Loving something others don't

 I was delighted by Dana Gioia’s essay “The Imaginary Operagoer: A Memoir.”

He grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Los Angeles, a place where opera was not loved. But he decided that it must be wonderful, so he read everything he could about it. He learned the history, the composers, the stars. He dreamed about the day he’d get to go see one.

 

Many children lead secret lives. Mine was simply more elaborate than most. In public, I was an excellent student with an unpronounceable last name, a bit of a loner, terrible at sports. It was not a glamorous identity, but it was a manageable one. In private, I was a voluptuary who lived in his imagination fired by music, books, and art. I was never bored by solitude. I was preoccupied with things no one else liked.

 

Gioia had an uncle who was a merchant seaman who had boxes of books and records. Every child needs to have someone like that uncle.

We’re early in the year, but Gioia has already made it a good year for essays.

• Source: Dana Gioia, “The Imaginary Operagoer: A Memoir”; The Hudson Review, 2024.

https://hudsonreview.com/2024/02/the-imaginary-operagoer-a-memoir/