W;t

We chose Wit, a play by Margaret Edson, as our next book. It's a very short book, a quick read. Betsy M recommended it. She said it fit the definition for her of a book that is significant.

It reminds us how much is going on inside a person when on the outside you may not see much. In that way it made me think of the book by Joan Didion that I read, The Year of Magical Thinking, which she wrote in the year after her husband's sudden death.

The doctors in this play seem pretty much oblivious to the real "person-ness" of Vivian. They see her more as just a patient, something they're treating and watching for results. Sometimes they don't even look at her when they come in, just her chart or just the other doctors or nurses in the room.

In one scene, Vivian starts to ask a doctor if he'll be sorry when she dies, then changes it to ask more generally does he ever miss people. He says he tells people that he will and some are persuaded. Then when Vivian asks what he says when a patient is afraid or apprehensive he is so clueless he says, "Of who?" When she tells him never mind he starts to quiz her with questions you ask someone to test if they're confused - who's the president and that kind of thing.

There's a nurse in the play who is very caring, and a professor who taught Vivian (Vivian is a professor herself) who visits and is very kind, too.

The book has references to "wit" that I'm sure would be more meaningful if I knew Dante's work. In fact I'm sure the whole play would be more meaningful if I knew Dante. I'm hoping some of the other members will clue us into what I've missed.