good will society will depend. They would also see the value and justice in treating elders with the dignity they deserve-how better to create a climate of social optimism and combat dread of aging among the popula­ tion in general? These pragmatics of generational equity would not take root, however, unless society had a firm belief in the inherent value of the human being at every point in the life course. "What have you done for me lately?" comes up a little short as a positive philosophy of life. Dorian Gray in our graying society would not be a good advertisement for generational equity. He intends to return little to society. He draws back from the responsibilities of parenthood. Although an affluent and educated person, he will not do his part to replenish society with bright and able youth. There are other ways in which one might foster, nurture, and instruct the young, but these, too, have little appeal for Dorian. And one should certainly not expect Dorian to exert himself on behalf of elders. He sees aging as abhorrent, horrible, immoral and, worst of all, an aesthetic disaster. Kant's categorical imperative comes readily to mind here. He offered this maxim in two formulations: Act only according to a maxim by which you can at the same time will that it shall become a general law. Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will a general natural law (Kant, 1785).

The implication for Dorian is clear. As we know very well by now, Dorian is obsessed with the quest for perpetual youth and, as a corollary, has no intention of sharing his time, attention, money, or other resources with those who are developmentally dependent. Make a general natural law out of Dorian's personal predelictions and we would have a society on the verge of self-destruction. Dorian himself could not enjoy such a favored position in life had he not been engendered and kept afloat by the efforts of a great many people whose categorical imperatives were much more socially responsible. One might even say the issue goes beyond morality. A widespread failure to share resources with the dependent young would destroy the future. A parallel failure to share resources with the dependent aged would destroy the past and project the future as a hell on earth. Together, these failures would sunder the socio-emotional

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 197

connections among generations. Under such circumstances it would be difficult to imagine that intimate human relationships of any kind could prosper and endure. Least of all would we have a society with the leisure, security, and perspective to appreciate timeless beauty.

Destination: Necropolis The place was called Necropolis. The name had always been distaste­ ful to me, as I had never wished to join with it the feeling of death. Various names had been proposed for the site. Young Grundle had suggested Cremation Hall, because such was the ultimate end to which the mere husks and hulls of the citizens were destined. But there was something undignified in the sound, as though we were talking of a dancing saloon or a music hall, and I would have none of it. My idea was to give to the mind some notion of an approach to good things to come, and I proposed to call the place, "Aditus." But men said that it was un meaning, and declared that Britannulists should never be ashamed to own the truth. Necropolis sounded well, they said, and argued that though no actual remains of the body might be left there, still the tablets would remain. Therefore, Necropolis it was called (Trollope, 1882, p. 76).

Anthony Trollope had written more than twenty novels before he set pen to The Fixed Period. Although the characters, attitudes, and settings were familiar enough, this book introduced an idea that was audacious for 1882 and which retains much of its gadfly quality a century later. What was this audacious idea? There was no point in old people continuing to grow older. This practice hardly seemed in accord with the pinnacle of civilization that had been achieved during the reign of Queen Victoria (although Great Britain was thinly disguised in the novel). The new, improved plan was to provide elders with a jolly good time and then shuffle them off this mortal coil in a proper and efficient manner. Age seventy should be about right. The plan was admittedly a little awkward in some respects. For example, it could not be denied that some people were still hale specimens after three score and ten, while others had already been a long time languishing. Nevertheless, given a tuck here and a let-out there, the plan could be made to work and all of humanity would by and by emulate same. Alas, it was not to be-at least not in the time frame shared by Trollope and Wilde. A number of forward-looking zealots rallied for the plan, but the reactionaries were not to be moved. The narrator concludes his tale

198 I DORIAN, GRAYING

with the sense of having advanced an excellent plan that would sooner or later take hold in some enlightened realm. This thwarted experiment was, of course, well known to Dorian Gray and his creator. Busy as they were with other exotic pursuits of their own, however, they did not pause to examine the possible mutual implications between Necropolis and per­ petual youth. We are busy people too, but not too busy to explore these implications, particularly for our own times. First, we note that the cost of health care is one of the major social issues of the day. Many favor some form of health care rationing, and elderly people often are singled out as the prime candidates. "This is just the job for another fixed period," murmurs Trollope's ghost. In his influential book, Setting Limits (1987), Daniel Callahan proposes a radical reduction of medical interventions after people have reached their "natural" span of life. Why spend good money on people who will grow older and sicker and continue to siphon resources away from society? They have had their day: enough, the rational mind concludes, is enough! The charm of Call ahan , s proposal is enhanced by his nonchalance regarding the specific age at which elders should be left to die. He seems to have worked out for himself the parameters of a "natural span of life," and therefore sees no need in troubling us with the details. Admired by many, the Callahan plan is a little short in the grand exit department. There is no heartfelt farewell, no celebration, merely a fading away as expensive resources are withdrawn. There is no reason to believe that this will be the last such plan offered to us. Somewhat similar policies have been proposed and some enacted in other nations. It is clear that we do not yet have a consensus on the limits of generational equity, no doubt because we are not of one mind philosophically on the value of a human life-or even on what constitutes a human life. • Proposition X: The natural continuous flow of life is threatened both by the idealization of youth and the compartmentalization of age.

What would become of the human life course if both policies were instituted: Dorian's personal agenda of more or less eternal youth, and the Trollope/Callahan plan for a fixed period? Dorian hoped for a youth that was disconnected from all that had come before or might follow after. We learn little of his childhood. Nostalgia, regrets, attachments to people and places in his past? Conspicuous by their absence. Conspicuously present is

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 199

his aversion to growing old. Elderly adults could be marched off to Necropolis day and night as far as Dorian is concerned; if anything, this evacuation would spare him the occasional glimpse of a person bearing the marks of a long life. Structurally, the life course would become highly sectionized: extended youth, detached age. The once-continuous flow of both individual and social life would more closely resemble a river crippled by dams and other engineering projects. The far horizon would be obliterated, for the outer limits of the life course have now been predetermined. There would also be a sharply reduced feedback between youth and age. No octo- nono- or centenarian would be alive to appreciate those additional decades offamily development and provide the young with stories that enhance their sense of individual and family identity. One's sense of what it means to be a member of a particular family and a citizen of a particular society would have become foreshortened as well as sectionized. Furthermore, the trans­ fer of political and economic power between generations would be altered, setting up a chain of consequences that might be difficult both to predict and control. And what of that awkward period between the bloom of youth and the date with the state crematorium? Dorian wanted no part of the middle adult years. Assume that all share in Dorian's extended youth (cf. Kant's categorical imperative). Who will raise the children? (Who will even have the children?) Who will do the hard work of farming, industry, commerce, and security? Who will keep the wheels turning and on track? We know that Dorian intended to indulge himself in pleasures, including the content­ ment of self-appreciation. Should all others adopt this agenda, few hands would be available for tiresome and demanding tasks (and few might even bother to develop home-making and other occupational skills). Much of society would be comprised of responsibility-shirking youth who expect naught but pleasure. As generation follows generation (probably with increasing difficulty), there would be fewer mature adults who had the motivation and skills to meet responsibilities and mentor the young. Bore­ dom, disappointment, alienation, immature relationships, substance abuse, self-hatred, and self-destruction would likely become defining charac­ teristics ofthe "terminally young." Do we see perhaps just a little of this scenario in our own time? We have not yet perfected the secret of indefinitely prolonged youth, nor a system for dispatching our elders with dispatch. There is, however, a continuing emphasis on looking as young as possible (cf. the opening advertisement).

200 / DORIAN, GRAVING

This is coupled with a remarkable emphasis on sports (in which youth is also salient) and games. Toys 'R Us© might do as a motif for our times. There is also a continuing isolation of elders. This detachment is some­ times self-selected, as when people relocate to an "adult-only" (don't dare call it "retirement") community. Sometimes it is the result of other social forces, as when a neighborhood changes its character over the years, leaving the residual residents in an age-homogeneous island where they may be subject to increased stress and deprivation. Furthermore, those who do accept the responsibilities of mature adults often are subject to unrelent­ ing criticism and pressure. Middle management positions, for example, have become notoriously stressful. Authority is what we are supposed to question and defy, not respect. So far as respect, security, and prestige are concerned, being a responsible adult just isn't as much fun as it used to be. Nevertheless, there is still incentive for youth to move into maturity. There is still opportunity for elders to exercise survival skills, spin stories, and guide youth to the road ahead. There is still opportunity both to conceptualize and to experience life as a continuous flow from youth through age. Moreover, an important new development is changing the mutual perception of youth and age, as we will see. Social Age Peership

People of different generations traditionally have followed different rules and engaged in different activities. The common expression, "Act your age!" is an expression of this social reality. It was certainly true in Dorian's time and probably contributed to the intensity of his desire for extended youth. Diaries, songs, and stories often expressed the theme of youth chafing under social restraints. Too young for this, too young for that, too young for everything except doing what they are told! Middle­ aged and elderly adults were also trapped in their roles. One would not want to behave in an "unseemly" manner. There was a strong tendency for the role to define the individual rather than the reverse. This pattern suggests a partial reinterpretation of the quest for indefin­ itely extended youth: Dorian did not want to exchange the role specifica­ tions of youth for that of age. • Proposition Xl: The obsession with youth will vary with the social role discrepancies among young, middle-aged, elderly, and very aged adults.

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 201

Who dates? Who has sexual adventures? Who travels just for the fun of traveling? Who can dress as he or she prefers without having to answer to others? Who can lie about in bed all day, snacking and watching television if the mood suits? Who can throw his/her efforts wholeheartedly into a favorite project without having to ask permission or apologize? Who can choose either to be tactful or brusque in dissociating from tedious, foolish, or obnoxious people? Who can say, "Well, that's about enough of that!" and try something new in life? Who can change careers just because the time seems ripe? Young adults can. Middle-aged adults can. Elderly adults can. Very aged adults can. People of all adult ages can and do establish new intimate relationships. Some seventy-year-olds "play the field" and decide to enjoy an amiable sexual relationship without all the bother and commitment of remarriage. Some forty-year-olds (and older) resolve to have a baby and do so. Couples in their eighties may choose to spend much of the year in travel. Newly retired people may seize the opportunity to continue their education, whether this means completing a high school degree or a university graduate program. Similarly, one thirty-year-old may become chief executive officer of his/her own corporation, while another might shift priorities from an established career to family life, public service, or creative art. We are becoming less and less surprised that a person of any age might do almost anything. It is true that many people remain within their traditional age-linked role specifications. Nevertheless, there is accelerating movement toward what Hagestad (1983) has called social-age peership. In a recent review of the literature, Peters on (1994) notes that: This trend is a sharp departure from the past when each adult genera­ tion in a family usually had a distinctly different role to play. Today, by contrast, we find university students, workers, retirees, and newly­ weds in all of a family's adult generations. Rises in the rates of divorce and remarriage have likewise meant that some older parents (especially fathers) re-experience the bearing and rearing of young children simultaneously with their adult offspring's first venture into parenthood (pp. 1-2).

Peterson observes that "one consequence of social-age peership may be a rapprochement of values and attitudes between adult children and their parents." Intergenerational communication and understanding might well improve as different generations have more experiences in common.

202 / DORIAN, GRAYING

Indeed, studies indicate that the so-called "generation gap" is not increas­ ing, and that many similarities can be found in their values and attitudes. The shift toward social-age peership is part of a larger transition in role specifications and requirements. It is by no means an easy transition. Race, gender, and sexual orientation often do remain barriers to equal access to employment, housing, health benefits, etc. Although the entrenched resis­ tance is not to be underestimated, many social roles are now more available to a wider spectrum of people. Knowing a person's age is becoming a much less reliable way of "pegging" that person's interests, activities, and achievements, just as the same may be said about race, gender, and sexual orientation. What of Dorian in this new era? He would still be apprehensive about aging. Beguiled by his own youthful good looks and some enticing though nebulous ideas about beauty, Dorian would fret about the physical changes sure to befall him. Nevertheless, all would not be gloom and doom be­ cause hedonism would no longer be the exclusive province of the young. He could engage in many a revel without being castigated as age­ inappropriate. Pleasure-seeking adventurism would remain an acceptable option. "Same old Dorian," they would say, "Well, ifhe can still get away with it, more power to him!" Dorian would not have to assume a false air of propriety nor waste his time in tedious social rounds. He could still be himself or, at least, a reasonable facsimile. Those of us who are not in Dorian's class as pure, youth-obsessed hedonists are also likely to take heart. There can still be many good times ahead. It is OK for mature adults to show spirit, independence, and spon­ taneity. Age-linked roles are losing their ability to chain us to the dulling wheel of custom. A society in which mature adults can adventure, create, enjoy, and surprise even themselves is a society in which one does not have to worship constantly at the altar of youth. Up to this point we have concerned ourselves primarily with Dorian Gray in a graying society. There have also been some passing observa­ tions, however, about the mind-work involved. This topic deserves further attention, and now's the time. YOUNGMINDEDNESS

Some philosophers, linguists, and scientists believe that we "construct" ourselves, each other, and even the world in which we suppose ourselves to be living. Reality is not an Out-There that we know with various degrees

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 203

of accuracy. Even if there were an Out-There Out There, we would have no independent way of confirming it. Our language itself is a construction that shapes our shaping of the world. The methods we use to test and interpret "reality" are also constructions. As individuals and as a society we construct our versions of reality through an exchange of symbols. These symbols are grounded to some extent in the experiences of everyday life, but even what we take to be concrete experience has been shaped by previous constructions. Societies, subgroups, and individuals often compete to have their versions of reality accepted, and all versions remain subject to challenge as time goes on. There are cogent arguments against a thorough-going constructionist philosophy. For example, some thinkers believe that our constructions have too much in common to explain on the basis of language and mental activity alone. These commonalities are taken to signify that there is a real reality behind the symbolic constructions. The commonalities are also taken to demonstrate that there are intrinsic patterns at work in the way that our minds generate their symbols and representations, for example, a universal reality working within us. We do not have to endorse a thorough-going constructivistic philosophy to appreciate that mental constructions and symbolic interactions comprise much of our daily lives. The "same" disappointing outcome, for example, may be constructed by one person as a failure that makes life no longer worth living-and by another person as a valuable learning experience. That quiet person we met the other day could be constructed by us as "shy," "aloof," "thoughtful," "hostile," or "uncomprehending." Age itself provides one of the most relevant examples. Our society is having a difficult time in agreeing on its construction of "old age." This difficulty is sometimes expressed in quantitative terms: "How old is old?" Even more frequently it is expressed in our uncertainty about what to call "old people" if we are not to call them "old people." As a class exercise I ask university students to come up with as many different descriptors as they can for people who have lived long lives. The descriptors volunteered usually include the following: • old • old-timers • graybeards

• elders or ("elderlies"!) • senior citzens • retirees • fogeys • grannies/gramps • bluehairs

• geezers • aged • golden agers

In the discussion that follows we discover problems with all of these descriptors. Some of the terms are clearly derogatory, while others tend to

204 I DORIAN, GRAYING

give offense even if offense is not intended. An affectionate term such as "granny/gramps" may be seen as patronizing and as reducing the whole individual to one of hislher roles. Furthermore, not all long-lived people have grandchildren. Similarly, not all are retired (or if they did retire from one occupation, they have since become engaged in other work, whether paid or voluntary). "Senior citizen" often sounds appealing until class members are asked if they are content with being regarded as "junior citizens." Those who like the sound of "elderlies" do not care much to be known as "youngerlies." The "golden ager" designation is usually rejected quickly as a shallow product ofthe public relations media. Nobody in these classes wants to insult long-lived people, and nobody wants to perpetuate distortions and inaccuracies. Even so, it is difficult to find a descriptor with which we can feel truly comfortable. I usually go with "elder" and "elderly" in conversation, and supplement these terms in writing with "older adults" or something of that nature. I might suggest that we use "long-lived people" (with LLP as the acronym), but there is no reason to expect that a coined term such as this would be taken up. Finding an acceptable term is only a small, though not inconsequential part of the challenge. We are not likely to agree on a descriptor for LLPs when we have not yet come to agreement on the aging process, without which we would not be on track to become seniors, geezers, or whatnot. Biologists devoted to gerontological studies are working hard at recon­ structing the concept of aging. There are rival theories concerning the fundamental nature of the aging process. As one might expect, researchers operating at different levels of investigation are apt to develop different theories, for example, those who study the microstructure and function of cells and those who study the operation of the nervous system as a whole. But there is 'also a tendency to move away from the assumption that "aging" is a unitary phenomenon that can be described arid explained by any general theory. As methodology becomes increasingly sophisticated, biogerontologists are able to focus on phenomena that are much more specific than the "aging process" that is thought to result in "old age." It is much too early to predict how all the emerging currents of research and theory will coalesce in the future. Clearly, though, previous constructions of "aging" are being replaced, and the replacements themselves are subject to revision at any time. The biologist's reconstruction of aging and old age is occurring at the same time that psychological, social, and moral reconstructions are also in progress. What does it mean to me that I am becoming old? What does my

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 205

aging mean to society, and what does it mean to me that so many others are aging as well? Finally, what is the place of my aging-and yours-in the moral scheme of things? Is it good to live a long life if pleasurable, and not, if not? Is it good to become an LLP because God has given us this opportunity and expects us to make the most of it--or bad, because, as LLPs, we consume too many resources without making contributions that show up on the auditor's books? Furthermore, other related concepts are in process of being recon­ structed at the same time. What are youth and middle-age? Can we retain constructs left over from generations in which many died young, and others were worn out by their forties and fifties? What is death, and what should death mean to us? Our reconstructions of aging and age are not occurring in a vacuum. Dorian's mind-work was aimed at saving what he considered to be of prime value-his beauty-from the ravages of time. As we have seen, this aim was intensified by many co-existing influences. These influences included the tradition of nineteenth-century monsters that arose from encounters between faith and science on the one hand, and obedience/ repression versus expression/indulgence of the instinctual life. Also included were the parameters of morbidity and mortality and the rigidity of age-linked role specifications. Our mind-work on youth and aging is occurring in a very different socio-cultural context, although one that maintains its links with Dorian's era, for example, the still unfinished business between faith and science. How is this mind-work proceeding? "Live or on Tape?" Technology and Self-Confrontation Zippy the Pinhead claims credit for introducing this question into the repartee repertoire, and so it may be. This is a question that could not have been asked in any pre-Ampex generation. I For all practical purposes, the human voice was written on the wind. The invention of audio tape, though, had been preceded by several other remarkable innovations. The first photographic image was produced in 1839. Until that time, images as well 1 Media mavens believe this era began when Bing Crosby complained about the effort required to broadcast two radio shows each week to reach people in different time zones. He was told about an odd little invention known as the (audio) tape cassette. Crosby promptly made use of this innovation, and his example soon became the standard for the national broadcasting industry-furthermore, he also invested in Ampex and became an even wealthier man. In this instance, at least, laziness was the conqueror of time and the father of fortune.

206 I DORIAN, GRAYING

as sounds had vanished with the moment. The process was complicated and cumbersome, so only a few patient and talented individuals could capture these amazing images. One process gave way to another, however, and cameras were now in the hands of everyday people by the time that Dorian Gray posed for his picture (George Eastman's Kodak box camera, circa 1887, gave the average person a time-transcending tool to which no king, mystic, pope, or historian ever had access). For individuals, photographs provided an incredible opportunity to keep images that other­ wise would have existed only in memory: grandmother and grandfather on the front porch; the old apple tree in the back yard; the class picture in front of the one-room school house. For society, photographs provided a past whose eyes still hold ours in the present. The living reality of the frontier west and the War Between the States have long become history lessons to be mastered before an exam. But-study a photograph of an Apache family on the Long March, Abraham Lincoln, or a battle weary soldier, and the time-distance between viewer and viewed is reduced to a heartbeat. Photographic images could even change the way that society thought about itself. For example, the photographs taken by Jakob Riis and published in his book How the Other Half Lives (1890) made it all too clear to the world that immigrants to New York City were living in appalling conditions. The phonograph and the motion picture added their distinctive contribu­ tions to private and public life. The song was never really over, because one could spin the record again (if the needle hadn't already worn out). Similarly, the weeper or comedy one had just viewed could be re-enacted down to the last detail by re-winding and re-playing. Indeed, re- was becoming a most popular prefix. Personal control over personal past, however, could not be achieved easily through the phonograph or motion picture. Some people did step into recording studios, and others did master the art of home movie­ making. By and large, though, we continued to depend on the silent, immobile images in the photograph album to illustrate the stories of our lives. This dependency has lessened with the introduction of the audio­ cassette and then the video-cassette recorder. These modalities bring us images and sounds of people we have never met in places we have never been. Perhaps even more significantly, however, they provide unprece­ dented opportunities for self-encounter. Computer-video interfaces will further extend these opportunities. As recordable CD's replace CD-ROMS in home computers, many families will have the resources needed to

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 207

create-and re-recreate-audiovisual documents of their hopes, dreams, and fantasies as well as their everyday reality-plan lives. Dorian Gray could just have had his "picture took" by a professional photographer (as did the real life John Gray and Oscar Wilde). But he was a "fancy person," important enough to sit for his portrait in the manner that was already starting to become old-fashioned. Note that the singularity of this painting was now emphasized by the comparison with photographic portraits. An original work of art had a special luster now that it was possible to produce a reproducible alternative. The art of the painter was also considered to be far superior to the art of the photographer, although many visual artists made use of both modalities and did not consider photography necessarily to be inferior. The aesthetic code of the time required the painter at the easel. (Do you suppose that Wilde ever considered photography, if but for a moment? The plot might have been no less interesting. Dorian remains his young and handsome self, but the frame photograph grows old and morally depraved. In desperate hope, another photograph is secretly made from the negative. This image, too, becomes a fright. Ah, but there's still the negative! Why not alter the negative through a devilishly clever procedure invented by one of the bright young men Dorian had corrupted? And so, that very night .. ) The basic mind-work in The Picture of Dorian Gray depends on our belief that people change but their images do not. A mathematical model is implicit, but we will let it stay that way. It is necessary only to recognize the following schematic sequence-and to invest a little patience and trust in this exercise. For our purposes, the basic sequence may be considered identical for the artist and the photographer, although the two have sig­ nificant "postproduction" differentials, and both could be transformed through computer modeling. • There is a first point in time (Tl) in which only the person exists. The person is prior to the image, whether by many years or a single tick of the clock. • T2 is that instant in which there is simultaneity of person and image. The two are not identical; for example, they do not occupy the same space at the same time and are not responsive to the same external stimuli in the same way. This is the only point at which the image is dependent on the person. Verisimilitude between person and image cannot be assumed, even at this special instant. For example, the image

208 / DORIAN. GRAYING

may be shaped to conform with a current fashion, or to either idealize or "sinisterize" the person. • T3 is that instant after which the image has been produced. In the first theoretically or detectable instant, the person and the image have already diverged in their time-trajectories. The divergence will con­ tinue to increase over time (T itself being different for person and image). For example, the infant is still yowling in the photograph, but has been succeeded by a parent holding hislher own yowler. Our normative expectation is that the image remains constant, the person changes. • "r is that hypothetical instant at which the continuous existence of both person and image can no longer be affirmed. The simple model that (theoretically) predicts the divergence between person and image must now be replaced by one of several contingent models. For example, either person or image might abruptly cease to exist. When "r takes this form, there is little or no correspondence between the person and the image. An uncorrupted image of the late Dorian Gray would not accurately represent the physical remains of Dorian Gray. A corrupted image did not accurately represent the appearance of the living Dorian Gray. What is the basic mind-work in this schematic sequence? We are all accustomed to distinguishing shades of reality. A picture of Mr. Toad in a book is real as a picture of Mr. Toad in a book, but the fully dimensional­ ized toad that suddenly hops out of the wet grass is "realer." Shades of reality are discerned even in fantasies. A beanpole-shaped Santa Claus at the mall may be rejected by children as not a real representation of the jolly fellow who they already know to be fictive. The dualism still prevalent in everyday belief systems further encourages us to distinguish levels or planes of reality. There is a surface reality, for example, and the realer reality that lies "under" or "behind" the surface. Especially relevant are two implicit rules of reality assessment:

1. The first in a sequence is the most real. It is the origin/a!. It is primary. It has "squatter's rights." It explains and controls what happens subsequently. It is the first-born of the gods. And, in social custom, being the most real it is also the inheritor of family rank, privilege, and treasure.

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 209

2. What endures is realer than what changes or vanishes. Again, examples can be found in many spheres. When infant mortality was very high, census-takers did not bother to count those under the age of two or five because many would not survive and therefore had not yet demonstrated their claim to reality. The ideas of truth, beauty, and justice are realer than specific circumstances in which truth, beauty, and justice are but imperfectly manifested. The child's development of the concept of object constancy is realer than its development of the concepts of transformation, transience, and loss, or so Piaget (1954) strove mightily to persuade us.

A higher moral value tends to be associated with these reality markers. The first prophets and sages have it all over those who followed. Many rituals are intended to draw strength from primary events that occurred in a mythic or historical past. Physical artifacts such as a scroll and semantic artifacts such as an ancient chant are more precious than those of recent coinage. What came first is both "realer" and more valuable. A social institution or commercial enterprise that has persevered over the centuries is likely to be perceived in similar terms. "It must have been good to survive this long" is perhaps the basic mind-work here. A supplementary formula is: "It is good to survive, therefore what survives must be good." These habits of thought influence our constructions of time, change, youth, and age. Dorian Gray was prior to his image, therefore he should be perceived as more real and more valuable. Under ordinary circumstances, though, he would have changed with time and eventually died, becoming less real and valuable. The image would then have gained dominance because of its endurance. The value of primacy would have been over­ taken by the value of endurance, and we would not have had so distinctive a story. Change was displaced and projected, giving Dorian Gray the unusual opportunity to be both his original and his continuing self. He would not have to choose between: • First> therefore, more real> therefore, more valuable and • Enduring> therefore, more real> therefore, more valuable.

Unlike the rest of us who move through natural or developmental time, Dorian Gray could maintain his identity and value because he was both first and enduring. The mirror would never force him to acknowledge palpable changes and, therefore, never prompt him to consider more subtle

210 / DORIAN, GRAVING

and inward changes. He would never have to compare young with old Dorian. He would never have to ask himself questions such as: • "Have I, in age, been faithful to the dreams, hopes, and potentials of my youth?" • "Did I, in youth, prepare myself to be the person I should be in my age?" • "Have I become more or less of a person with age?" He could evade moral responsibility for his own being with greater ease because he was spared visible self-confrontations. This vacation from reality was harshly interrupted when he had to face the face in the portrait or computer monitor. This self-confrontation is crucial. The opera version is particularly relevant for our times because here technology has produced the conditions both for Dorian's escape from time and his come-uppance. We have created a pretty monster who nonetheless retains enough human sensitivity to recognize his dilemma and suffer for it. • Proposition Xl/-A: A longing for wholeness threatens the continued isolation of the partial self that is being held incommunicado.

A significant structural change occurs during this self-confrontation. Dorian can no longer stand completely outside (or inside) of himself. Dorian is both his person and his image. Each is a self, but a partial self, and each has its claim. Can both continue to survive as partial selves, or must one perish? Can they be united into a single encompassing and completed self or is the rift beyond healing? Step back in time for a moment. Step all the way back to the later middle ages when a new theme started to appear in both popular and religious art: In the later Middle Ages a very different type of image appeared, in which the deceased was depicted as a naked corpse, often rotting and devoured by worms. Many of these images reflected the memento mori theme that had become popular after the images of the Black Death. These tombs contain inscriptions warning the spectator to think on death: 'I was like you, and you will be like me, food for worms." The inscriptions went on to implore the spectator to 'pray for me,' for it was believed that the prayers of the living could help the

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 211

dead through their fearful ordeal, and even help to get them in paradise (Cohen, 1993, p. 273).

This new compulsion to portray physical corruption took an even more compelling form. Cathedrals at this time were graced with statues of saints, bishops, and rulers who were both lifelike and deathlike~ From one view the illustrious personage could be seen well-robed and vigorous; from another view--decomposing flesh and feasting worms. "You cannot have life without death!" announced the silent statues and tomb figures, adding, "This meant important people like us, too, so you can be sure that it means insignificant little you!" What mind-work was demanded! Passersby understood that they were expected to live each day with the awareness of personal mortality. Trudg­ ing along the narrow streets or the dusty fields, they knew that a shadowy companion was always by their side. From time to time he would sing this quiet little song: Who am I? Who am I?

Tell me, brother (sister), who am I?

1 am who?

No, no, no!

1 am you!

Yes, yes yes!

Ah, 1 think you knew!

Some call me Death­

1 call me: you!

1 am who? Ha-ha! 1 am who?

This reminder of death (memento mori) was not intended to incapacitate. The passersby were still alive as can be. They could-and indeed, should--enjoy their share of pleasure and comfort. However, they were not to drift through this life with their eyes closed to reality. And they should not so vibrate to promises and threats of an afterlife that they fail to live this life and heed this life's death. Myself-as-Dead had to be integrated into the overall sense of Myself. The mind-work here is itself an example of the more general concept: Myself-as-Transformed. The unacceptable, therefore, walled-off thought of Myself-as-Aged is another example. Dorian Gray was so perturbed by Myself-as-Aged that he did not get around to becoming properly anxious

212 I DORIAN, GRAVING

about Myself-as-Dead (perhaps because Aged seemed to come before Dead, and Dead might be a clever way of avoiding Aged). People may succeed for a long time in keeping an unacceptable partial self incommunicado (for some LLP it is an earlier version of the self that is sequestered because of its cognitive dissonance with the perceived present self). Partial selves, however, seem to have a psychomagnetic attraction for each other, and, just when it is most inconvenient, there may be a "return of the repressed." As Woody AlIen might put it: "What ifmy repressed self returns, and has a better lawyer?" • Proposition Xl/-B: Images of the person have rights, too, and may affirm or challenge the rights of the person. The confrontation between Dorian and Dorian, like the confrontation between Myself and Myself-as-Dead, involves a splitting-off of the whole person, the better to appreciate each other. The purposes is also similar: "Take in all of reality! Take moral responsibility for your own life! Live and die as a whole person!" Both encounters raise the question of what rights, if any, can be claimed by a mere image. I have never come across a discussion of image rights, so we will start the advocacy process right here. Let us suppose that the computerized Dorian is speaking for himself and for all other person­ images: • Mere property is accorded rights. A vacant lot can claim protection against being victimized by a political sign. A package of bubble gum can activate the legal system if it is stolen. Why should society tie itself into so many knots to respect "property rights?" Because property is thought to be "possessed" by spirits, for example, connected to people in some fanciful manner. Having constructed "property," "possession" and many another concept, society acts as though what one "owns" is somehow a part of the person's extended body, his or her phantom being. • "Intellectual property" raises this belief to a higher level. We have accustomed ourselves to believing that people own what they say, write, and create. If there is a mystic connection between property owner and the property, then there is an even more ineffable link between creator and created.

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 213

• With this background established, it is not difficult to advance the claims of the image. We may dispute the true ownership of that vacant lot, and deny any intrinsic relationship between owner and owned (except, perhaps, for that vacant expression that appears a lot on the owner's countenance). However, there is no disputing the relationship between person and image. The image is distinctive, even unique. One package of Goopie Gus bubble gum is much like another, but only the image of Dorian Gray can represent Dorian Gray. • The image is more than a distinctive facet of the self. It is also an active participant in the construction, validation, and dissemination of the person's identity. The person who complains about an unflattering passport photograph is affirming the desirability of an ego-syntonic and accurate likeness. Similarly, your response to a marked age dif­ ference between the photograph and the person reveals the assumption that image and person share the same reality. This assumption is challenged when, for example, a famous-name person comes to town and you discover that the person in person looks old enough to be the parent of the image disseminated in publicity photographs. We expect certain types of relationship to prevail between person and image, and are either satisfied or disturbed when this expectation is disconfirmed. • Images have rights in proportion to their reality-claims. A celebrity's image may be as real-or "realer"-than the person because it is, a) prior to that person's celebrity status, b) more widely known than the person-minus-image, and c) more enduring than the person. Fair is fair! Some images can meet or exceed our working criteria for reality. I concede, however, that some people do not have a prominent image and that their underdeveloped images have only a modest claim to rights and privileges. • An image may be perceived as more valuable as well as more real than the person. In these situations, it is the image that is big bucks at the box office, or a landslide of votes at the polling places. If both are more valuable and more real (by society's pragmatic criteria), then how can an image be denied its right? • Finally-aha! didn't think I knew that word, did you?-finally, it is only by empowering the image that persons can be honest with them­ selves. This is the mind-work: t The human mind has been making images for itself since forever. t These images have been pai,nted with the brush ofperception and fixed by the preservative of memory.

214 / DORIAN, GRAYING

t The

creation of the first image influenced the second act of perception, and, ever since, memory has shaped our view of the present. t Stone and wood carving, painting, photography, and computer visualizations are simply ways to translate the mind-work of image-making into a public and relatively enduring form. t Once mind-work created an image, this image was available for imaginative manipulation. The pseudo-sabertooth tiger could have even longer fangs; the rays of the sun could be pure gold; separate creatures could be combined into mythological beasties, etc. "Postproduction" processes were well developed in mind-work long before specialized equipment became avail­ able for this purpose. t Increasingly, people inhabited a world of shaped and reshaped images whose correspondence with "reality" varied tremen­ dously. Images of images contributed to the formation of belief systems. The development of oral and written linguistic symbols contributed further to humankind's House of Images and Ges­ tures which, like a movie theater, became more attractive than the unnamed and unpredictable forces of external and internal reality. Images and symbols became the coin of custom-and most poweiful were those who had the facility to control this coinage. Indeed, what is real to us from humankind's past? Images, images, images! t The most urgent needs and implacable desires inspired some of the most compelling images, originally visual, later supple­ mented by linguistic symbols. And so it was that the mind-work factory produced images such as those of immortality, rejuvena­ tion, and eternal youth. It is time for people to admit that the image and the image-maker have been inextricably linked since the first perception became the first memory and the first memory became the image that shaped the second perception. In empowering the image, you will be empowering your total self. In affirming the rights of the image, you will be affirming your rights as an image-maker. Computer Dorian puts forward his claims in the final scene of the opera. It is not necessary to accept these clai}11s, but it is necessary to respect and consider them. Was he not a victim? Were his distinctive abilities and

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 215

potentials not abused by Person Dorian? Did Person Dorian not enjoy his fiddling, leaving Computer Dorian to pay the bill? And if Person Dorian belatedly comes to the realization that he should return to the natural developmental procession, does Computer Dorian not have the right to become what he, too, was intended to be? There must be a limit to the abuse that a person can inflict upon hislher image. In respecting, protect­ ing, and rehabilitating the image, we are also respecting, protecting, and rehabilitating our own frequently-abused powers as image makers. This concern for Dorian as person and image should not lead us to neglect their interpersonal impact. Both the novel and the opera show Dorian betraying the trust and affection he had inspired in others. In the opera, the climactic encounter between the Dorians is precipitated by their desire for Stellar. She herself has become an image: the salvational angel as far as the Dorians are concerned, but, from the viewer's perspective, perhaps a sacrificial victim on the altar of unbridled narcissism. Images have interpersonal as well as intrapersonal consequences. A society in which most adults are preoccupied with staying or at least appearing young will certainly differ appreciably from a society in which people accept themselves and find meaning at all stations of the life course journey. We have given a little attention to the painting, the photograph and the computer, each providing opportunities for externalizing the mind-work of constructing and manipulating reality. It is time now to articulate a proposition that has been implicit for some time: • Proposition XIII: Emerging technologies are altering the self­ confrontations among our past, present, andfuture selves.

We note first the sheer increase in the number and variety of potential self-confrontations. In Dorian' s time it was unusual for the ordinary person to have visual reminders of hislher infancy and youth. In their middle adult years, a fisherman and his wife were not likely to have either artist's renditions or photographs of their likenesses at an earlier age. (As pre­ viously observed, photography was limited mostly to professionals who could afford the cumbersome equipment and master the complex processes of capturing and producing the image.) Today they would be chuckling and shaking their head over an ample collection of snapshots that span the years, and probably a number of professional photographs as well (e.g., class pictures, wedding). This pic­ torial record is likely to provide a fairly continuous time sampling. In

216 I DORIAN, GRAVING

touring their photograph albums, the couple will be able to observe the gradual changes in their appearance, garb, and activities. They will be spared the shock of moving directly from youthful to mature adult self­ confrontations. Their pictorial tour will also offer images of relationships and eras. The earliest images will show them as children. Later images will show them as friends, students, workers, mates, and parents. There will be no doubt that their individual development has been part of a larger social process: they have always been among people. Furthermore, they will be reminded at a glance that they have lived through several different periods of social climate. Although these differences may not loom large in general history, they were real enough to the people who experienced them. The hard economic times that their families had to contend with when they were just starting school. ... The "fashion statements" they had made as teen­ agers ... the years that were dominated by a new music, a heightened fear of terrorism, the introduction of a technological innovation .... Turning the pages of the photo albums recalls the particular times that provided the distinctive contexts for the development of their own identites. This couple, and millions of other people in today's world, have a photographic historic to anchor them in their own relationships and their own times. This anchoring effect tends to restrain the formation of extremist fan­ tasies. Dorian Gray could think of himself as an individual whose develop­ ment and identity were only loosely connected to other people. He was readily available for "completion" by whatever persuasive ideas and people he now encountered. What else is a person to do who lacks an identity that is rooted in firm early relationships (past) and endowed with guiding purpose (future) to preserve self through successive eras? One might attempt to substitute style for identity and purpose. One might embrace the diverting images of other times and places. One might court the approval of others, but essentially think of oneself as a universe entire. And tomorrow one might select a new style and image and find new people to play the necessary ego-stroking roles. Through these superficial changes, however, one might remain essentially a loner, a sane person who is disoriented for time, place, and person. One might be Dorian. The domestication of audio-visual recording procedures is extending self-confrontations well beyond the photograph album. In many homes today, children have already become experienced before the home micro­ phone and camera. It is no longer unusual for a child to conduct an audio-tape interview, and, in some schools, to plan, "shoot," and produce

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 217

their own videos. Meanwhile, still another wave of innovation is already starting to make its way: the home computer-assisted production of audio­ video-text documents. Through one or more of these modalities, a family can sample itself at various points in time. Anthropologists have written about "the ritual perpetuation of the past," referring to communal rites and ceremonies in which historic people and events are brought back to life (symbolically, and perhaps more than symbolically). With a video tape recorder and VCR, families can create their own ritual perpetuations of the past whenever they choose to do so. These periodic self-confrontations occur in a variety of circumstances and engender a variety of responses. For example, a child might enjoy seeing itself as an infant. "But who is that man making funny faces at me?" The child might demand. The parents have been through this before. The funny-face-making man was "Your Uncle Larry." "But where is my Uncle Larry?" Once again, the parents will tell the child that Uncle Larry died several years ago. The child already knew this strange, sad, and puzzling fact, but had to hear it again. Watching the videotape of the child's early behaviors and adventures may serve as a ritual that affirms their family roots and continuity, but which also arouses differential thoughts and feelings among the viewers. The increasing availability of audio-visual samplings from various points in one's life can influence our sense of identity through time in ways such as the following: • Affirm the reality of people, contexts, relationships, and things that have been lost to time. "I did have an Uncle Larry." "That's how the old neighborhood really looked; it's not the same any more." "There's Pookie, my first cat. I've always had cats since, but not another Pookie." • Help individuals to place their own lives in temporal perspective. For example, with home video it is easier to detect little characteristics shared by family members of different generations. "The way he squinches up his face is just like Gramps!" "See, you didn't invent that irritating laugh; there's one in every generation!" The sense of being part of a particular family moving through developmental and histori­ cal time can provide a valuable alternative to the unceasing blitz of media messages. "I am not a generic member of the targeted mass audience. I am a person who has a particular tradition of attitude, belief, values, and relationships, and, in my own way, I intend to bring

218 / DORIAN, GRAVING

this tradition forward into the future. This tradition will be alive and well after the styles and convulsions of the moment are long forgotten." • Comprehend meanings that arch across time and generation. Certain truths do not reveal themselves at the moment. Time is needed to acquire additional experiences, acquire perspective, and recognize meanings that mature slowly and provide a bridge across the years. A well-wrought symphony or sonata reveals an overall structure that cannot be fully appreciated until one has experienced the entire com­ position. The audio-video-assisted review of individual and family life is providing the opportunity to comprehend emerging and maturing meanings whose full import would have been difficult if not impos­ sible to appreciate on a situation-by-situation basis. • Provide the opportunity to interact with one's own history andfuture. It is no coincidence that a baby and a video tape camera often enter the home at about the same time. The video documents they create will provide treasurable memories in the future for both themselves and their children (and grandchildren, etc.). The past is becoming available to return in any future present. Similarly, the present as a past for future use is a guiding idea in the video time-sampling. There will be more extensive opportunities for interacting with one's own history and future as advanced technologies continue to be developed and become available to the public. However, we are already participating in a process that establishes a time-line relatively independent from the unidirectional and inexorable passage of nature time. We would not want to underestimate the power of earlier-appearing technologies such as photography and radio. The photograph and the radio broadcast enabled humankind to have experiences with faces and voices that were not here-now. This was a tremendous break-through. Transcend­ ing time and space had been almost exclusively the task of dreams, visions, and imagination. Furthermore, the very limits of photograph (silent and still) and radio (invisibility) invited the viewer/listener to enter more deeply into its mysteries. We learned to listen to the silent voices of the photographs and watch the radio scenes unfold in our minds. Although the mind now had technological assistance in transcending time/space/self, it continued to be an active participant in the construction of the experience. Nevertheless, the question of "live or on tape" had not yet demanded our attention. The photograph was real in its own way, but seldom competed

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 219

for reality-value with the viewer of the photograph. Returning to the final scene of the opera, we see that Dorian and his technologically-bred com­ puter image were in serious competition for their reality as well as their moral claims. With virtual reality and other emerging technologies it will become less unusual to encounter computer-enhanced images that are competitive with the person. Those who have mastered existing tech­ nology can already generate images with powers that seemingly exceed those of mere humans. For example, a computer-enhanced athlete can accomplish feats well beyond the limits of the original. Existing and emerging technologies, then, are unsettling established assumptions about images, reality, and the self. Who is real and in what way? Am I really the live me, the one who is bumbling along in a semi-confused state this moment, or am I really the produced and post-produced image whose "finish" and artistic merit far exceeds the always in-process person? Dorian's identity problem would be more complicated in our times than in his own. We have touched on one of the reasons: the more advanced technologies that increase the competition between person and image. Another reason should also be identified: the cult of the celebrity in a mass media society. Braudy (1986) has captured The Frenzy of Renown in the title as well as the substance of his book on the history of fame. He notes that: With the beginning of the Industrial Revolution new political and economic factors ... encouraged the transformation of the classic idea of personal honor-the unprecedented growth of urban population, the expansion of literacy, the introduction of cheap methods of print­ ing and engraving, the extension of the political franchise, and the revolutionary overthrow of monarchical authority. In this world acting and self-promotion abounded. The proliferation of new modes of communication, the breakdown of hierarchy, and the careers now open to talents made it easier to author oneself (p. 13).

It has become even easier to author oneself in our own time (including, of course, actual self-authoring and publishing with personal computers). Many people are "famous for being famous." Braudy documents an his­ torical trend that he terms, "the democratization of fame." Andy Warhol has phrased this trend more famously in his dictum that nowadays every­ body has his or her fifteen minutes of fame. Taking the place of more substantial cultural icons, celebrities have become role models for the more impressionable and less rooted

220 / DORIAN, GRAYING

members of society. The frequent use of celebrities in commercials and advertisements attests to the belief that many people want to look and act like those whose images are attractive and have become widely disseminated. Both the celebrity and the celebrity-admirer must deal somehow with the time-sensitive discrepancy between the person and the image of the celebrity. There may be other discrepancies as well, for example, a celebrity who is known as a "straight arrow" or even an "innocent" may prove to be a drug addict who engages in episodes of violence. However, even the celebrity with the closest congruence between person and image is vulnerable to the passage of time. Consider this ever-increasing discrepancy from the standpoint of the celebrity. "Stars of the silver screen" have often achieved celebrity status. For the most part, they became celebrities as youthful heroes, heroines, and comics. Some were celebrities in childhood. Their celebrity images were real to the public and crucial to their success, so these images could not help but become somewhat real to the actors themselves. Some were in bondage to their image, feeling that this was the more powerful and attractive self and therefore needed to be obeyed. Others were anxious and despondent about the burden of needing to live up to or at least not contradict their celebrity images. Still others were at constant war with their images, sensing that only one of them could survive. The person/image relationship faced a stressful test as time wrought its changes. Take, for example, the most obvious situation: the person ages; the image remains youthful. This discrepancy posed a practical problem for many celebrity performers. Prior to motion pictures, an aging per­ former, making some adjustments, might still continue to be successful. Now, however, performers had to compete with themselves. In making in-person appearances, the middle-aged performer would be compared with the fresh-faced youth that was well remembered for its early screen roles. The performers usually would be well aware of this process. "Is that Tootsie Sweetkins! She looks old enough to be my mother!" Some per­ formers would eventually embarrass themselves by attempting to hold on to the youth image too long. In addition to the personal self-confrontation with aging, then, performers had to compete with their youthful images for career opportunities, income, and status. The scenario often was more complicated. The image itself did not necessarily remain unaltered. The charming child, the roguish young blade, and the alluringly aloof mystery woman did not grow a day older.

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 221

But the times themselves changed ... and changed again and again. A shockingly sensuous image might become a parody for the next wave of film-goers. The comic impersonation of drunks, mentally impaired, or neurologic ally damaged individuals might have been a rousingly popular image at the time, but one that would later be rejected by more sensitive audiences. Those who achieved fame for their depictions of racial and ethnic stereotypes may discover that these images are no longer acceptable to much of the public. Images do not age, but they do change, in the changing perceptions of their beholders. It was first the aging celebrity who had these challenging encounters with past images of the self. On a more subtle level, creative artists have faced competition between their current productions and those which established their reputation at an earlier age. For example, Stravinsky disappointed and confused some of his admirers several times throughout his long career. He first made his reputation as the latest representative of the popular Russian romantic tradition. His popular ballet, Firebird, carried the sound and sweep of Rimsky-Korsakov into a new generation. Many expected him to continue writing enjoyable and relatively non­ demanding compositions of this sort. Instead, he electrified the musical world with the muscular rhythms and angular upheavals of The Rite of Spring. In turn, musicians and audiences expected him to fire off continu­ ing salvos of avant-garde fury and innovation. Again, Stravinsky defied expectations, especially in the works of his later years. He became a neoclassicist, then turned to serial/atonal methods he had previously criti­ cized, and finally, achieved a unique synthesis of ancient and contem­ porary compositional techniques with an elusive quality that the musical world still has not come to terms with. Every time Stravinsky took a new turn in his artistic career he encountered a new wave of rejection and hostility: people could not just "peg" him in a particular category and hold on to their original judgments. Yet, had Stravinsky continued to compose in the same style throughout this life he would surely have been pummeled by critics for his failure to develop! Compositions, paintings, sculptures, choreographies, novels, and other creative products are not images in the Dorianesque sense, but they do endure while the artist continues to mature and age and they do become the focus of the artist's reputation. Advances in technology continue to increase the encounters between one's past images and creations and one's present self and endeavors. Seeking simplicity and certainty, the public often insists that only one

222 / DORIAN, GRAYING

version of the celebrity or creative artist is the "really real." This contest often comes down to the issue of the younger versus the older self. With the continued domestication of self-encounter technology it is no longer just the famous person who is subject to this challenge. When today's youth have become tomorrow's elders they will have to decide if their true identities are live or on tape. • Proposition XIV: There is a conflict between the philosophy and the pragmatic psychology of dealing with younger and older selves.

Philosophically, we might seek the integration of all our past, present, and future selves. This is the approach counseled by Erikson and many holistic thinkers. From the standpoint of pragmatic psychology, however, this balancing and integrating act makes demands that most people are not ready to meet and that society seldom encourages. We are more often pressured by society and our own needs to select but one version of the self and downgrade the others. The totally encompassing self is a rare achievement. Dorian today would be particularly hard-pressed to make sense of his life. He would have made the preemptory decision to banish his future selves. This would have the advantage of simplification and conflict­ reduction in the short run. Unlike the rest of us, he would not have to judge the competing reality-claims of many successive versions of the self. He should be able to drift along merrily day by day, enjoying the pleasures of a prolonged and irresponsible youth, Dorian-style. But: not so! Dorian is a person who resolved to remain young in the sense of social immaturity as well as biological status. This does not mean, however, that he is a dull fellow mentally. Dorian has shown himself to be a resourceful strategist as well as a lively participant in repartee. When awakened to the longer arch of life by Lord HenrylHenry Lord, he quickly grasped the personal implications of time and aging which heretofore had seemed so remote to his experience. In fact, he would not have trapped himself in such a fix had he not an active mind. And it is this active mind that will not allow him to rest oblivious and secure in his exemption from aging. • Dorian has to miss the growth of time-matured meanings • Dorian has to miss the sense of directionality

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 223

• Dorian has to miss the responsibility of being only this continually replicated self of the moment • Dorian has to miss the implicit voices of his future selves Viewed within this context, Dorian might actually draw sustenance and meaning from his otherwise horrendous encounters with his suffering computer counterpart. Here, at least, is an alternative to the non-developing image he has chosen to occupy. Here is an encounter that forces him to recognize a reality beyond the stasis and drift of his increasingly frustrated existence. • Proposition XV: Age is better suited than youth to the integration of experiences and the evaluation of meanings.

Adults have some idea of what children and adolescents are going through because they have come along that road themselves. Children and adolescents have had many opportunities to observe adults, but are less able to understand the needs, stresses, and mingled emotions that are being experienced by their elders. The concept of late style in art takes this idea further. There are intriguing examples of creative artists who have passed through several themes and styles of expression, finally integrating all these facets into their later creations (Kastenbaum, 1992). Verdi, for example, could not have composed his stunning Te Deum as an octo­ genarian had he not mastered a variety of styles along the way. Age brings not only experience but-for some-a stronger need and a more masterful ability to integrate these experiences and extract what is of greatest value. Held captive by the prolonged youth he craved, Dorian lacks the experiential range to integrate and evaluate his life. Nevertheless, he cannot escape the vague, unsettling promptings toward meaning. And what about you and I? We have to deal somehow with our past and future selves-and with all the interpersonal relationships with which these are entwined. Emerging technologies are giving us unprecedented oppor­ tunities to encounter past representations of our self, and to project current versions into the future. We can stop time with a pause button and replay experiences with another tap of the thumb, but in doing so we realize that the hand that manipulates technological time is itself in the hands of Father Time and Mother Nature.

224 / DORIAN, GRAYING

Anxious Beauty There is an unknown land full of strange flowers and subtle perfumes, a land of which it is joy of all joys to dream, a land where all things are perfect and poisonous.

This is an excerpt from a letter written by Oscar Wilde to a friend (quoted by Ellman, 1987, pp. 270-271). "Perfect and poisonous" was also Wilde's attitude toward art in general and toward his pretty monster, Dorian Gray. The expressions of art in society seem contradictory and confusing, but coalesce into a coherent meaning for those who can cope with nuanced messages. Ellman offers a succinct overview of the aesthetic philosophy that Wilde conveyed through the person, image, and deeds of Dorian Gray: Dorian was right to seek escape from the repetitious daily round, wrong in expressing only parts-the ungenerous parts-of his nature. Wilde balances here two ideas ... which look contradictory: one is that art is disengaged from life, the other that it is deeply incriminated with it. That art is sterile and that art is infectious, are attitudes not beyond reconciliation. Wilde never formulated their union, but he implied something like this: by its creation of beauty, art reproaches the world, calling attention to the world's faults by dis­ regarding them, so the sterility of art is an affront or a parable. Art may also outrage the world by flouting its laws or by indulgently positing their violation. Or art may seduce the world by making it follow an example that seems bad but is really salutary. In these ways the artist moves the world towards self-recognition, with at least a tinge of self-redemption, as he compels himself toward the same end (Ellman, p. 329).

"All things perfect and poisonous" warns society that art is both dangerous and essential. True artists must disobligate themselves from ordinary social conventions, and pursue their missions with a kind of morally passionate amorality. Dorian Gray does artists one better: he also resigns from the natural procession from youth through age. There is even more to his obsession with art, beauty, and youth, and these additional characteristics tell us something useful about society's mind-work as well.

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 225

The Endurance of Beauty: Error and Fallacies First, the fallacies. Lord HenrylHenry Lord and Dorian Gray engage in implicit mind-work that does not hold up to analysis. Beauty must endure is one of their key propositions. An operational form of this proposition would be: A test of Beauty is its endurance. Examples of the beautiful are most readily drawn from works of art that have already demonstrated their endurance over long periods of time and, secondarily, from more recent works which promise to do the same. Youth is beautiful is the next proposi­ tion. Lord/Gray do not explore the general case of this proposition. We have already reminded ourselves that youth often is a period of uncertainty, doubt, and anxiety. To this can be added the observation that not all youths would answer to the description of either physical or spiritual beauty. Dorian 's youth is beautiful is the specific case, and, by implication, all those young men and women whose beauty can be compared with Dorian. There is the further implicit assumption: All that endures is beautiful. Nothing in The Picture of Dorian Gray calls this assumption into question. One of the most obvious questions to ask would be that of sequence. Many aesthetic-minded people have agreed with the proposition that beauty endures. Let us agree, if just for the moment. Here the argument usually skips over a plausible alternative explanation. Perhaps in our mind-work we do not begin with the recognition of beauty and then proceed to the test of endurance. It could well be the other way around. Endurance may persuade us of beauty. (This alternative could be tested experimentally without much difficulty: people might be asked to rate beautifuVnot beauti­ ful with respect to the same objects, but with different information on the history of these objects.) In effect, we might be so impressed by the antiquity of an artistic production (especially if it is attributed to one of the name-brand glorious epochs) that we endow it with other positive attri­ butes as well. This is a quirk of our mind-work in general. As we all know, a bit of a mummy's anatomy is a terrific cure for what ails us, or lends itself well to magic or alchemy. Some have already expressed disappointment with Michelangelo'~ "new" Sistine Chapel paintings since the veneer of antiqued grime has 'been removed, making it seem too fresh and direct. There is a lazy-minded affinity among these propositions. Perhaps we can lapse into a lazy-hazy frame of mind and see how this quasi-logic plays in dialogue.

226 / DORIAN, GRAVING

"Does beauty endure?"

"Sure thing."

"Is Dorian beautiful?"

"I guess so."

"And what do you guess would happen ifhis beauty did not endure?"

"Huh?"

"If Dorian's beauty faded in a few years, then it would not have

endured, so it would not have been beauty in the first place-right?"

"Stop that-you're making my head spin!"

"So it would be a lot easier for all of us if he just kept on being

beautiful."

"It you say so. Now-pass the remote control, will you?"

There are other ways in which the interconnections among these propositions could be articulated, but none make a convincing case. One of the fallacies inherent in the Dorian Gray obsession is the belief that one can draw stringent conclusions from the proposition that beauty endures. The Dorianesque quest for perpetual youth attempts to substitute a transcendent aesthetic construction for the nitty-gritty everyday world and all our vul­ nerabilities in this world. The association between beauty and endurance is tenuous, however, and readily accommodates itself to wishful thinking. The second fallacy arises from inattention to the observer's frame of reference. For example, it is always a person with a particular frame of reference who makes the judgment that a condition has remained constant or has changed through time. This frame of reference itself has many variables, two of which are especially relevance here: 1) range of experi­ ence encompassed, and 2) criteria for detection and classification of change. A twenty-year-old and an eighty-year-old bring different ranges of experience to their judgment. Furthermore, a person with a grasp of his tori­ cal time will interpret phenomena differently that the person who is caught up almost completely in day by day routines. Individuals with the same level of experience may have different criteria for acknowledging change. There is also a strong motivational component here. It is not unusual for people to hold firmly to self-concepts that were established early in life. They do not seem to detect physical, psychological, and social changes or to integrate these changes into a revised self-concept. Fifty-year-olds may think of themselves as they were half a life time ago. A process of filtering or selective attention is at work. More attention is given to signals that tend to support the sense of continuity than to those that suggest discontinuity.

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 227

Beauty, youth, endurance and other constructs are shaped by the frames of reference we have established for oursel ves, and subject to modification, even distortion, by our need states. • Proposition XVI: Beauty will endure requires and our heart desires.

if

our frame of reference

This is precisely what is meant by the adage: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." We endow some of our most favored constructs-the ideas we cannot bear to discard-with persistence or invariance. For example, it is commonplace to misrepresent the history of a nation or an interpersonal relationship. We emphasize the supposed continuity of its attributes through time: always patriotic, always optimistic, always victorious, always loving. We do our utmost to conceive God as all-knowing, all­ powerful, and all-loving despite the horrible things that keep happening in hislher created universe. We become quite adept in ignoring or excusing the actual vissicitudes, contradictions and transformations in order to preserve a fixed image. This type of mind-work is not without value. Patriots may retain their faith in the basic good-heartedness and resourcefulness of their nation despite many deviations from this ideal. Friends and lovers may similarly emphasize an underlying spirit in their relationships despite numerous changes over time. Steadfast believers may accomplish much in the melioration of distress as they carry out what they believe to be the true mission of their faith. In such instances we identify essential qualities from the ever-changing mix of reality and accord these qualities an enduring status in the only place where there is a hope for endurance: the mind. Though fallible and itself vulnerable to time, the mind is unexcelled in the identification, interpretation, evaluation, and preserva­ tion of value. The poets have been telling us this ever since there have been poets. Shakespeare is notable for promising to protect his beloved from the ravages of time in sonnet after sonnet. His words them­ selves wove the magic spell, testifying to a priestly alchemy, a mental hegemony over unruly time. A typical example is Sonnet XV which begins: When I consider every thing that grows

Holds in perfection but a little moment ...

228 / DORIAN, GRAVING

In conclusion he avers that the beloved will remain ... most rich in youth before my sight, Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay, To change your day of youth to sullied night; And all in war with Time for love of you, As he takes from you, I engraft you new. Over and again Shakespeare rails at Time. His rage at the loss of youthful beauty is often accompanied by the image of a dark and dreadful night, as in the opening of Sonnet XII: When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night ... And these lines in Sonnet V: For never-resting time leads summer on To hideous winter and confounds him there ... Shakespeare's acute awareness of Time's relentless work is expressed in language even more passionate than Dorian' s and well may have been a significant influence on our pretty monster. But Shakespeare does not seem much tempted by the fantasy of perpetual youth. His own mind-work is infinitely more insightful when it comes to understanding mind-work. The Shakespeare who speaks through the sonnets is a person who realizes that it is the mind that discovers and values beauty, and it is the mind that can keep beauty alive. Memory can do it. And memory enhanced by poetry can do it even better. In this same sonnet (V), for example, the poet continually reminds us that "summer's distillation" (perfume) remains when the snows have covered the bare ground and the flower passed "in walls of glass." But flowers distill'd, though they with winter meet, Lose but their show; their substance still lives sweet. No matter what fearful guise Time assumes in the opening lines, Shakespeare reserves the last words for his proud challenge and promise.

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES I 229

In Sonnet XIX, for example, he acknowledges that "Devouring Time" will "blunt ... the lion's paw" and Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws, And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood. Nevertheless: ... do thy worst, old Time; despite thy wrong, My love shall in my verse ever live young. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" is the question that opens one of his most famous sonnets (XVIII). Here, again, he confronts not merely Time, but Death itself, who he cautions not to brag at His seeming con­ quest of the beloved because So long as men can breathe or eye can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee. Dorian Gray took a more literal approach. He assumed that one really had to stay young and to look beautiful in a youthful way in order to keep "the only thing worth having." He was wrong about that. It was the eye of the beholder that should have attracted his interest, and the heart of the beholder that he should have sought with his own. There is an empirical error to go along with the fallacies we have been exploring. A few pages ago we agreed temporarily with the assumption that beauty endures, the better to enter into Dorian' s frame of reference. In fact, however, sometimes beauty endures, and sometimes it doesn't. This is true both of natural beauty and that which bears the human imprint. Thomas, cat of cats, was ancient almost beyond memory. On that particular afternoon he was sprawled full length on the grass in the back yard. Only he knew how much effort it now required for him to conduct his daily tours from position to position and maintain the dignity of his office. What happened then was totally unexpected and done within a flash. A butterfly floated into Thomas' private air space. Suddenly the ancient one leaped from the tall grass with startling grace and came within a whisker of what must have been an astonished lepidopterous. Who would have thought old Thomas still had that in him? It was a swift and beautiful move. Only a moment in the doing, this move earned a place in the museum of fine and

230 I DORIAN, GRAYING

natural arts that my wife and I preserve in memory. Many a glimpse of beauty is fleeting because the event itself is fleeting. Examples include the expression on a child's face as well as the spectacular bubble the child has. just blown; the improvised dance that went like the wind and will never be repeated; an exuberant yet classically proportioned sculpture-in ice. Evanescence may be the essence of beauty in some circumstances. Our appreciation is heightened by the realization that what we are seeing or hearing is a fleeting and unique event. The prejudice that "more is better" has been too often applied to duration. The temporal range of beauty is limited only by our ability to comprehend a beauty that extends far beyond our usual measure and a beauty that is already vanishing as it appears. Sterility, Loss, and Arrested Development Dorian Gray could not appreciate vanishing beauty. He could not simply cherish in memory the delights he had been fortunate enough to experience. Unlike Shakespeare, he could not preserve the essence of cherished people upon whom time had wrought change. Given today's self-reflexive technologies, Dorian might well have attempted to substitute "00 tape" for "live." He might have become a master of virtual reality and other forms of computer-mediated interaction. However, it is not likely that he would have derived either satisfaction or security from these eodeavors. You might enter into technologically-assisted interactions as a self-development exercise. I might simply enjoy the trip. Dorian, however, would have a more compelling purpose, and one that even the most advanced technology cannot accomplish. As portrayed both in the novel and the opera, Dorian was a man in need of salvation. Youth and beauty had failed him because he had failed youth and beauty. We have already recognized that Dorian distanced himself from the human community and its procession through time. He would not engender. He would not parent. He would not nurture and liberate the mature elder within himself. He would not contribute to the common weal. The cries of orphans, the despair of the unemployed, the victims of injus­ tice might as well not have existed. The world of ordinary mortals provided only his admiration society and his prey. It is instructive to remember that although Dorian thought of himself as aesthetically enlightened, he was not a creative artist. He did not know the joys and anguish of the creative process. He did not take the risks. He did not suffer the failures. He did not experience the moments of

DORIAN IN OUR TIMES / 231

self-transcendence when he felt at one with a creative force. Stylish, yes. Intelligent, yes. Creative, no. Existentially sterile, Dorian Gray became an isolate. He used people, though derived increasingly less satisfaction from doing so. Only a few faithful friends remained, and these he was apt to deceive and exploit. The protracted youth he had gained merely imprisoned him in the status of arrested development. As time went on-but not for him-Dorian started to realize what he had lost. Accordingly he became increasingly sensitized to the possibility of further loss. All he had was that vacuous youth. All he had was that execrable beauty. All he had were the toys available to an affluent Victorian, nor would the toys available to an affluent postmodemist have served him better. Dorian Gray could not persist in anxious beauty. He sought salvation for himself from himself. Dorian Gray, where are you today?

Everywhere. Can't you see? I am everywhere. 2

2 This book is part of a continuing experiment to break through the already hardening boundaries that separate research, policy-making, and the humanities. For an earlier phase of this little experiment, please see Defining Acts: Aging as Drama (Kastenbaum, 1994). The author would welcome more companions in this project.

PART IV

EPILOGUE You are old Y ou are beautiful You are admired Y ou are respected Each day comes as a gift to you And each day you share this gift with others As the moment winks You wink back (Did I say: You are old? Did I say: You are young ?)

References

Achenbaum, A. (1994). A History of Aging in America. In R. J. Manheimer (Ed.), Older Americans Almanac. Chicago: Gale, pp. 3-22. Anon. (1970). Varney the Vampire, or The Feast of Blood. Three volumes. New York: Arno Press. Aristotle (1971). On the Soul (De Anima). In R. M. Hutchins (Ed.), Great Books of the Western World. Volume 8: Aristotle I. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britan­ nica (pp. 631-668). Bass, S. A., Caro, F. G., and Chen, Y.-P. (Eds.) (1993). Achieving a Productive Aging Society. Westport, Conn.: Auburn House. Becker, Carl (1932). The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers. New Haven: Yale University Press. Berman, P. L. and Goldman, C. (1992). The Ageless Spirit. New York: Ballantine. Blake, W .. The Poison Tree. Braudy, L. (1986). The Frenzy of Renown. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Callahan, D. (1987). Setting Limits. New York: Simon and Schuster. Cohen, K. (1993). Tombs. In R. Kastenbaum and B. Kastenbaum (Eds.), Encyclo­ pedia of Death. Phoenix: Oryx (pp. 269-275). Cole, T. R. (1992). The Journey of Life. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. Colley, A. C. (1983). Tennyson and Madness. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Cumming, E. and Henry, W. E. (1961). Growing Old. New York: Basic Books. Doyle, A. C. (1890). The Adventures of the Blue Carbuncle. The Complete Adventures of Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Reprint edition: New York: Bramball House, 1985 (pp. 85-97). Durkheim, E. (1966). Suicide: Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press. Eco, U. (1994). Apocalypse Postponed. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Einstein, A. and Freud, S. (1932). Why War? Chicago: Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. 237

238 / DORIAN, GRAYING

Ellman, R. (1988). Oscar Wilde. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and Society. 2nd edition. New York: Norton. Erikson, E. H. (1975). Life History and the Historical Moment. New York: W. W. Norton. Erikson, E. H. (1979). Reflections on Dr. Borg's Life Cycle. In D. D. Van Tassel (Ed.), Aging, Death, and the Completion of Being. Pittsburgh: University of Pennsylvania Press (pp. 29-68). Florescu, R. (1975). In Search of Frankenstein. Boston: New York Graphic Society. Freud, S. (1920/1961). Beyond the Pleasure Principle. New York: W. W. Norton. Gates, B. T. (1988). Victorian Suicide. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Gay, P. (1984). The Bourgeois Experience. Victoria to Freud. Volume 1. The Education of the Senses. New York: Oxford University Press. Gay, P. (1986). The Bourgeois Experience. Victoria to Freud. Volume Il. The Tender Passion. New York: Oxford University Press. Goldman, C. (1988). Late Bloomer. Stories of Successful Aging (audio tape). Santa Monica: Connie Goldman Productions. Goldman, C. (1993). The Ageless Spirit. (audio tape). Santa Monica: Connie Goldman Productions. Goodwin, S. W. and Bronfen, E. (1993). Introduction. In S. W. Webster and E. Bronfen (Eds.), Death and Representation. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press (pp. 3-28). Grimal, P. (1990). Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology. New York: Penguin. Gruman, G. J. (1966). A History of Ideas about the Prolongation of Life. The Evolution of Prolongevity Hypotheses to 1800. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. Gubrium, J. F. (1993). Speaking of Life. Horizons of Meaning for Nursing Home Residents. New York: AIdine de Gruyter. Haas, W. H., III and Longino, Jr., C. F. (1994). Population Growth, Distribution, and Characteristics. In R. J. Manheimer (Ed.), Older Americans Almanac. Chicago: Gale (pp. 23-48). Haggard, H. R. (1928). Favorite Novels of H. Rider Haggard. New York: Blue Ribbon Books. Hagestad, G. (1983). Problems and Promises in the Social Psychology of Inter­ generational Relationships. In R. Fogel, E. Hatfield, S. Kiesler, and E. Shaw (eds.), Aging: Stability and Change in the Family. New York: Academic Press (pp. 11-46). Hopkins, G. M. 91953). Carrion Comfort. In W. H. Gardner (Ed.), Gerard Manley Hopkins, a Selection of His Poems and Prose. Melbourne, London, Baltimore: Penguin. Jullian, P. (1969). Oscar Wilde. New York: The Viking Press. Kant, I. (1785). Metaphysics of Morals.

REFERENCES / 239

Kastenbaum, R. (1989). Old Men Created by Young Artists: Time-Transcendence in Tennyson and Picasso. International Journal ofAging and Human Develop­ ment, 28:81-104. Kastenbaum, B. (1992). The Creative Process: A Life-span Approach. In T. Cole, D. D. Van Tassel, and R. Kastenbaum (Eds.), Handbook of the Humanities and Aging. New York: Springer (pp. 285-306). Kastenbaum, R. (1993). Habituation: A Key to Lifespan Development and Aging? In R. Kastenbaum (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Adult Development. Phoenix: The Oryx Press (pp. 195-200). Kastenbaum, R. (1994). Saints, Sages and Sons of Bitchs: Three Models for the Grand Old Man. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 27:61-78. Kastenbaum, R. (1994). Defining Acts: Aging as Drama. New York: Baywood. Kastenbaum, R. (1995). Death, Society, and Human Experience. 5th Edition. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Kastenbaum, R., Derbin, V., Sabatini, P., and Artt, S. (1972). "The Ages of Me": Toward Personal and Interpersonal Definitions of Functional Aging. Inter­ national Journal ofAging and Human Development, 3:197-211. Kaye, L. (1988). Generational Equity: Pitting Young against Old. New England Journal of Human Services, 3:8-11. Kingson, E., Hirshom, B., and Comman, J. (1986). Ties that Bind: The Inter­ dependence of Generations. Cabin John, MD: Seven Locks Press. LeFanu, J. S. (1977). In a Glass Darkly. New York: Amo Press. Longman, P. (1987). Born to Play: The New Politics ofAging in America. Boston:· Houghton-Mifflin. Lorand, A. (1912). Old Age Deferred. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis. Martin, R. B. (1980). Tennyson and the Unquiet Heart. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Minois, G. (1990). History of Old Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Mullen, P. B. (1992). Listening to Old Voices. Urbana University of Illinois Press. Nakayama, T. and Corey, F. (1993). Homosexuality. In R. Kastenbaum (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Adult Development. Phoenix: The Oryx Press, pp. 208-215. Nisbett, R. (1980). History of the Idea of Progress. New York: Basic Books. Palmore, E. B. (1990). Ageism. Negative and Positive. New York: Springer. Peterson, C. (1994). Adult Children and theJr Parents. In R. Kastenbaum (Ed.). The Encyclopedia ofAdult Development Phoenix: The Oryx Press, (pp. 1-6). Piaget, J. (1954). The Construction of Reality in the Child. New York: Basic Books. Poe, E. A. (1971). The Complete Poems and Stories of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, (pp. 277-292). Polydori, W. The Vampyre. Rando, T. E. (1986). Loss and Anticipatory Grief Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath. Richardson, R. (1987). Death, Dissection and the Destitute. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

240 I DORIAN, GRAYING

Royal Humane Society (1820). Annual Report of the Royal Humane Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned or Dead, 1820. London: John Nichols & Son. Shaw, G. B. (1978). The Love Panacea. In The Great Composers. Berkeley: University of California Press (pp. 257-259). Shelley, M. (1974). Frankenstein, Or, the Modern Prometheus. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. Sheppard, H. L. (1994). Issues of Older Workers. In R. J. Manheimer (Ed.), Older Americans Almanac. Chicago: Gale, pp. 193-212. Shneidman, E. S. (1985). Definition of Suicide. New York: Wiley. Starr, B. D. (1993). Sex in the Later Adult Years. In R. Kastenbaum (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Adult Development. Phoenix: Oryx, pp. 429-432. Stevenson, R. L. (1979). The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Short Stories. New York: Penguin. Stoker, B. (189711975). Dracula. In L. Wolf (Ed.), The Annotated Dracula. New York: Clarkson N. Potter. Swift, J. (1726). Gulliver's Travels. Citation: Boston: Beacon Press, 1963. Tennyson, H. (Ed.) (1981). Studies in Tennyson. New York: Barnes & Noble. Trollope, A. (1882). The Fixed Period. In N. J. Hall (Ed.), Selected Works by Anthony Trollope. 2 volumes. Salem, NH: Ayer, 1981. Weisman, A. D. (1974). The Realization of Death. New York: JasonAronson. Wilde, O. (1982). The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Penguin. Wisensale, S. (1994). Generational Equity. In R. Kastenbaum (Ed.), Encyclopedia ofAdult Development. Phoenix: Oryx (pp. 175-179). Wolf, L. (Ed.) (1975). The Annotated Dracula. New York: Clarkson N. Potter.

APPENDIX

Summary of Propositions

I-A:

Anxiety about leaving one's youth behind has been diminishing because the middle adult years are now associated with continued health and vigor. {page 174}

I-B:

There is an increasing desire to prolong one's stay in the middle adult years. These years have increased in attractiveness because health and vigor often are retained and well-being is enhanced by the resourcefulness and know-how that comes with successful life experience. {page 174}

II:

The later adult years have also become less of an unknown ter­ ritory because many older men and women have shared their experiences in their own words. {page 175}

Ill-A:

What is really worth having is a mature self that is realistic, confident, and capable of both giving and receiving pleasure, a self that one can live with. {page 177}

Ill-B:

The salience of life-span position (youth, middle-age or old age) is diminished when the emphasis is on the quality of the experienc­ ing self. {page 177}

IV:

Youth does not wholly, persistently, and automatically bestow that which is worth having. To assert otherwise is to deny the stress, conflicts, disappointments, and vulnerabilities that can make youth an ordeal as well as a delight. {page 177} 241

242

DORIAN, GRAVING

V:

The Dorian Theme is flawed by its comparison of an uncritical {page 178} model of youth with a hypercritical model of age.

VI:

The quest for endless youth makes the error of treating both youth and age as static spaces of time. {page 180}

VII-A: The older person is becoming less marginal.

{page 187}

VII-B: Life-conceptualization must be extended through the advanced adult years. {page 187} VIII: The "youth" that Dorian wanted to keep is not the youth that we observe and experience in real life. It would be erroneous to equate a split-off zone of suspended time with the throbbing, directional, preparatory phase that leads into subsequent phases. {page 189} IX-A: Generational equity is not possible in a society of Dorians who decline to fulfill productive, reproductive, and other communal obligations. {page 195} IX-B:

Generational equity is not possible in a society that has failed to reach a consensus on the meaning and value of a human life. {page 195}

X:

The natural, continuous flow of life is threatened by both the idealization of youth and the compartmentalization of age. {page 198}

XI:

The obsession with youth will vary with the social role discrepan­ cies among young, middle-aged, elderly, and very aged adults. {page 200}

XII-A: A longing for wholeness threatens the continued isolation of the partial self that is being held incommunicado. {page 210} XII-B: Images ofthe person have rights, too, and may affirm or challenge {page 212} the rights of the person. XIII: Emerging technologies are altering the self-confrontations among our past, present, and future selves. {page 215}

APPENDIX I 243

XIV:

There is a conflict between the philosophy and the pragmatic psychology of dealing with younger and older selves. {page 222}

XV:

Age is better suited than youth to the integration of experiences and the evaluation of meanings. {page 223 }

XVI:

Beauty will endure if our frame of reference requires and our heart desires. {page 227}