A Thousand Words
By Jock Lauterer
“O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again.â€
Remember the first time you read Look Homeward Angel? If you’re like me, that first reading of Thomas Wolfe’s classic was transformative; it literally changed the way I thought about writing. as a newly minted mountain newspaper editor-publisher, I was deeply moved by Wolfe’s dark elegance. to this day, I can tell you exactly where my ’60s-era copy of the book is positioned in my book- shelves. So how cool is it that over spring break I chanced upon tHe angel! She stands humbly in an out-of-the-way cemetery on the outskirts of Hendersonville, off N.c. 64, the back way to bre- vard. a nearby state historical marker reads: “Marble statue from the Asheville shop of W.O. Wolfe. Inspired title of son Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward Angel. Stands 150 feet south.†a visit should be on every North Carolinian’s bucket list.
A THOUSAND WORDS
Do you have an important old photo that you value? Email your photo to jock@email.unc.edu and include the story behind the picture. Because every picture tells a story. And its worth? A thousand words.
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I certainly think it is an interesting statue, actually pretty artistic, kinda nice with the lily in her hand and pointing up to a certain flower resurrection. Also the white Carrera marble makes it look really bright and pretty. Superior materials to our NC marble, if there is any, lord knows we have none in SC, so the statue is quite nice and worthy to look out and think about, really not silly at all as TW describes it (though I love the “phthisic feet.”
No, it’s not ugly or insulting artistically. It’s beautiful. And, of course, in the interests of his story, TW describes the angel’s “simpering smile,” so I wanted to see if she, or he, whatever, was smiling, and he/she’s not, so I feel he, TW, is being a little unfair to the statue in the interest of proving a point, ie, that he don’t like Asheville. Only in Altamont or Hendersonville do angels smile simperingly; in the rest of the places, they look neutral, like this one. OK he hates the place to the point of dissing an actually purty piece of marble. It’s not Michelangelo, but close. Real decent.
So, while the statue is not better than the book, since angels, I believe, do exist, but only as the angel of death, which is Wolfe’s forte, it can, possibly, arguably, symbolize our only real angels, those of our souls and higher beings that are quite human. But Wolfe may not let me get by with that one! Or would he, if I had a chance to convince him, he certainly being the most angelic of men, with an open heart and mind to experience and thought. Such an interpretation works for me. We can’t ask for help or guardian angels, but our own solitary, single selves–even if o lost (as doomed as any Faulkner character, except the redoubtable Lena Grove)– along with getting in touch with our fated, inevitable, hopefully, gurus. can fit the symbolic bill. What do you think?
Thanks for the chance to chat.
Jim