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Episode 415 - The Eyes (Patreon)

Published:
2018-08-12 01:24:57
Edited:
2025-05-18 02:28:42
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Let's all have a look at The Eyes by Edith Wharton!

Special thanks to our reader: Dana Pupkin!

Up next: Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier

Comments

Cacodaemoniacal

So, in my head, Culwin is basically Clifton Webb.

Necropolis Railway

There's a grandfather paradox in this story if the eyes are Culwin's own eyes in the present being cast back in judgement on his younger self. He acts as he does, first fleeing from Alice to Europe and then revealing the truth to Gilbert, as a result of seeing the eyes-- but he looks back on himself in judgement as a result of having already taken these actions and grown into the cynical old man who possesses such eyes. I wonder, even, if his telling the story in conjunction with Frenham pointing the mirror at him near the end casts some kind of Time-Traveling Stare of Judgement spell, causing the eyes to appear at key moments in his own story about them. Either way, the temporal paradox Culwin is caught in, forming a loop out of his entire life, is a really great way to represent the ideas about aging, regret, and memory Wharton is dealing with here. Thanks for another great story!

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

I'm really not convinced that Culwin ever saw eyes. It seemed to me a confabulation designed to excuse his reprehensible behavior - a dodge to avoid the need to address his homosexuality. I'm not sure that he actually sent the writing of his "protege" to any publishers or critics or, frankly, anywhere outside of a neglected drawer or well-tended bin. The supernatural is a right handy thing to pretend to believe in when it you feel your own nature is, well, unnaturally shitty.

Forrest Rush

Of course Edith knew everybody who was anybody in her day including any rich confirmed bachelor dandies and while there are more than a few examples of coded gay men in her stories, they just always bring to mind wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas. I think you guys explain it well and truly, ie she's not condemning nor judging same sex relationships and even seeing the sense in mentor/mentee pairings, but any time these characters appear in turn of the century stories what happened to Oscar and the kind of man he was (aesthete acerbic in other words just begging to be taken down) inevitably comes sadly to mind. Caco you do have a good pick with Webb but Stephen fry or Hugh Laurie could also do justice. Also great shout out to Dan savage and his campfire rule which I wish had been around when I was a young lad. Luckily I never had a culwin but I've known more than a few. As an older gay man I think the math rule or whatever its called works fine though personally after I passed 40 I found having an extended conversation with someone a decade younger was exhausting enough. Coupling that with waking up next to them and having morning coffee together is far more horrifying than any pair judgy eyeballs could ever be. But much better story than last week

Ilker Yucel

Lords of Acid... LOL, nice reference guys! =D

Allison Albright

I liked this story, even though its premise, or the supernatural element seemed a little hokey. Culwin's character reminded me of a few people I've known in life, who maybe don't intend to be predatory or exploitative overtly, but who lack the ability to see past their own momentary pleasure (or who decide that other considerations are unimportant) and so end up causing great harm to those around them. While I'm sure there are a few people who wake up in the morning and decide they want to hurt people, I think that by far the greatest motivation for people who do harm is selfishness and failure (or unwillingness) to consider how their actions will affect others. My sense from the story is that the eyes appeared whenever he was engaged in a behavior that served his own needs at the expense of the wellbeing of others. It makes me wonder why Alice, who presumably knew what this guy was about, would opt to send her cousin to him. Maybe she wasn't so fond of the cousin after all. Maybe she was unintelligent, as Culwin said, but I'm not inclined to believe his account of her. I think he, in part, justifies his actions by tearing down his victims, sort of to make it as if they were worthless and deserved what they got - though no one deserves to be treated so poorly. And of course, the only thing Culwin ever suffers are some lame eyes following him around. That's the most realistic part of the whole story: it's possible to be a huge douche and live a long and happy life filled with luxury and wealth. Even likely.

Clint Page

Is anyone else not seeing this one in the Apple Podcast app feed? I'm in the $5 tier if that has anything to do with it.

Elisheba

Link for next story? Or do I have to just suck it up and buy a du Maurier collection?

Forrest Rush

Oh I guess it goes without saying Chad and Chris that you're going to have to delve into another writer with a complicated and disputed sexuality. I'll just say now that like HP whatever may be true about du Maurier, it was all put into service in creating some pretty great weird fiction.

Lumphammer

Oh my gosh I’m still catching up with this feed. I’m still on episode 300 (Carmilla!) and I’ll probably be retired or dead or both by the time I get to here. Despite that, keep up the good work and I’ll see you in the future!

G. Monaldo

Frankly, I enjoyed the flying haunted painting one more.

David Halstead

In terms of horror lit that deals with homosexuality have you heard of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs' "Manor"? A short 1884 vampire yarn about a Norwegian sailor and a young boy on an island. No subtext, it's clear they have a relationship that turns tragic when the sailor dies but rises from the grave to feed on the boy. Ulrichs was an early gay rights activist and a writer.

Hannah Kollef

Daphne Du Maurier!!!! So excited. Probably my favorite short story author - great choice for Weird Women Week. I mean month - a month is better even though it is missing that nice alliteration.