It’s a tender moment when Helen Shaw and Joel Aaron climb a hill to picnic and enjoy the view. They do not bring food or picnic gear but sit on the rock facing the sun. They are good friends, not lovers, and Aaron soon will be leaving Joel for Israel. Helen imagines she loves him. Maybe? But she’s leaving for soon for London, and they have no future together.
Helen is no stranger to picnics, and the outing with Aaron reminds her of Sunday picnics with her parents on which they had an “elaborate folding banquet of jellied tongue, sliced chicken, and ice cream,” with the spontaneous picnics of her friends who would rush to the local Jewish deli not sure what they would purchase. The scene alludes to a similar event between Lily Bart and Laurence Selden in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth (1905).
Featured Image: Leon Levson. Nadine Gordimer wearing an Arab necklace (1953).
See Nadine Gordimer. The Lying Days. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1953.