Discovering Weldon Kees.

July 27, 2005 10:36 AM

Weldon Kees, bohemian and poet, disappeared at the Golden Gate Bridge fifty years ago this month.
posted by xowie (4 comments total)

It sounds like he'd never come to terms with being an insignificant speck in the universe, which of course we all are, regardless of how talented or not talented we may be. (I missed the rationale for why he might have faked his death ...)

I've been reading a bit about mathematicians and physicists who committed suicide. Something about the notion of being proven wrong, or having their whole life's work and legacy overturned by a newer discovery or proof must be very stressful. (Not to derail, but did anybody see The Self-Made Man last night? I wanted to catch it, but couldn't.)

Kees' fascination with movies is personally interesting. When I was a child, my parents had an older, single male friend who was a *huge* movie buff and later committed suicide.
posted by mrgrimm at 11:43 AM on July 27, 2005

And here, now textured like a blotter, like the going years
And difficult to see, is where you are, and where I am,
And where the oceans cover us.

'..a once-obscure midcentury poet, painter, jazz pianist, composer, lyricist, playwright, theater impresario, novelist, short-story writer, filmmaker, psychology textbook author, harmonica player, documentary photographer, and New York Times, New Republic, and Nation arts critic named Weldon Kees.'

Thanks very much for that xowie. I'd heard the name but knew little else about him. Certainly he was a difficult character to fully appreciate, so many unknown pieces of the puzzle elude us. Gone to Bierce..
posted by peacay at 11:49 AM on July 27, 2005

Yes, thanks, this is fascinating stuff. Here's some more info, and the text of Kees' unpublished short story titled "Applause" (at bottom of page).
posted by voltairemodern at 12:00 PM on July 27, 2005

I have a nice issue of the journal Verse (v. 14, no. 3) that is dedicated to Kees, subtitled after one of his songs: "Where's that Happy Ending?" (page linked from your linked page, voltairemodern).

The saddest part of his (likely) suicide is that he wasn't even the only guy to go off the Bridge that day.
posted by steef at 1:17 PM on July 27, 2005