A Wagner Matinee & Paul's Case

“A Wagner Matinee” was a bit odd to me. I kept thinking I had missed out on some monumental reference to the narrator’s childhood, but no, there were just the brief mentions of this and that, here and there that let us know that he was raised by his aunt and uncle out in Nebraska. I get the impression it is a place that he does not ever want to go back to. In fact, he has a peculiar attitude about his aunt; it seems almost as if she doesn’t seem to measure up to his standards. He makes remarks that sound as though he doesn’t think she’s all there. He wonders if she will be able to understand the world that she has left. I wondered why she didn’t whop him one. He did care for his aunt, to be true, and I appreciate the fact that he cared enough to take her to the concert. She seemed to enjoy hearing Wagner, and he was shocked to find out that she had heard some of it before. She became emotional with each piece, at times working her fingers as though playing along with the music. At the end, when everyone was leaving, she said “I don’t want to go…but I suppose we must”. She knows that it’s time to not just leave the concert hall, it’s time to go home, back to Nebraska, back to the work and the hard life.

“Paul’s Case” was not a favorite read this week. But, I have to say, it did stir up some questions. I realize Paul had an unrealistic vision for his life that was unattainable at that particular time. His life stood out in clear contrast to the gray, orderly life of his family. He wanted to be “Somebody”, and he wanted it without having to earn and education or work. (These days he would probably be a reality tv personality.)But above all of this, two things stood out to me- 1) Paul seemed to have some sort of mental imbalance, and 2) Paul may have had some unrecognized sexual identity issues. (no, those two things do not have anything to do with one another ) I really questioned what I was reading, and went searching to see if anything similar turned up. I was surprised to see that the possible latent homosexuality is a very commonly held idea with this story, but even more surprised to see that the mental imbalance theory is not mentioned very much. I feel that Paul’s problems are serious, not just those of a spoiled youth. In the end of the book, he has a hang-over, and experiences “one of those fateful attacks of clear-headedness that never occurred except when he was physically exhausted and his nerves hung loose”. It sounds almost as though he is a manic-depressive/bi-polar type person. Any homosexuality that may or may not been part of his makeup probably only contributed to his depression, as it could not have been very easy to live with, or even easy to understand as a young person in that day and age.