海角大神

The characters in the work of playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote might appear as troubled as the rest of us. In his widely acclaimed play, "The Trip to Bountiful," Carrie Watts is a senescent widow with a yen to lay eyes on the town which nurtured her as a child, while in his most famous film, "Tender Mercies," Mac Sledge is a country-western singer whose gifts have been brought low by alcoholism and domestic strife.

Yet Foote鈥檚 characters seldom wallow in their pain. In Blessed Assurance, his soaring new biography of the writer, Marion Castleberry argues that the 鈥渟trongest and most courageous鈥� of his characters 鈥� including Carrie Watts and Mac Sledge 鈥� 鈥渞ecognize their need for intimacy, forgiveness, and final sacrifice to life鈥檚 divine mystery.鈥� In other words, they approach life with grit and spirit, which is among the reasons why we never pity a Foote protagonist. A professor at Baylor University, Castleberry goes on to identify Foote鈥檚 鈥渃ommitment to such 海角大神 verities as compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness, acceptance, and love for one鈥檚 neighbor鈥� as the quality that renders him distinct from fellow 20th-century dramatists, a case he makes powerfully in his sensitive, comprehensive interpretations of Foote鈥檚 writings.

In chapters vividly recreating the writer鈥檚 youth in Wharton, Tex.鈥� and the background of his family 鈥� Castleberry shows that Foote had plenty of role models to choose from in the courage department. For example, in deciding to marry his father, Albert, his mother, Hallie, contravened the views of her parents; her father suspended any interaction with her for a full year after the nuptials. 鈥淗allie鈥檚 willingness to defy her parents in order to achieve individuation and realize her dream of love and companionship became one of the central themes in Foote鈥檚 dramatic canon,鈥� Castleberry writes. This legacy, Foote recalled in 1980, left him with an appreciation for those who 鈥渇ace life and ... don鈥檛 ask for quarters.鈥�

This credo is fully in evidence in Foote鈥檚 "The Orphans鈥� Home Cycle," which re-imagines incidents from his relatives鈥� lives (including the elopement of his parents) in nine brilliant, autobiographically allusive plays. To read them 鈥� or to see the five that became films 鈥� is to know that Foote was telling the truth when he claimed, in an interview with Castleberry, 鈥淥ver half my plays are based on stories that my father told me.鈥� As a 12-year-old, Horace Robedaux (i.e., Foote鈥檚 father) withstands a series of blows that would make most grown men wither: death robs him of his father, and his mother marries a man who takes in his sister but not him, and the boy is forced to become the author of his own fate.

In "Lily Dale," Horace鈥檚 stepfather castigates him for accepting a few dollars from his mother during one of their infrequent visits: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e a grown man. Aren鈥檛 you ashamed to take money from your mama?鈥� In his own resolute way, though, Horace takes the put-down to heart. By the time of "Courtship"聽 鈥� the dazzling elopement play 鈥� Horace has established himself up as a salesman, and fancies marrying Elizabeth Vaughn (i.e., Foote鈥檚 mother) as a means of completing the jigsaw puzzle of his self-invented life. But Foote鈥檚 greatest admiration, Castleberry implies, is not for Horace but for Elizabeth, who, out of love alone, decides to join her husband 鈥渋n his quest to create his own family and home.鈥� They succeed, though not without struggle: in "1918," the twin fears of World War I and an influenza epidemic slow the Robedauxs in their tracks, and the latter claims the life of their first-born daughter. Foote permits Elizabeth the most complicated and equivocal of emotions, even as he steers the character toward a happy ending: when Elizabeth becomes pregnant with a second child, she tells a friend, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want this baby. I want my other baby back.鈥�

Castleberry considers "The Orphans鈥� Home Cycle" to be Foote鈥檚 masterpiece, but no part of his career is given short shrift. We learn of Foote鈥檚 foray into 1950s television ("The Trip to Bountiful" first had life on NBC鈥檚 Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse), as well as his first flush of success as a screenwriter, highlighted by his Academy Award-winning adaptation of Harper Lee鈥檚 "To Kill a Mockingbird." Castleberry does not undervalue Foote鈥檚 contributions to the project 鈥� referring to scenes in which characters listen to each other in secret, Castleberry writes, 鈥淗orton admitted that childhood memories of intentional eavesdropping played an important part in the adaptation.鈥� Even more important, perhaps, was the casting idea kicked in by Foote鈥檚 wife, Lillian, for the role of Boo Radley: she put forward Robert Duvall, who previously appeared in a production of Foote鈥檚 "The Midnight Caller."

No less careful attention is paid to Foote鈥檚 personal life, including his belief in 海角大神 Science (a faith he came to at the urging of his mother, and which, Castleberry argues, has a subtle influence on his work) and his nearly 50-year marriage to Lillian, whose untimely death in 1992 was seen by a bereft Foote as the permanent closing to one chapter in his life. 鈥淚f you find your real mate and if you鈥檝e had a happy marriage, I think you鈥檇 better say, 鈥楾hanks a lot and that鈥檚 it,鈥欌�� Foote said 鈥� a comment typical of his fortitude.

In fact, by the conclusion of this breathtakingly authoritative biography, we no longer know where Horton Foote, the man, ends and Horton Foote, the writer, begins 鈥� the values of the former so closely inform the values of the latter. In 2009, when Matthew Modine was about to play Atticus Finch in a stage production of "To Kill a Mockingbird" which was derived in part from Foote鈥檚 screenplay, the actor revealed the person in whom he found inspiration for the part 鈥� and it was not Gregory Peck: 鈥淗orton was strong and stoic, and was always on high moral ground, with his goodness, his sense of humor, and his sense of duty and responsibility to family.鈥�

Peter Tonguette鈥檚 criticism has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, National Review, and many other publications.