{"id":139,"date":"2017-02-05T19:03:49","date_gmt":"2017-02-05T19:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devfloridareview.cah.ucf.edu\/?post_type=article&p=139"},"modified":"2017-02-05T19:03:49","modified_gmt":"2017-02-05T19:03:49","slug":"the-double-under-the-bed","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Double Under the Bed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Willy Loman\u2019s Reckless Daughter or Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances<\/em> by Elizabeth A. I. Powell<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anhinga Press, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

108 pages, paper, $20.00<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Elizabeth Powell\u2019s Willy Loman\u2019s Reckless Daughter <\/em>is a thoroughly entertaining work about sad things. For instance, in the prose prologue \u201cAutocorrecting the Lyric I\u201d that opens the book, we learn that the poet-narrator is an \u201cEpiscojew,\u201d who, though she learned to \u201cpass\u201d according to the demands of the occasion, was once kicked by the Catholic boys on the playground for \u201ckilling Christ.\u201d When she was 14 years old, her \u201ccold borscht\u201d father and \u201cfinger sandwiches on white\u201d mother divorced, and she was raped by a drunken neighbor, Bill Gottlieb. Concurrent with these events, she discovers that she has a double \u201csnoring and talking and laughing in her sleep\u201d under the bed. She also learns that the source of her parents\u2019 conflict is her father\u2019s rampant philandering (\u201cNo more 42nd<\/sup> Street hookers, no more secretaries!\u201d she hears her mother yelling).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Though this may sound like Too Much Information, Powell makes it entertaining by approaching it primarily through humor and irony. She writes, \u201cIt is better, the Boston Brahmins say, to have a history not a past, so when I speak in the \u2018I\u2019 it must be my Jewish side, when I say that I am a vaudeville act in a quiet New England house. I\u2019m the Daughter of the American Revolution in third class steerage. I\u2019m the debutante in the Pogrom.\u201d That last sentence is simultaneously jarring, discomfiting, and hilarious.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Powell\u2019s book is one long poem that explores the poet\u2019s identity and past through concentrating on the figure of the double under the bed, her doppelg\u00e4nger. This \u201calter\u201d is called \u201cstepsister, bitch bastard\u2014the roofied one, erased from the storyline.\u201d The double is also a dead twin brother who, as we learn in the prologue, has been literally absorbed by the poet in utero. The doppelg\u00e4nger becomes the poet\u2019s half-sister with whom the father\u2019s new red-headed mistress is pregnant at his funeral (a fact that the poet learns later).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Metaphorically, Powell\u2019s book itself finds its doppelg\u00e4nger in Arthur Miller\u2019s Death of a Salesman. <\/em>The famous play becomes a virtual template for Powell\u2019s own life: like Willy Loman, her father was an adulterous salesman who died suddenly. In her prologue she says that, like Loman, her father \u201chad eaten the dream and it had made him sick.\u201d\u00a0 In Miller\u2019s character Biff, Powell sees the twin brother who was incorporated into her own body in the womb.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She also imagines that Willy Loman\u2019s mistress gives birth to a girl whom she identifies with the half-sister that her father\u2019s mistress carries. Powell\u2019s alter merges with Powell\u2019s half-sister and speaks as Willy Loman\u2019s \u201creckless daughter\u201d in the stunning six-act title poem which ends the book. This figure seems to signal catharsis and resolution, even wholeness, for the poet. She says, \u201cTell me, Willy, isn\u2019t it true\u2014\/\/daughter sounds like slaughter,\/son, the sun.\u201d The doppelg\u00e4nger is the finally emergent genius of the book.\u00a0 The poet\u2019s struggle with her is one of the book\u2019s principle sources of vitality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In many ways, the genre in which this book participates is theater. The book includes acting exercises, references to set design and to the Fourth Wall, soliloquies, and staging directions. Its hybrid of forms\u2014prose, plays, a sonnet sequence, rhyming couplets, and various nonce forms\u2014and its many different points of view are held together by an unforgettable and one-of-a-kind urbane, postmodern, humorous voice and then pulled apart, almost to the point of breaking, by a swirling, centrifugal energy. In \u201cOn the Way to the Theatre, Stuck in the Roundabout,\u201d Powell says, \u201cWe surrender to the thrashing, thrust all at once to the left side. . . . We are imaginary people becoming real once again by the fever of this throttle[.]\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In this centrifuge of a book, she throws many bites of information at us simultaneously: other highlights include the narrator\/poet\u2019s lack of a belly button, fire that used to follow her \u201clike a strange cat,\u201d psychoanalysis, and a deep urge to connect with a God\u2014\u201cI love God this much (see my hands out as far as I can reach) and farther.\u201d Willy Loman\u2019s Reckless Daughter<\/em> has a frantic velocity that is thrilling and at all times under the control of the guiding intelligence of its maker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth A. I. Powell’s Willy Loman\u2019s Reckless Daughter or Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":293,"template":"","categories":[9,139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-book-review"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Double Under the Bed - The Florida Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Double Under the Bed - The Florida Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Elizabeth A. I. Powell's Willy Loman\u2019s Reckless Daughter or Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Florida Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/02\/Powell-Elizabeth-Willy-Loman-Reckless-Daughter-cover-cropped.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"498\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"283\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/article\\\/the-double-under-the-bed\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/article\\\/the-double-under-the-bed\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Double Under the Bed - The Florida Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/article\\\/the-double-under-the-bed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/article\\\/the-double-under-the-bed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/43\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Powell-Elizabeth-Willy-Loman-Reckless-Daughter-cover-cropped.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-05T19:03:49+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/article\\\/the-double-under-the-bed\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/article\\\/the-double-under-the-bed\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/article\\\/the-double-under-the-bed\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/43\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Powell-Elizabeth-Willy-Loman-Reckless-Daughter-cover-cropped.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/43\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Powell-Elizabeth-Willy-Loman-Reckless-Daughter-cover-cropped.jpg\",\"width\":498,\"height\":283},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/article\\\/the-double-under-the-bed\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Double Under the Bed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Florida Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/floridareview\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Double Under the Bed - The Florida Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Double Under the Bed - The Florida Review","og_description":"Elizabeth A. I. Powell's Willy Loman\u2019s Reckless Daughter or Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances.","og_url":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/","og_site_name":"The Florida Review","og_image":[{"width":498,"height":283,"url":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/02\/Powell-Elizabeth-Willy-Loman-Reckless-Daughter-cover-cropped.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/","url":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/","name":"The Double Under the Bed - The Florida Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/02\/Powell-Elizabeth-Willy-Loman-Reckless-Daughter-cover-cropped.jpg","datePublished":"2017-02-05T19:03:49+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/02\/Powell-Elizabeth-Willy-Loman-Reckless-Daughter-cover-cropped.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/02\/Powell-Elizabeth-Willy-Loman-Reckless-Daughter-cover-cropped.jpg","width":498,"height":283},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-double-under-the-bed\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Double Under the Bed"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/","name":"The Florida Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}