The Something That Comes to the Widow Holly: The Men from the Polar Star
This contribution explores the variations of the short story “The Coming of Something to the Widow Holly” published by New Directions in 1953. A folder at the Ransom Center in Austin, Texas titled “The Men from the Polar Star,” holds the pages for an unfinished story with the same Widow Holly. There...
Enregistré dans:
| Dans: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/jsse, |
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| Auteur principal: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Publié: |
Journal of the Short Story in English
2026
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| Accès en ligne: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Résumé: | This contribution explores the variations of the short story “The Coming of Something to the Widow Holly” published by New Directions in 1953. A folder at the Ransom Center in Austin, Texas titled “The Men from the Polar Star,” holds the pages for an unfinished story with the same Widow Holly. There is also a related poem dated 1938 titled “Exalted,” published here for the first time. Reviewing the unfinished story of the Widow Holly and related poetry reveals that Williams was drafting (but never publishing) his own Apocrypha to Christian dogma, something hinted at in the published story by a roasting apple, a holiday tradition for celebrating the Advent of Christ. “Blue Roses and The Polar Star,” another related story by Williams, found in the archives at Harvard, concerns the miraculous child of a prostitute named “Blue Roses” begotten by the captain of a ship with sails named The Polar Star. The displacement of imagery throughout the three stories and related poetry demonstrates a consistent mythic vision whose forms shift shape but remain in essence the same: Williams has the presumption to be writing the creation story of a second Christ. |
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