in 1904, and in 1907 he invents Bakelite, a new kind of plastic which leads to a fortune and the mass production of costume jewelry, kitchen utensil handles and Mah Jong sets.



Savage Grace is the book and now a film about the heirs to the Bakelite fortune, Anthony and his mother Barbara Daly Baekeland who had a very unusual relationship, which perhaps in part explains the unusual structure of the book which is similar to that employed in the book on Edie Sedgwick, who was another child of privilege who enjoyed unusual relationships, in her case with her father, as opposed to Anthony with his mother.

As I was saying the other day, you can use French furniture styles to chart the progression of narrative.  For instance:

If OEDIPUS is Louis Quatorze, then
HAMLET is Louis Quinze,
D.H. Lawrence's SONS AND LOVERS is Louis Seize and
SAVAGE GRACE is Restauration and
Sean Wilsey's "strangely compelling" memoir of his vile step-mother and his eccentric mother, OH THE GLORY OF IT ALL is somewhere beyond Rococo, Louis-Phillipe and Napoleon III and therefore off the Roi de France chart, but I thoroughly enjoyed it for the insight the author provides into 80s San Francisco society.  Sort of like "Behind the Scenes of Dynasty and Tales of the City" all in one.  

Plus I happen to believe there are some stories that just have to be told, and they are going to be, whether you like it or not. 

I think many of us have these stories in us.  Maybe not quite on the level as Sean's or Lawrence's or the Baekelands' and of course I'm excluding those of you living at the foot of the Cross, but for the rest of us,

there might be a story or two. 

And you can tell me.

You can tell me everything.