John Watson

Three Obituaries and an Afternoon Tea John Watson

The lives celebrated in Three Obituaries are of three diverse twentieth century figures: Jeanne Claude (1935-2009), Sophie Moss (1917-2009) and Benoit B. Mandelbrot (1924-2010). Jeanne Claude, the partner of the field artist Christo, was a prime mover in all their projects. Sophie Moss, born in Poland, embodied the wide-ranging turbulence of Europe during the war years. Mandelbrot famously discovered and named fractals, thereby altering the public perception of Geometry. For each of these figures, Watson devises epyllions, making of each life a lyrical epic.

The Afternoon Tea is a Chekhovian affair shared with the poet Joseph Brodsky.