In Steve Earle’s 2011 novel I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive, which features Hank Williams’s ghost as a prominent character, he makes a distinction between being lonely and being lonesome: Lonely’s a temporary condition, a cloud that blocks out the sun for a spell ... Lonesome’s a whole other thing. Incurable, terminal. A hole in your heart so big and so deep that no amount of money or whiskey or pussy or dope in the whole goddam world can fill it up.
A thought provoking essay on loneliness, Jonathan. Lots to think about here, especially as I spend much of my daytime alone. And yes this quote. “Loneliness is where we meet our true selves.” I like the visual of this, thank you.
But the piece that really comes to mind is Marilynne Robinson's essay "When I Was a Child" -- "in the West 'lonesome' is a word with strongly positive connotations." Wonderful essay if you haven't come across it before, it's in her collection When I Was a Child I Read Books, or an earlier version that I think is more or less the same is findable online under a different title.
A thought provoking essay on loneliness, Jonathan. Lots to think about here, especially as I spend much of my daytime alone. And yes this quote. “Loneliness is where we meet our true selves.” I like the visual of this, thank you.
Thank you!
Many thanks for the kind words on Tropical Depression!
Lovely post. As companion, if you haven't already come across it, here's a piece I did on Hank Williams and lonesomeness for the Oxford American a while back: https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-119-winter-2022/i-ain-t-got-nothing-but-time
But the piece that really comes to mind is Marilynne Robinson's essay "When I Was a Child" -- "in the West 'lonesome' is a word with strongly positive connotations." Wonderful essay if you haven't come across it before, it's in her collection When I Was a Child I Read Books, or an earlier version that I think is more or less the same is findable online under a different title.
Thank you! Looking forward to reading your Oxford American piece and will track down the Robinson essay.