Clarisse Bidad Bidad itibaren Penryn, Cornwall, Storbritannien itibaren Penryn, Cornwall, Storbritannien

Coming of age story grappling with memory and how different characters view the same situation, as well as how it shapes their lives. Lee Goddell tries to find meaning in life, much as he tries to discover form within marble as a sculptor. When he is a boy in small town New Jesper, Illinois, a heinous crime happens to one of his classmates and he witnesses how his father, the Judge, and other leaders deal with the issue, more concerned with how the crime will affect the town’s reputation than on how the victim is faring. Years later he again encounters his classmate and learns how the incident affected her. Also central to the story is Ogden Hall, where Lee went to school. It was founded by an unlikeable, rich, big-game hunter. It is never entirely apparent why he would endow a school when he seems to have little interest in education or people generally, much less children. Probably he is getting revenge on his wife, who wants to go to Europe and have Rodin sculpt her likeness. Years later a bust of Rodin’s creation serves as the centerpiece of Ogden Hall’s library and is a constant inspiration to Lee. The common mythology among the students is that the bust is of Ogden’s late wife. This turns out to be false, the sculpture instead being that of an unknown Chicago debutante. The school is full of misfits and always struggles to retain qualified and respectable faculty. When it burns down in the end, the previous headmaster’s declaration that Ogden Hall is cursed seems to be true after all. Rodin’s Debutante illustrates how everyone views the past differently, and the way we view of our memories informs our future.