#641 Persons and Places- John Keene
This is a very creative idea for a story about two students—one black and one Ibernian—both highly intelligent, accomplished, and yet isolated Harvard men that quietly cross paths near campus. The year is 1890. Each one is in his head and in a very contemplative mood, thinking hard about their studies, their situation and the other as they pass without physical acknowledgment.
This story is written as complementary journal entries, presented side by side, a counter-narrative I suppose. Being people of color at a very conservative institution in the late nineteenth century, they are understandably standoff-ish and careful with whom they associate. They recognize that being on a social one-man island is something they could appreciate about each other. Maybe next time they will cross paths they will strike up a conversation.
Notable Passage: “He observes me as if he has already examined the catalogue of ideas and impressions which I shall tell him when we eventually speak, of the gulf between the true-self and the world outside and how the mind, through its exercises, bridges it…”
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