Miss MacIntosh, My Darling: Chapter 79: The Woman Who Was My Father, Marian Seldes

Marian Seldes reads from Chapter 79 “The Woman Who Was My Father” of Miss MacIntosh, My Darling by Marguerite Young. Seldes was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1995. By that time, she had acted on the stage, in film, television, and on the radio. In 2010 she was honored with a Tony Lifetime Achievement Award. Her first Tony was won in 1967 for her performance in A Delicate Balance.

Perhaps Esther Longtree’s unscrupulous sexual behavior has something to do with her own parentage. In this chapter, Esther contemplates this very idea because she herself was conceived under bewildering circumstances. Some people blame Esther for her own conception as her mother and father never consummated their marriage. Instead, her father impregnated her mother by kissing her on the forehead.

Often compared to James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, Young's novel resonates with unique and poignant observations of American culture, in an epic and surrealist poetic prose. It took the under-recognized, enigmatic and iconoclastic author eighteen years of work to complete this dense, two volume novel.

In 1976-77, Charles Ruas produced a series of WBAI radio programs focused on literature and radio performance, called The Reading Experiment. As part of this series, Miss MacIntosh, My Darling was read over a year-long period by Marguerite Young’s contemporaries from the New York City literature, music, and theater communities. All readings are underscored with soundscapes and music by artist Rob Wynne.

This program has been restored by The Clocktower Radio; with the assistance of Charles Ruas; and by agreement with The Yale Beinecke Library, home to the Marguerite Young Papers. Special thanks to Dr. Contance Eichenlaub for her passion and generosity.

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