One to Grow on Come True

Last December 7 we honored our Aunt Virginia Poletti on the occasion of her 100^th birthday. At that time I wrote a story called “And One to Grow On.” Well the one has come around again and this year we are celebrating her 101st year. Happy Birthday, Aunt Virginia. Here’s one more to grow on.

Virginia and husband "Mac" at their Spruce Head cottage, circa 60s-70s.

Virginia is proud that she can still quote Shakespeare (and she does often). Here’s her favorite quote from Macbeth’s soliloquy in act 5, scene 5 of Macbeth.

“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time.

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.”

                                                       

Fun Facts

Of course the sound and fury mentioned in line 9 became the title of a book by William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, published in 1929. That was the beginning of the Great Depression, a time that Virginia and her husband, Constatine, (Uncle Mac to us) lived through. It was not an easy time in our country.

The story tells of a family who are descendants of a Civil War hero. The story spans 30 years, in which time the family falls into financial ruin; loses its religious faith and the respect of the town of Jefferson; and in which many of their members die tragically. Typical Faulkner fair. Save your reread of this one for after the holidays.

The Sound and the Fury was Faulkner’s fourth novel. In 1998, Modern Library ranked it 6^th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20^th century.