It Was All a Dream! (But What If It Wasn't?)
Further Thoughts on "The Coffin Maker"
First, a quick announcement: On Monday, December 1st (i.e., tomorrow), Paula will be doing an event here, at Godmothers Books in Santa Barbara, interviewed by our dear friend and legendary photographer Stewart Shining - as previously mentioned, it should be a very special conversation, as Stewart and Paula were next-door neighbors, growing up in Rapid City, South Dakota. I’ll be there and hoping to see some of you there too.
On to Pushkin…
One of my reservations about “The Coffin Maker” (and many of you mentioned this as well) is that “it was all a dream” ending. The whole story, any story, is a dream of sorts – it didn’t happen and yet, while we’re in it, we’re asked to believe in it, and we agree to do so – and, in the case of a story with this sort of ending, our trust is, in a sense, violated.