Epiphany of a Middle-Aged Pilgrim by Peter Wortsman: Essays in lieu of a Memoir
Peter Wortsman is good company; a raconteur known for his short fiction, stage plays, and translations, such as KONUNDRUM, a translation of Kafka that made me laugh. In EPIPHANY OF A MIDDLE-AGED PILGRIM: essays in lieu of a memoir , he relates the trepidation of being middle aged, as well as the mysteries of a life half lived. In ( A forword) , he ruminates: "The only difference between then and now is an accumulation of doubt. But doubt need not necessarily be debilitating. I dedicate these musings to the defining punctuation mark of middle age: the semicolon, a veritable hallmark of uncertainty." Wortsman can make the prosaic terra incognito, such as First Memory , where a drawbridge and a child's fear of containing "pipi" merge. In Rough Cuts , there's humorous swagger about the removal of a skin cancer like "a kind of shoot-out at the O.K. Corral." He also creates strangely beautiful moments that are absurd. In Spirit Tree , a wild sapl...