Ficlets

Here’s a story that ought to be reassuring to every writer who felt that he or she should have written the Great American Novel by age 25 (and I admit to being one of those, and being at least a little depressed when the age of 25 came and went without a novel in hand): Harry Bernstein, whose new novel is getting him fame and attention at the tender age of 96

By the time Harry Bernstein was 24, he had published a short story in a magazine beside works by William Carlos Williams and Gertrude Stein. That was 1934.

It took another seven decades before he achieved literary success again, this time at 96 with a memoir, “The Invisible Wall,” about his early childhood on a poverty-stricken street in an English mill town, where Jews and Christians were strictly divided.

Think about that for a minute. A tiny bit of early fame—and then seven decades before acclaim comes again. But it’s not just about fame – what’s really pertinent is what Bernstein has to say about the matter:

“If I had not lived until I was 90, I would not have been able to write this book,” Mr. Bernstein said. “It just could not have been done even when I was 10 years younger. I wasn’t ready.”

Exactly. This is something I think people either don’t know or will choose not to know: That every stage of life brings its own competencies and stories. This story Mr. Bernstein has written had to wait until he was ready to write it well. It took time, clearly. But apparently it was worth the wait.

This will be good news to people who in their 40s 50s or beyond are wondering if they still have relevant stories within them. It seems likely that you might.