618
PARTISAN ' REVIEW
peopl e he wrote about-Bertha , Bald, Fred and even Fraenkel-were
like so man y cold corpses in transparent caskets. He, Henry, danced
al one in the graveyard, picking flowers.
For Michael, that was a definite and unwelcome compromi se. But
it was just as he had feared . Even befo re Henry left fo r Dijon, Fraenkel
had cauti oned him : "The reason I wanted you
to
commit sui cide that
evening at the Lowenfels' .... I was a fra id , terribly a fra id, tha t some
day you 'd go back on me; di e on my hands. And I wo uld be lef t hi gh
and dry with my idea of you simpl y, and nothing to susta in it. I should
never forgive you for tha t." H e meant by thi s simpl y th at he wanted
Henry to commit creative sui cide by admitting th a t hi s life was a dea th.
By the spring of 1932, however, H enry came a live fo r himself. Now,
Mi chae l's once-respected letter was inserted into "The Las t Book" as
an in stan ce of the gospel of mumbo-jumbo .
But Ri cha rd Osborn actua ll y threa tened
to
di e on their hands.
Durin g th e winter whil e H enry was in Dij on , Dick experi enced a
compl ete mental breakdown with pa rano ic delusions. Th e ho spital on
the o utskirts of Pari s in which he was in ca rcera ted was litera ll y
ni ghtma ri sh , and at least pa rt o f Osbo rn 's fears had a rea l bas is. H e had
been living with a younger French g irl named J eanne who had become
pregn ant by him-o r a t leas t he
thoug ht
she was pregnant and he
beli eved he was the fa ther. He'd " kn ocked her up" -he kept mumbling
tha t to himself as if even bio logy were persecutin g him. No ne o f hi s
Paris fri ends would have predicted the next development. Hi s Bridge–
port mo rals reasserted th emselves: he
wanted
to marry her, the woman
he had ruined. H e was prepa rin g to die, hopin g to di e- and hi s mind
was d yin g-but he was determined to "do the ri ght thin g" first.
In
the asylum Osbo rn was rav ing: like a bursting star, hi s mind
was shooting fragments in every directi on . He suspected tha t whil e he
was out during the day J eann e had had men up to the apa rtment. He
had go tten the cl ap and g iven it
to
her, and he said with tea rs streamin g
down hi s face how miserable he felt. But the next moment h e' d cl a im
tha t it was J eanne, the littl e slut, wh o' d g iven him th e dose and
pretended to have gotten it from him . He couldn 't bear
to
leave her, he
wa il ed. But then , he' d say he wa s despera te to escape from her but had
no chance; she' d trac k him down and claw hi s eyes o ut if he tri ed to
defect. H e wanted to marry the poor g irl , he cl a imed in reso lute to nes.
But as soon as he said th a t he' d turn around and curse hi s fa te: now
he' d be stuck in a provin cial town forever. Chri stl- a ll he had want ed
was a flin g in Pa ris before settlin g down to a practi ce in corpo ra ti o n
law, with a ni ce house in Bridgeport and an o ffi ce in Wa ll Street. Hi s
