Book Nook Cafe discussion

Wit: A Play ~ Margaret Edson

Discussion begins on Nov. 15th

*Please read the entire play by this date.
The play is under 100 pages.
We will not be using spoiler warnings in our posts.

Awards:
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, and the Oppenheimer AwardAbout the Author
Margaret Edson was born in Washington, D.C. in 1961. She has degrees in history and literature. She wrote Wit in 1991, after a period spent working as a clerk in the oncology/AIDS department of a Washington hospital in 1985. Edson now lives in Atlanta, where she teaches kindergarten.

Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Faber & Faber; 1st edition (March 29, 1999)
ISBN-10: 0571198775

Play discription -- *** Contains SPOILERS

Margaret Edson’s powerfully imagined Pulitzer Prize–winning play examines what makes life worth living through her exploration of one of existence’s unifying experiences—mortality—while she also probes the vital importance of human relationships. What we as her audience take away from this remarkable drama is a keener sense that, while death is real and unavoidable, our lives are ours to cherish or throw away—a lesson that can be both uplifting and redemptive. As the playwright herself puts it, “The play is not about doctors or even about cancer. It’s about kindness, but it shows arrogance. It’s about compassion, but it shows insensitivity.”

In Wit, Edson delves into timeless questions with no final answers: How should we live our lives knowing that we will die? Is the way we live our lives and interact with others more important than what we achieve materially, professionally, or intellectually? How does language figure into our lives? Can science and art help us conquer death, or our fear of it? What will seem most important to each of us about life as that life comes to an end?

The immediacy of the presentation, and the clarity and elegance of Edson’s
writing, make this sophisticated, multilayered play accessible to almost any
interested reader.

As the play begins, Vivian Bearing, a renowned professor of English who has
spent years studying and teaching the intricate, difficult Holy Sonnets of the
seventeenth-century poet John Donne, is diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. Confident of her ability to stay in control of events, she brings to her illness the same intensely rational and painstakingly methodical approach that has guided her stellar academic career. But as her disease and its excruciatingly
painful treatment inexorably progress, she begins to question the single-minded
values and standards that have always directed her, finally coming to understand the aspects of life that make it truly worth living.

Wit - HBO film

I see my library has a copy of the HBO movie. I thought I would post about it here. This way if you want to get it from your library or Netflix before we begin our discussion on Nov. 15 you have time. Amazon has it for $6.

http://www.amazon.com/Wit-Emma-Thomps...

- Details
Actors: Emma Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Atkins, Audra McDonald, Jonathan M. Woodward
Directors: Mike Nichols
Writers: Emma Thompson, Mike Nichols, Margaret Edson

IMBD link: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0243664/

My library had the video of Wit. I decided to watch it today. Well, I have to admit I had to watch it with a box of tissues at my side. Isn't it odd, even though we know what we are watching isn't real, it can move us so profoundly.

Alias, i know! There are times when a Hallmark commercial makes my eyes water or a person saying one sentence. Something which touches some part of our psyches & can do so in a nanosecond. I guess it's called being human, eh?

I think it's more than hormones, as i've been this way for a couple of decades. OTOH, i haven't always been this way, it only started when i was in my late 30s. I don't know but it's fascinating.

deborah

I'm out of town, writing from my laptop, but when I get home next week I plan to watch Wit. I remember seeing the play and being very involved with the main character.

Me too! That is, i'm using my sister's laptop, my first try in years. This is easier than i thought. ANYway, i'm hoping to get a copy of Wit this week, at last.

deborah

My DH and I watched Emma Thompson in Wit yesterday, and I am still waiting for the script to arrive via interlibrary loan. We saw the play in Madison about eight years ago, and were impressed by the ideas in the play. Seems to me that the stage version ends slightly differently than the film did, but I have to read to be sure. I'll need to do my discussing tomorrow and next week, because then we'll be out of town for a week.

It occurred to me how interesting coincidences are in life: we went to the library Thursday evening to hear local doctor/professor/NPR host Zorba Paster speak about his ideas about living the "sweet" life. In short, his prescription is to take a vitamin every day, eat like a Mediterranean and include a glass of wine or beer (unless you have problems with that), exercise, and try to balance work, social ties, and spiritual concerns.

http://www.pri.org/zorba-paster-bio.h...

I'm afraid most of the characters in Wit lived unbalanced lives, short on relationships and long on intellectual concerns.

Deborah, I think I've stumbled on to the answer to my question of why we are able to get so emotionally involved when reading or watching a movie. I wondered about this after crying while reading Wit.

In my current read, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the author writes about Mirror neurons. Mirror neurons dissolve the barrier between ourselves and others.

The following is the author talking about getting physically involved while watching a diving match on TV.

"When you watch someone doing something, the same neurons that they activate in order to do something become active in your brain, without you doing a thing.

...What if literature were a television we gaze into in order to activate our mirror neuron and give ourselves some action packed cheap thrill? And even worse: what if literature were a television showing us all the thins we have missed."

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_n...
A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another.[1:] Thus, the neuron "mirrors" the behavior of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. Such neurons have been directly observed in primates, and are believed to occur in humans and other species including birds. In humans, brain activity consistent with that of mirror neurons has been found in the premotor cortex and the inferior parietal cortex.

Some scientists consider mirror neurons one of the most important recent discoveries in neuroscience. Among them is V.S. Ramachandran, who believes they might be very important in imitation and language acquisition.[2:] However, despite the popularity of this field, to date no widely accepted neural or computational models have been put forward to describe how mirror neuron activity supports cognitive functions such as imitation.[3:]

The function of the mirror system is a subject of much speculation. Many researchers in cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology consider that this system provides the physiological mechanism for the perception action coupling (see the common coding theory). These mirror neurons may be important for understanding the actions of other people, and for learning new skills by imitation. Some researchers also speculate that mirror systems may simulate observed actions, and thus contribute to theory of mind skills,[4:][5:] while others relate mirror neurons to language abilities.[6:] It has also been proposed that problems with the mirror system may underlie cognitive disorders, particularly autism.[7:][8:] However the connection between mirror neuron dysfunction and autism remains speculative and it is unlikely that mirror neurons are related to many of the important characteristics of autism.[3:]


I see from google that NOVA did a show on this. I have to keep an eye out for it. Maybe I'll see if Amazon has a very basic book on it. I find this fascinating. It can explain why fans get so involved with sports. I wonder if it explains people who have no empathy for others.

Sherry: I'm afraid most of the characters in Wit lived unbalanced lives, short on relationships and long on intellectual concerns.
=============================

Yes. That was quite clear with the young doctor/researcher. At times the patient was no more than an object to study. Maybe his mirror neurons were faulty. :)

Your comments about mirror neurons reminds me of research I read about building rapport, People who wish to build rapport with another (police interviewers, counselors, car sales people) consciously mirror posture, speech patterns, volume and pace, and so on. We're hard wired to respond to others, and the more we "mirror" them the more we are perceived as being someone others can like and trust.

Interesting, Sherry. I can see how this can have many applications.

It's a fascinating subject. I know when people talk too loud, fast, or are very upset they say to respond in a more moderate tone and speak slowly. More often than not the person will "mirror" you. Well....some people :) Us New Yorkers are a loud bunch !

Fascinating research Alias! I know when I was in sales for all those years I was famous for smiling and nodding and getting people to say yes!!!!

Thank goodness I am avery ethical person. I learned to use my 'powers' wisely.

Donna in Southern Maryland

Alias Reader wrote: ""When you watch someone doing something, the same neurons that they activate in order to do something become active in your brain, without you doing a thing. ..."

IF ONLY this were true of everything! I'd be as fit as a fiddle just by watching exercise programs! OR maybe not, if i also had to gain the calories from watching those on cooking shows eat. Hmmm.

ABOUT THE PLAY...
I found it a fascinating reading experience. Fearing i'd be lost in the Donne poetry, the author anticipated me & made it comfortable. (While also leading me to wonder why i haven't read more by him.) I ended up appreciating the way she echoed his work, or at least the part she shared with readers/viewers.

The actress on the cover of the edition of the play i read is a woman whose work i've liked for years, even though i didn't know her name, Kathleen Chalfant. I had no idea she was associated with this play but found imagining her in the play was a breeze. I couldn't imagine her in the end, though. It takes daring, i believe, for an actress my age to walk naked on the stage!

ANYway, i have a question about the way the play was produced on film. Did Emma Thompson portray herself as a younger woman or was another actess used? I wondered how effective that would be, as i felt it was important. Lately i've had several people mention how, despite the fact they are over 50, they still feel very young. This might make a difference in how one would view the filmed version. Just curious.

deborah

Gosh, I just saw it a few weeks ago and don't know. Maybe in flashbacks it was someone else? My memory is so bad. Sherry just saw it maybe she will know.

I hope we can start to discuss this play soon. My memory is horrid.

Deborah, Emma Thompson played herself as both a long-haired student and as a tough-as-nails professor with salt-and-pepper hair (until she loses it).

Having seen both and play and the film, it occurs to me that although the film is obviously based on a play, the film elicited a more visceral reaction from me. I think it's almost like the stage version, which can't help feeling rather artificial, made me react intellectually, but the film touched me heart more. It's probably the close ups that film allows, and the way Emma Thompson portrays both detached intellect and incredible suffering. The script still hasn't arrived via inter-library loan. It'll probably show up tomorrow.

Another weird coincidence. I was at a folk music concert this afternoon, and the woman who sat beside me was a teacher who suffers from some esoteric and currently incurable disease, and is in a clinical trial at Mayo Clinic. She said that she was afraid to be a guinea pig, but that so far the doctors have treated her very well. Lord, I hope so. After seeing Wit, I'm not sure I would choose that option.

Thank you, Alias & Sherry, for answering my question. I understand exactly what you mean, Sherry, about the movie's close ups making a stronger impact. Emma Thompson is an actress i can easily see in this role, btw. She has a sweet image in my head but when she plays a testier person the character seems more real, if you will.

Sherry, you are running into coincidences wherever you turn! I'm with you, i'm unsure how willing i would be to be a test subject. I fear i'd spend too much of my valuable time analysing the process & forget to enjoy my remaining time. I'm not sure that makes sense but i'm a people-pleaser & would probably feel a sense of duty to be as thorough as possible at a time when i want to concentrate on myself & my loved ones.

deborah

I'm going to be out most of the day, but this morning I found this page, a guide to Wit. Apparently it was created when the Madison Rep (now defunct) staged the play. You may find something to spark comment here:

http://faculty.smu.edu/tmayo/witguide...

This is from the very good link that Sherry posted: http://faculty.smu.edu/tmayo/witguide...

"Vivian has always lived a life of the mind. Trained to be a scholar and teacher, she values intellect and ideas. On being informed that she has advanced ovarian cancer and that the treatment will be difficult to endure, she replies cavalierly: "It appears to be a matter, as the saying goes, of life and death. I know all about life and death. I am, after all, a scholar of Donne's Holy Sonnets, which explore mortality. . "

Donne's Holy Sonnet entitled "This is my Playes Last Scene" describes the brief moment of death when the soul leaves the body:

This is my playes last scene; here heavens appoint
My pilgrimages last mile; and my race
Idly, yet quickly runne, hath this last pace,
My spans last inch, my minutes last point
And gluttonous death, will instantly unjoynt
My body, and soule, and I shall sleepe a space,
But my'ever-waking part shall see that face,
Whose feare already shakes my every joynt:
Then, as my soule, to'heaven her first seate, takes flight,
And earth-borne body, in the earth shall dwell,
So, fall my sinnes, that all may have their right,
To where they'are bred, and would presse me, to hell.
Impute me righteous, thus purg'd of evill,
For thus I leave the world, the flesh and devill.
----------------------------------------------------


It is interesting that the poem is about the moment when the soul leaves the body. In the play, Jason Posner, forgets or does not know there is a DNR on the patient an attempts to resuscitate her. In my opinion, it is one last indignity she is made suffer.

This part I think wasn't too realistic. In my experience there usually is a sign above the patients bed that says DNR and sometimes even a bracelet on the patient. I've also never experienced a doctor who was treating a cancer patient in such a cold clinical manner. I guess there are some out there, but I think this is the exception to the rule.

Do you think Jason did not know or forgot? How could he not know?

http://faculty.smu.edu/tmayo/witguide.ht...


It takes the power of his poetic imagination for Donne to defeat death, whom he addresses directly in this Holy Sonnet:

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore Death, nor yet canst thou kill mee;
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleepe past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.
---------------------------------------------------

I liked the scene where they discuss the comma in the last line of this poem. It may seem too didactic to some, but I think it made a huge difference.

The poem also brought back to mind the classic book by John Gunter's titled Death Be Not Proud. I read that last year.

I just got the script and am sitting down to read it. As for the way Jason disregards the DNR order, perhaps ten years ago those sorts of wishes were not routinely observed. I don't really know. Certainly Edson is making a point with this brutal scene about the need for human contact, kindness and dignity.

Alias, if you recently read Death Be Not Proud you must have been struck, as I was, by how much cancer treatment has changed.

Alias Reader wrote: "I've also never experienced a doctor who was treating a cancer patient in such a cold clinical manner. I guess there are some out there, but I think this is the exception to the rule.

Do you think Jason did not know or forgot? How could he not know? ..."

I felt the treatment the doctor & Jason gave Vivian reflected the way they experienced her. Both knew her in her professional stance and saw a similar attitude during the treatments. She was one determined woman. I wonder if Jason didn't just presume she would want to fight & fight, never want to "surrender"?

Sherry, good point about the Gunther book. My SIL has a brain tumor & the approach taken is dramatically different from much i've read in the past about it. Even her chemo has been in-home! Remarkable.

Still, the personality issue is strongest in this play. I feel Vivian finally began to comprehend Donne as more than an intellectual force for the first time in her life. Do we know how her parents died? I've already forgotten, if it was mentioned.

deborah

Well OK, I plowed through the script and a couple of things came to mind. The first was how ironic that though Vivian spent her career dissecting John Donne, two of the most important books in her life are children's books about bunnies. Her life is encircled by bunny stories. I'm not sure how this is significant...other than each scene is one of tenderness. LOL, one of the play's many ironies I guess.

I also was struck by how different the ending of the play is from the ending of the movie. Of course in the play at the end Vivian stands naked in a light shining from above her, a resurrection, the Donne poem made real. I remember this from seeing the stage play, and it leaves the audience with a sense of hope rather than the overwhelming sadness of the end of the film. It seems to me that Edson sees Vivian as redeemed, resurrected, so I wonder by director Mike Nichols made the choice to be more "realistic" and end simply with her death.

I loved the scene where the old professor reads the children's book to her. It was so touching.
To be honest, I cried so I gave myself a headache.

Deb, I don't recall if they say anything about her parents.

On the plus side, Vivian's more intellectual approach to life helped her through the "treatment". And her intellectual side made her want to help science. I enjoyed her sarcastic wit.

I don't think the play ever says how Vivian's parents died.

It's frustrating sometimes, in a narrative as condensed and focused as a play, when questions arise that cannot be answered. How did Ms. Bearing's parents die? Why did she never marry? What is E.M. really like and why did she decide to visit at this critical time in Vivian's life (and death)?

E.M. is interesting. Initially she is presented as being all intellect, all challenge, all business. But then there is that wonderful tender moment when she reads to her former student, and we learn that she has a five-year-old grandson. Clearly she has fashioned a life that includes other people.

Thanks for the replies re. V's parents. I didn't think i'd forgotten, as those would be the only real relationships in her life, as far as we know.

The part about E.M. is fascinating. They were clearly close at some point; her timing in appearing was perfect. I found the bunny story wonderful in context to this story. It's a brilliant stroke from the playwright.

deborah