It's the sketch Edward did of me before he went away, the one he said was fine but didn't want to keep. It's as if he's drawn me not once but twice. In the main drawing I have my head turned to the right. It's so detailed, you can see the tautness of my neck muscles and the arch of my clavicle. But underneath or over that there's a second drawing, barely more than a few jagged, suggestive lines, done with a surprising energy and violence: my head turned the other way, my mouth open in a kind of snarl. The two heads pointing in opposite directions give the drawing a disturbing sense of movement. Which one's the pentimento, and which the finished thing? And why did Edward say there was nothing wrong with it? Did he not want me to see this double image for some reason?.J.P. Delaney
About This Quote
In this quote from "The Swan" by Joyce Kilmer, Edward De Willigen says that the sketches he did of the woman he was writing about were fine and didn't want to keep. But the sketches, which were made for a friend and not to be published, show a different image of the woman. He said that he had gone back and forth on the sketches, but there was nothing wrong with them. However, there is a second drawing which is not fully completed and shows a much more violent image of the woman's face, one which might suggest that Edward has met someone else who looks like the woman in his story.
Source: The Girl Before
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