Wilson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and Johnson’s film strongly solidified the character of Tom Wrath as a symbol of mid-twentieth Century America, the rising generation of white, well-educated men striving for wealth and power in mid-century 19th century America. Ernest Hemingway disdained Wilson’s novel as a drivel but was silent about the […] read more

Dworzak’s picnic in Grozny, Chechnya, is disconcerting. Chechen men having a picnic in a bombed-out neighborhood near Minutka Square. See Thomas Dworzak. Picic in the Ruins of Chechnya (2002). Magnum Photos.   read more

Plath’s “The Colossus” is specifically a jab at her dead father, Otto Plath, less clear an allusion to her husband, Ted Hughes. She had a stormy and pathological relationship with her long-dead Daddy, “Thirty years now I have labored,” Plath writes, “To dredge the silt from your throat. / I am none the wiser.” And […] read more

Tintagel Castle and its Arthurian associations have perennial romantic appeal—but Mary Elizabeth Braddon is the first to fictionalize a picnic on the crag, and it’s her addition to Britain’s mythology. With lunch from a local inn, Christabel Courtnay, Angus Hamleigh, and Jessie Bridgeman sit other n castle’s “windy height,” eating chicken and salad. Still, while […] read more

Ernest Hemingway thought Sloan Wilson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit was trash. However, Americans still readjusting to World War Two and its aftermath thought made it a best-seller. Within a year of publication, Nunnally Johnson directed a faithful film adaptation. Without a reason, Ernest Hemingway thought Sloan Wilson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit […] read more

Momentary serenity and happiness are upended in Welty’s “Asphodel,” a humorous picnic story in which three old maids are frightened by the appearance of a naked man. Cora, Irene, and Phoebe plan a picnic at Asphodel, the former home of their recently deceased dear friend Miss Sabina. They are unaware that the name Asphodel alludes […] read more

Writing to his dear friend (and probable mistress) Martha Blount, Pope related his adventure at Netley Abbey and his alfresco luncheon there. He does not call it a picnic because the word was not used in English parlance until 1806. (See Harris’s The happy courtship, Merry Marriage, and Pic-Nic Dinner of Cock Robin and Jenny […] read more