{"id":132,"date":"2021-03-15T08:44:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T08:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/?p=132"},"modified":"2021-03-15T08:44:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T08:44:04","slug":"w-e-great-thinkers-gallery-lola-taft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/w-e-great-thinkers-gallery-lola-taft\/","title":{"rendered":"W.E. – Great Thinkers Gallery: Lola Taft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Mother of Shadowism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1911 \u2013 The early shock<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It happened at the age of 10, her parents were away, and the nanny had fallen \nasleep. She stood up to get a drink of water from the kitchen, thought she heard \nsomething, turned around abruptly, and then saw what appeared to be a much \nlarger version of herself stretching out on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When her parents came home that night, the nanny complained that Lola had \nbeen all hysterical and difficult to handle. Mr. and Mrs. Taft were patient \npeople but had no tolerance for anyone speaking badly of their child, and so the \nyoung woman was promptly dismissed without a letter of recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her bedroom that night and with both parents present, Lola tried to \nexplain what she had seen, her eyes all red from having cried for hours. \u201cIt\u2019s \ntrue mama and papa,\u201d she swore. \u201cThe shadow was in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not possible,\u201d said her father, a state-employed librarian who \npossessed impressive knowledge about a number of things. \u201cShadows are behind us \nmy darling, and then only when there is strong sunshine or a strong source of \nlight on a darker background. You must have seen a ghost!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201cghost\u201d made the child burst into tears once again, and Mrs. Taft \nslapped her husband\u2019s wrist while trying to comfort her daughter. \u201cThis is no \ntime for lectures, however correct,\u201d she complained, which sufficed to send her \nhusband to bed with a yawn. It had been a long evening, much talk and intake of \nwine and food, cigars for the men.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1923 \u2013 Free at last<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now a young independent woman, Lola had left home and taken residence in a \nremote cabin high up in the Wilmington Mountains, where she studied the Moon and \nits light, the slow wanderings of seasons and transitions between day and night. \nUsing expensive cameras donated by the Willmar Foundation, she constantly \nphotographed herself and her surroundings in the hope that her own shadow would \nappear in front of her. She had never succeeded, but made a decent profit \nselling some of the pictures to eccentric collectors back in Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1926 \u2013 The Great Revelation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This was the year when she had to return to the city, worn out from \nloneliness and the unsustainable mix of soup and bread with only the weekly \nbottle of condensed milk. Although she carried no visible proof of her \nsightings, she did claim \u2013 as backed by detailed journal entries \u2013 to have seen \nher own shadow in front of her many, many times while in the mountains. She gave \nlectures on the subject, which proved a divisive undertaking, as those who \nbelieved her could not get along with those who labeled her a fake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1928, now aged 27, she published her monumental thesis Tan Cierto Como \nla Combra Ante mis Propios Ojos Propios<\/em> (\u201cAs True as the Shadow Before my \nVery Own Eyes.\u201d) It was turned down by the university\u2019s Doctoral Commission, but \nwidely publicized in academic journals and beyond. Basically, it consisted of \ndrawings and her diary entries, as supplemented by talk about the paranormal. \n\u201cWithout the paranormal and abnormal, there could never be normalcy,\u201d she \nclaimed in the preface. \u201cIt is our utter fear of succumbing to mysterious forces \nbeyond our control that holds us in check, compelling us to lead regular and \nproductive lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She died from tuberculosis in the following year, and her final words upon \nher death bed were reported to have been: \u201cMy life had only the weight of my own \nshadow.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mother of Shadowism 1911 \u2013 The early shock It happened at the age of 10, her parents were away, and the nanny had fallen asleep. She stood up to get a drink of water from the kitchen, thought she heard something, turned around abruptly, and then saw what appeared to be a much larger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-transparent-header":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quarterly-magazine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}