In Britain, families are eccentric. In America, they’re dysfunctional.
English bloodlines and literature are filled with dotty families, and Michael Holroyd’s memoir of his fabulously peculiar clan makes the Royals look quaint.
Yet Americans have their own versions. Bronson Alcott poured a bucket of freezing water over Louisa May every morning for her health. JD Salinger lived by himself and put his wife and children in a house down the road.
Then there are the sitcom families, too: “I Love Lucy,” “All in the Family,” “Frasier.” Woody Allen recreated his own neurotic Jewish family in “Play it Again Sam,” and he did Diane Keaton’s repressed, Wasp family in “Annie Hall.”
The movie “Moonstruck” was all about mercurial but loving Italian-Americans. “The Sopranos” are another story.
Michael Holroyd says: scratch the surface, and you’ll find the bizarre in any family, including your own. Eccentric families – in this hour of The Connection.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Michael Holroyd, author of “Basil Street Blues”