Summary

A victim of a car accident suffers severe cranial fractures and facial disfigurement. Assuming a passive-aggressive stance toward the medical staff, and carrying on a sarcastic inner dialogue with her surgeon, she creates her own world, to escape and combat the pain. She becomes infatuated with the mystery and power of her own brain.

Commentary

The reader will believe that the intense "interior" rendering of pain and hospitalization could only have been written by someone who had lived it. The story is indeed autobiographical ("The Interior Castle: The Art and Life of Jean Stafford", by Ann Hubert, Knopf, 1992).

Miscellaneous

First published: 1953

Primary Source

The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford

Publisher

E. P. Dutton

Place Published

New York

Edition

1984

Page Count

14