{"id":49238,"date":"2019-05-17T17:08:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T23:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=49238"},"modified":"2020-01-11T21:38:01","modified_gmt":"2020-01-12T03:38:01","slug":"viorst-ruminates-on-old-age-reads-from-new-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/viorst-ruminates-on-old-age-reads-from-new-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Viorst Ruminates on Old Age, Reads from New Book"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By NICHOLAS HAMBURGER, <em>Exclusive to the CCJN<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Judith Viorst famously chronicled childhood with a series of picture books, most notably the acclaimed &#8220;Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,&#8221;\u00a0and a pair of poetry collections, one of which she titled &#8220;Sad Underwear.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_49233\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_193617377.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49233\" class=\"wp-image-49233 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_193617377-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_193617377-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_193617377-768x1024.jpg 768w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 225px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 225\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49233\" class=\"wp-image-49233 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_193617377-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_193617377-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_193617377-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-49233\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Author Judith Viorst at the JCC (photo by Nicholas Hamburger)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>But in recent years, Viorst has trained her authorial sensibilities on the other end of the spectrum: old age. Since 1968, when she was in her late thirties, Viorst has published a book of poems corresponding to each decade of her life, and as time has marched on, she has increasingly turned her attention to the subject of elderliness.<\/p>\n<p>Viorst opined on finding happiness late in life at the Jewish Community Center on Tuesday night, punctuating her talk with selections from her newest \u201cdecade book,&#8221; titled &#8220;Nearing Ninety.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a challenging time of life. People are depleted in various ways; people are dying at a rapid rate,\u201d Viorst said in an exclusive interview with the <em>Crescent City Jewish News<\/em> before the event. \u201cBut there\u2019s laughter to be found, even if the laughs may be harder won and a little bit more rueful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Viorst had no difficulty drawing laughs on Tuesday. Indeed, her ironic sense of humor, as well as the new poems she chose to read, delighted the crowd, which was largely composed of septuagenarians, octogenarians, and other near-nonagenarians; in fact, of the dozens of people in attendance on Tuesday night, only one had yet to reach an age included in Viorst\u2019s series of \u201cdecade books\u201d &#8212; this reporter.<\/p>\n<p>Viorst said she associates her frequent use of humor (as well as a heightened sense of anxiety and guilt) with her Jewishness, adding that this triumvirate informs many of the poems in &#8220;Nearing Ninety.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_49234\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_195714322_HDR.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49234\" class=\"wp-image-49234 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_195714322_HDR-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_195714322_HDR-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_195714322_HDR-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_195714322_HDR-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49234\" class=\"wp-image-49234 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_195714322_HDR-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_195714322_HDR-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_195714322_HDR-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_195714322_HDR-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-49234\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The volume for which Viorst is famous (photo by Nicholas Hamburger)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThese are qualities that I can probably get good grades in,\u201d she noted. But Jewishness features even more prominently in the work of many of her favorite writers. \u201cI love Philip Roth. I think he\u2019s very, very funny. I like Bernard Malamud. I used to like Saul Bellow, but his late work started to get more sententious with time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As she ages, Viorst, 88, has begun memorizing poems by the likes of Yeats and Hopkins &#8212; a more interesting way to preserve one\u2019s memory, she suggested, than doing crossword puzzles &#8212; and she counts \u201cSailing to Byzantium\u201d and \u201cI wake and feel the fell of dark, not day\u201d among the verse she\u2019s studied. Have these poets influenced her own work? \u201cThe poems in my \u2018decade books\u2019 in no way resemble the poets I revere, like Dickinson, Eliot, Yeats, and Hopkins.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Viorst began composing poetry as a child, and at age seven, she started sending her poems to women\u2019s magazines to which her mother subscribed, among them <i>Lady\u2019s Home Journal, Women\u2019s Home Companion, <\/i>and <i>Good Housekeeping<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t get a word published until I had a child of my own,\u201d Viorst points out. As a burgeoning writer and a new mother, Viorst learned to write under less than ideal circumstances. Her children screaming, the sound of a Disney film in the background &#8212; these potential disruptions didn\u2019t affect Viorst when the task was at hand. \u201cI don\u2019t need atmosphere. I don\u2019t need to be in the mood. I don\u2019t need peace and quiet. And I don\u2019t need a muse,\u201d she says convincingly.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_49232\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_190033786.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49232\" class=\"wp-image-49232 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_190033786-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_190033786-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_190033786-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_190033786-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49232\" class=\"wp-image-49232 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_190033786-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_190033786-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_190033786-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_20190514_190033786-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-49232\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;Nearing 90,&#8221; Viorst&#8217;s latest book (photo by Nicholas Hamburger)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Her ability to structure her time, and to adhere to that structure, might help as well. \u201cI\u2019m a very disciplined person. I don\u2019t have a wild, crazy spirit that I have to force into a routine. No, I\u2019m very comfortable with a routine,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I wrote this very big book, &#8216;Necessary Losses,&#8217; which had a three year deadline, I divided it by year. Then I divided it by month. Then I divided it by week. Then I divided it by day. And I stuck to that very rigidly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But if Viorst is inflexible when it comes to her writing schedule, she advocates adaptability for those nearing 90, specifically regarding romance. \u201cRedefining love to suit late life realities is one way to make for a better late life,\u201d Viorst said, recalling a quote from Santayana she\u2019d recited earlier in the evening. \u201c\u2018To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind,\u2019\u201d Viorst read, \u201cthan to be hopelessly in love with spring.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Viorst%20Ruminates%20on%20Old%20Age%2C%20Reads%20from%20New%20Book\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8790,8795,10014,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49238"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52876,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49238\/revisions\/52876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}