Suzanne Vega channels Carson McCullers

Suzanne Vega's play, Carson McCullers Talks About Love had its world premiere in New York recently. It's been nearly 25 years since the singer-songwriter released Solitude Standing, which included such hits at Luka and Tom's Diner.

I loved Vega during my college days. My friend Trica introduced her to me via Tom's Diner. As I recall, she played at last year's SXSW in Austin.

The play was featured in the theatre section of the Wednesday, May 1, New York Times and last night on the CBS Evening News. In addition to writing the work, Vega performs the role of the iconic author who reminisces about her life, loves and art. While explaining herself, she wrestles with the demons that have intruded on her from the beginning of her life.

McCullers (1917-1967) is one the most important figures in American literature. Her novels, short stories, plays, essays and poetry explore loneliness and spiritual isolation of outcasts in the South. Her novels include “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” (1940), which was named # 17 of the 100 Greatest Novels of the 20th Century by Random House Modern Library, “Reflections in a Golden Eye” (1941), which brazenly tackled the subject of repressed homosexuality, “The Member of the Wedding” (1946), “The Ballad of the Sad Café” (1951), an exploration of loneliness and unrequited love and “Clock Without Hands” (1961). Her play, The Square Root of Wonderful (1957), deals in part with the traumatic experience of her husband’s
death.

Vega, by the way, was born in 1959. She's the perfect argument for Generation Jones.

Related articles

• Suzanne Vega Channels a Troubled Soul in New Play (abcnews.go.com)