“A SEPARATE PEACE”, NOVEL BY JOHN KNOWLES AND THE 1972 FILM, A TALE ABOUT “UPWARD AFFILIATION”
JUNE 6, 2015 JBOUSHKA@AOL.COM LEAVE A COMMENT EDIT
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I haven’t seen many films twice, but “A Separate Peace“, directed by Larry Peerce, had special importance, as I saw it during that period I was working for the government and living “near home” in 1972, and then again after moving away for my “Second Coming” in 1973.
In fact, I read the paperback of the novel by John Knowles (1959, Secker and Warburg). I particularly remember when (first-person observer) Gene “jousts” the limb when he and his best friend, Finny, are climbing the tree. Gene (Parker Stevenson in the film) worshiped his friend (John Heyl) with a process that I often call “upward affiliation“. The incident seemed to come from a momentary compulsive urge.
Finny gets a broken thigh, and normally should have healed OK, and still trusts and loves his friend. But an unusual medical tragedy ensues; he gets an embolism, which travels to his heart or lung and it kills him. This was medicine in the 50s and 60s. Today, they usually prevent this with blood thinners.
In my own life, I made a “separate peace” regarding in own “inequality”. I lived separately and productively. But eventually others do come knocking.
The film (Paramount) can be rented on YouTube for $2.99.
I believe Knowles wrote a short story called "The Reading of the Will".
(Published Saturday, June 6, 2015, 4:45 PM EDT)