Category: Articles

Two Serious Ladies: A Novel by Jane Bowles

Tennessee Williams called Two Serious Ladies: A Novel his “favorite book.” Truman Capote lauded that Bowles’ book was a “modern legend.” I have a vastly different opinion.

I enjoyed the fact that Jane Bowles’ first and only novel takes place in Panama. That is the reason I chose to read it, and the only reason I finished the book. Since I was curious about how and why she chose Panama as the setting, I dug up a little biographical information about Mrs. Bowles. Though, I didn’t accomplish my goal of understanding why she chose Panama as her setting, I did learn that Jane Bowles was an American who lived abroad in France and Switzerland as a teenager. Later, she lived in Mexico and, then, Morocco. She was married to Paul Bowles, who is the author of The Sheltering Sky, and she was also Jewish, Lesbian, and “temperamentally and artistically original.” Jane Bowles died in a Spanish convent in 1973.

This little novel, Two Serious Ladies, is 200 pages long and is weird. Apparently, though, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, and a few others consider it a modern classic. Yes, the style is modernistic, but the novel is also scattered, hard-to-follow, and much-too-much work to get anything out of it. Basically, it garnered a few smiles at a witty line or two and some nostalgic enjoyment reading “time and place” details about Panama.

The main characters are the two serious ladies: Christina Goering and Frieda Copperfield. Both of these ladies live sheltered upper middle-class lives in New York, and they embark on separate life journeys, possibly trying to find meaning in their own lives.

Christina Goering, referred to as Miss Goering, is a spinster and daughter of a powerful industrialist. She decides to sell her beautiful home and move to a run-down house on a nearby island. She invites two people (her companion, Miss Gamelon and a new acquaintance, Arnold) to join her in living on the island. None of them find happiness on the island, and Miss Goering leaves her friends and takes the ferry back to the mainland where she chances upon random adventures.

The other main character, Frieda Copperfield—referred to as Mrs. Copperfield—is  married to a man who loves travel and adventure. She reluctantly agrees to accompany her husband on his latest exploration to Panama. Mrs. Copperfield does not enjoy being a typical tourist and refuses to stay at the traditional (and acceptable) Hotel Washington. Since she is the one with the money and the one funding the trip, the Copperfields have an unconventional time in Panama. Mrs. Copperfield finds a room at the hotel/bar of Madame Quill in the red-light district of Colon, Panama and befriends a young prostitute name Pacifica while Mr. Copperfield takes the train to Panama City and goes exploring the jungle. Through the unlikely friendship with Pacifica, Mrs. Copperfield learns a lot about herself. I’m not quite sure what life lessons she learns, but Mrs. Copperfield says she did.

While I enjoy reading literary books, indie books, and off-the-wall type books, this book was not for me. At the end of the book, I felt a sigh of relief that I reached the last page. For me, Mrs. Bowles was working very hard to create a story about two entitled women looking for meaning in their lives. To do that, the author chose to take her characters on paths that would be perceived as scornful and scandalous—a trope, I find, tiresome and elitist.

Coming soon: My new book should be available during the middle of November. I’ve been working on this book for years, and I ‘m so excited to see it published.  When you purchase this book, be careful you purchase the one with my name Judy Haisten. There are a couple other books with similar titles, and it can be confusing.

 

Canal Zone Brats Forever: Kathleen Cox Richardson

Thank-you, Kathleen Cox Richardson for bringing this book to print. For sure, it is an enjoyable read. Canal Zone Brats Forever is a memoir about Kathleen’s family’s life in the Panama Canal Zone during the 1940’s and ‘50’s. The Cox family primarily lived on the Atlantic side, Cristobal

Kathleen’s parents met in 1934 at a cocktail party in Panama where her father worked for the Panama Canal Company and her mother “just happened to stop there on a cruise.”  Kathleen’s father had been sent by the U.S. Army to Panama in 1923, where he later received his discharge and began working for the Panama Canal Company. He enjoyed spending his Saturday nights at the Stranger Club, a popular dance hall housed in a concrete building that jutted out over Limón Bay. Her mother had been a school teacher on Long Island, New York and shared an apartment with Jenny, her college roommate and fellow teacher. Jenny suggested they take a cruise to South America and stop in Panama where Jenny’s aunt and uncle lived. While they were there, Jenny’s aunt hosted a dinner party, and that is where Kathleen’s parents met.

Kathleen engages her readers in fun anecdotes and stories about her family as well as typical daily life in the (former) Canal Zone. Some of her narrative references bits and pieces of world history to provide a fuller context of the time period. For example, she reminiscences her family’s experiences of Christmas during the war years of 1941-45. Kathleen reminaces:

From 1942 to 1945 because commercial shipping consisted only of necessities, Christmas trees were scarce. However, being creative people, Mom and Dad stripped an old umbrella of its fabric and created a “tree” by winding crepe paper around the spokes upon which we hung ornaments. If an ornament broke, they salvaged it by rolling the pieces between brown paper until they resembled glitter, cut star shapes out of KLIM can lids and glued the “glitter” to the metal. It was finished off with a hole made in one of the points and fastened to the tree with an ornament hook.

 She also writes about a little-known treaty that U.S. President Eisenhower signed with Panama’s President Remón in 1955. Under this agreement, the U.S. handed over jurisdiction of New Cristobal, including homes, schools, and churches. The Zonians that lived there had to relocate on a very short notice to other housing in the Canal Zone. That was twenty-two years before the 1977 Carter/Torrijos treaty.

Kathleen’s book is light-hearted and charming. For Zonians, Canal Zone Brats Forever will let you momentarily escape to an incredible fun time in your life. For other readers, Canal Zone Brats Forever will give you a glimpse of Canal Zone life during the 1940-50 generation. I enjoyed reading her book.

I wanted to write this book about living in the Canal Zone as way of preserving the past and sharing this part of history with my children and yes, grandchildren. I wanted them to know what a special place this was and how we loved it there. It had been my own dream (as well as my sisters) to raise our families there. Since that couldn’t happen, I decided to write this memoir.
I loved living in Gamboa and Balboa Panama (formerly the Canal Zone). It was a good life for me and my sisters. Writing this book has led to many opportunities to speak in schools, libraries, and other forums about a part of American history not so often mentioned.
Jamaican author and publisher Marcus Garvey wrote, “A people without the knowledge of the past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.” I agree. This is my way of reconnecting roots.
If you have read my book, thank you. Please share your favorite part(s) with me on Facebook. If you believe, like I do, that this piece of history should be preserved, please consider contacting your library to order this book. I am involved in new research of Panama for my new book and future projects. Unfortunately, this leaves little time for me to respond to inquiries or keeping a regular posting schedule of postings. I do read your comments, but may not have time to comment back like I would love to. Thank you so much for your support.