Marilyn in Bloom
1955 by Eve Arnold
Photographer Eve Arnold on the background to this photo…
We worked on a beach on Long Island. She was visiting Norman Rosten the poet…. I asked her what she was reading when I went to pick her up (I was trying to get an idea of how she spent her time). She said she kept Ulysses in her car and had been reading it for a long time. She said she loved the sound of it and would read it aloud to herself to try to make sense of it — but she found it hard going. She couldn’t read it consecutively. When we stopped at a local playground to photograph she got out the book and started to read while I loaded the film. So, of course, I photographed her. It was always a collaborative effort of photographer and subject where she was concerned — but almost more her input.
A couple of other Ulysses posts if this puts you in the mood:
three legends in their fields: Monroe, Arnold and Joyce.
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Awesome photo.
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Yes, it’s a great interface between beauty and brains with an enigmatic quality asking where does Marilyn sit on the scale
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mmmmmmmmmmmm. She appears to be reading the back inside cover.
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That could easily be Molly Bloom’s soliloquy which might well have had a resonance for her – or she may be contemplating taking on Finnegan’s Wake as she reads Also by this Author
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Well, given that most people don’t get past the front inside cover she has done quite well – or perhaps she has just started an Arabic version.
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Seems like she has read a lot of the book…unless she is pretending.
Good on her, my name-sake!!!
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