Old Frontier, Same Message

A WRITER'S WIT
I have a theory . . . that someplace at the heart of most compelling stories is something that doesn't make sense.
Richard Ford
Born February 16, 1944

My Book World

I'VE MADE IT MY GOAL to read the entire oeuvre of late Anglo-American author, Christopher Isherwood, over a twelve-month period. This profile constitutes the eighth in a series of twenty.

Auden, W. H. and Christopher Isherwood. On the Frontier: A Melodrama in Three Acts. New York: Random, 1938.
 
This play is another of three that Auden and Isherwood co-wrote. It tells of the conflict between the fictional countries of Ostnia and Westland—as one can imagine, the former symbolizing the East and the latter the West, or at least one that represents freedom and one that does not. The most interesting, perhaps innovative, aspect of the play occurs in Act Two, where an Ostnian household occupies the left half of the stage, and a Westland household occupies the right half. Some of the more moving and dramatic dialogue takes place here, as competing radio programs shout out their announcements, the very texts contrasting two ways of life:

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OSTNIAN RADIO. In view of the extreme gravity of the situation . . .
WESTLAND RADIO. The Leader . . .
OSTNIAN RADIO. His majesty the King . . .
WESTLAND RADIO. Has decided . . .
OSTNIAN RADIO. Has graciously consented . . .
WESTLAND RADIO. To address the nation . . .
OSTNIAN RADIO. To address his people . . .
WESTLAND RADIO. The address will be broadcast from all stations at midnight.
OSTNIAN RADIO. The address will be broadcast from all stations at midnight (57).

At any rate, the Ostnian family and the Westland family proceed as if the other isn’t there, and yet, like their radio stations, their lives seem to dovetail. In a manner similar to Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, Eric, a son of one family is drawn to Anna, a daughter in the other family but only in a spiritual sense, perhaps indicating that love can cross all political boundaries. Their idealistic views hark toward an uncertain if hopeful future.
 
Another memorable scene could very well be the last one, in which the young people “meet” again:

[ERIC and ANNA, dressed and made up exactly as in Act Two, Scene I, emerge from behind the screens at the heads of their respective beds, and advance into the light-circle. The beds fade into darkness.]
 
ANNA. Will people never stop killing each other?
            There is no place in the world
            For those who love.
ERIC.    Believing it was wrong to kill,
            I went to prison, seeing myself
            As the sane and innocent student
            Aloof among practical and violent madmen,
            But I was wrong. We cannot choose our world,
            Our time, our class. None are innocent, none (118).

These last lines perhaps sum up why the two authors penned the play in the first place. Isherwood, having lived in pre-Nazi Germany, sees first-hand what it is like to exist in a country where one is relieved of the privilege of making choices, particularly the one to escape. It is a play that, precisely because of its time period, does not easily survive the future.

NEXT TIME: New Yorker Fiction 2016

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READ MY ‘BEHIND THE BOOK’ BLOG SERIES for My Long-Playing Records & Other Stories. In these posts I speak of the creative process I use to write each story. Buy a copy here!
 
Introduction to My Long-Playing Records
"My Long-Playing Records" — The Story
"A Certain Kind of Mischief"
"Ghost Riders"
"The Best Mud"
"Handy to Some"
"Blight"
"A Gambler's Debt"
"Tales of the Millerettes"
"Men at Sea"
"Basketball Is Not a Drug"
"Engineer"
"Snarked"
"Killing Lorenzo"
"The Age I Am Now"
"Bathed in Pink"
 
Listen to My Long-Playing Records Podcasts:
"A Certain Kind of Mischief"
"The Best Mud"
"Handy to Some"
"Tales of the Millerettes"
"Men at Sea"
"My Long-Playing Records"
"Basketball Is Not a Drug"
"Snarked"
"Killing Lorenzo"
"Bathed in Pink"
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