The Interior Castle (short story)
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| "“The Interior Castle”" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Jean Stafford | |
| Publication | |
| Publisher | Partisan Review |
| Media type | Literary journal |
| Publication date | November-December 1946 |
“The Interior Castle” is a work of short fiction by Jean Stafford originally appearing in Partisan Review (November-December, 1946) and first collected in Children Are Bored on Sunday (1953) published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.[1][2]
Editors John Updike and Katrina Kenison selected “The Interior Castle" for the The Best American Short Stories of the Century (1999).[3]
“The Interior Castle” is written from a third-person omniscient point-of-view. Pansy Vanneman and Dr. Nicholas are the focal characters. The events take place in a hospital.
Pansy is recovering from injuries she suffered when the taxi she was riding in crashed; the cab driver was killed. She suffered major trauma to her cranium—the bone and cartilage around sinuses were shattered. Pansy’s “crushed and splintered nose” requires extensive reconstructive surgery.[4] At night she lies awake, listening to the horrifying sounds of the other patients in the ward; some scream as their morphine wears off, others writhe in their death agonies. This contrasts with the hospital staff who go about their tasks with cheerful self-complacence. Weeks pass as Pansy’s head fracture heals sufficiently for her to undergo the delicate task of reconstructing her nose. She evinces a studied remoteness towards the nurses and aides who attend to her, causing resentment among the staff. Pansy secretly takes pleasure in their discomfiture; they consider her a snob.
Pansy begins to obsess over the upcoming operation, one which will necessitate inserting scalpels and other sharp implements very close to her brain. She conceives of this precious organ as a jewel, a delicate flower, a light, “always pink and always fragile, always deeply interior and invaluable.”[5] The youthful Dr. Nicholas is eager to begin the surgery. Tall, handsome, and widely regarded as supremely talented, he is adored by his internees.
The preparation for the surgery alone is agonizing—only local anesthetics are applied. Dr. Nicholas keeps up a jocular banter with Pansy as a way to reassure her. Then he descends upon her with probes, pincers, knives, scissors, applying them near her brain tissue as he chips away at bone and tendons. The pain is excruciating and Pansy begins to hallucinate. The nurses gasp at the surgeon’s virtuoso performance. Pansy withdraws into a state of terror and loathing that transitions into ecstasy.
The medical ordeal ends successfully. The doctor congratulates his patient and he and his staff depart triumphantly from the operating room. As Pansy’s awareness slowly emerges she realizes that a precious and private realm has been violated by Dr. Nicholas: “Her silent mind abused him: ‘you are a thief’ it said, ‘you are heartless and you should be put to death.’”[6][7]
Background
In 1938 Stafford suffered serious spinal and facial injuries in an automobile accident with poet and later husband Robert Lowell who was driving the vehicle. “The Interior Castle” is Stafford’s only effort to fictionalize the incident and the reconstructive surgery which followed “that permanently scarred her face.”[8]
