kentmcm

I guess that I have to think that the name “Lucinda” was used in the film more because of its symbolism and because it’s a name that has a bit of a period quality. It was much more common in the 19th and early 20th century and contains the root meaning of “light”.

The movie strikes me as yet another foray into masculine psychology – or the group psychology of a society run along patriarchal principles – in which the transformational figure is feminine or personifies the feminine principle. There is an entire genre of these things.

Kent

Thanks for mentioning this. I hadn’t realized that Buick 6 has a CD out, but had been wishing they did. While the cover photo is a hoot, apparently the tape came off for at least one track on the album, an alternate take of “Well, Well, Well”.

You can order them on this website at the link below (go to Page 2 of the link):

http://lucindawilliams.gtmusic360.com/storecategory94.aspx

Edit: For some reason the on-line store doesn’t seem to be working at the moment.

Kent

I admire Miller Williams’ work every bit as much as I do Lucinda’s and have been trying to decide how to describe the differences in the voices of their writing, the approaches to their material.

It seems to me that they’re similar personality types, only Miller is likely an introvert and Lucinda an extrovert. Using the practical system of description of personality that the Swiss psychologist, C.G. Jung devised, I’d be willing to bet that Lucinda is an Extroverted Intuitive Feeling type, an ENFP in the Myers-Briggs elaboration of Jung’s typology.

I don’t get nearly as strong a feeling content from Miller’s work as is in Lucinda’s. Naturally, it permeates his poems, but not front and center. They are more an account of someone with very deeply held convictions, but always in the background, lurking beneath the surface of the narrative.

One of the more interesting things I’ve read about Miller is that he began college as an English major, was persuaded to study biology instead, pursued medical studies, and actually taught biology before his return to an English department as a faculty member upon the recommendation of Flannery O’Connor. I would guess that he’s the introverted version of his daughter’s type, an INFJ.

I apologize if this psychologizing is obnoxious. Somehow, I doubt that Miller would mind the dissection. He’d object to getting it wrong – if I have – and the brief, lifeless descriptions of something as complicated as personality.

Kent

By the way, here’s a bit of language trivia that caught my eye while reading one particular Miller Williams poem recently. In his daughter’s “Little Angel, Little Brother” there’s this great metaphor:

I see you now at the piano, your back a slow curve

It’s an unusual phrase that I associate with baseball. The metaphor is perfect, conveying a sense of athleticism and a setup for the explosion of action in the image (“Playin’ Ray Charles and Fats Domino”) that follows. But it is an unsual phrase.

That’s why it caught my eye in Miller’s poem “Late Show” (a wonderful poem, by the way) in the collection entitled “Distractions”:

He sits on the bed, his back a slow curve …

The shared usage is something that just looks as if it ought to have at least a little story behind it.

– Kent

Thanks for mentioning this. I’ve been reading his collection “Some Jazz a While” and will be interested to read what has followed. I like how work very much.