By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, by Elizabeth
Smart along with By Heart: Elizabeth Smart - A Life, by Rosemary Sullivan
Have you ever been engulfed by a romance so passionionate
that you lose yourself, and then he goes and dumps you? In Elizabeth Smart’s classic novella, By
Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, the young woman describes her
loss of self when the poet takes her under a waterfall: she “could no more
refuse than the earth can refuse the rain". How romantic is that?
From the moment she finds his book of poetry she is so smitten
that she dedicates herself to finding him, and bringing him to her. She finances his trip to North America, lays
herself down at his feet, has ‘welcome’ tattooed onto her forehead and finally gets
dumped at the train station in New York, pregnant, penniless and alone.
This beautiful piece of writing was not fiction in Smart’s
mind. She saw it as autobiography. If you are reading this for literature therapy, or bibliotherapy, you must read Rosemary Sullivan’s
By Heart: Elizabeth Smart - A Life because it objectively picks up where
Smart dropped herself off on the train platform. We find out the extent to which the smitten Smart
follows this man, goes on to have his numerous children, and is ruthlessly
exploited by the cad. Even so, you can’t
help but wistfully wish you were her, because she does live her life so vividly. No half measures, no hand wringing! But these two books combined can bring on a
more lucid understanding of how romantic love can blind one, and clarity is
always a good cure for finding your way to you. If you only read Smart's novella, you could be led down quite the garden path. If it's healing you want, read Smart's first, then Sullivan's.
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