{"id":102347,"date":"2021-05-19T17:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T21:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=102347"},"modified":"2021-05-19T18:55:51","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T22:55:51","slug":"cc-tom-long-is-our-town-everybodys-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=102347","title":{"rendered":"(CC) Tom Long–Is Our Town everybody\u2019s town?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the heart of Our Town<\/em> is a profound Christian eschatology, a theological perspective that playwright A. R. Gurney says pervaded all of Wilder\u2019s mature work<\/strong>. In Our Town<\/em>, this eschatology is brought to focus on human mortality. Death runs like a ribbon through Grover\u2019s Corners. In the very first minutes of the play, the stage manager, speaking from the vantage point of the future, matter-of-factly informs us of the coming deaths of the first three characters we have met. As the play proceeds, we are told of a number of other, usually premature, deaths. When the stage manager introduces a local university professor to supply some historical details about Grover\u2019s Corners, he advises him to be brief, saying, \u201cUnfortunately our time is limited.\u201d By the third act, which begins in the cemetery, we realize what he meant.<\/p>\n

All of this death, so much of it unexpected and untimely, does not lead to unrelieved tragedy. To the contrary, Wilder sees the fleeting nature of life as one of the factors that render human life precious. Like sacramental bread and wine, human lives and relationships are earthly and perishable but also bearers of the sacred, the eternal.<\/p>\n

So much the pity, then, that when Our Town<\/em> was made into a Hollywood film in 1940, the third act was damaged. In the movie, Emily only dreams that she has died. She delivers her final speeches in a fever from her sickbed, then recovers and returns to her life in Grover\u2019s Corners. This makes the film happier, more sentimental, something akin, Sherman observes, to the sunny \u201cthere\u2019s no place like home\u201d outlook of The Wizard of Oz<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowledge has no light but that shed on the world by redemption,\u201d said T. W. Adorno. In Our Town<\/em>, the light of redemption shines on the fragility of human life, revealing hidden holiness. One significant way this happens is through the singing of the Congregational church choir, which Wilder employs as a kind of hometown Greek chorus. They sing three hymns, all with eschatological themes: \u201cBlessed Be the Tie That Binds,\u201d \u201cArt Thou Weary, Art Thou Languid,\u201d and \u201cLove Divine All Loves Excelling.\u201d The first is of particular importance. It is sung on three occasions in the play: at choir practice on the first day, at Emily and George\u2019s wedding, and at Emily\u2019s funeral. \u201cI always liked that hymn,\u201d one of the dead in the cemetery says. \u201cI was hopin\u2019 they\u2019d sing a hymn.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third act usually provokes a cathartic response. What is the source of that power?<\/div>\n

The hymn affirms the resonance between heaven and earth, between fleeting mortality and eternity, which is the central truth of Our Town<\/em>. As the ordinary people of Grover\u2019s Corners share their mutual woes and bear their mutual burdens, the choir reminds us that \u201cthe fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.\u201d As Eugene Peterson rendered the incarnational claim of John\u2019s Gospel, \u201cThe Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood\u201d\u2014and that blessed neighborhood is Grover\u2019s Corners.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a> (emphasis mine in first sentence).<\/p>\n

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Fun fact–Thornton Wilder arrived at @LvilleSchool<\/a> in 1921. He served as assistant house master of Davis House, French instructor, and advisor to The Lit. During his tenure, he published The Trumpet Shall Sound, The Cabala,+The Bridge of San Luis Rey #books<\/a> #history<\/a> #NewJersey<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/N6ZILNedpK<\/a><\/p>\n

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) May 19, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n