Ron Rosenbaum wrote (in The Observer):  "it was a document that might provide both clues to the final aesthetic direction of the greatest writer of the past century—and a new perspective from which to look at his astonishing, puzzling, endlessly rewarding past work."

When this story first appeared on the list, I sent a one-word message which the moderator did not post.  The word was "Rosebud," a word which here means (to use a Lemony locution) that people might be exaggerating the importance of a single, short work.  Near the end of "Citizen Kane," a reporter says, "If you could have found out what rosebud meant I bet that would've explained everything."  But the character named Thompson, who has been skeptical of this idea since the first reel, says, in part, "I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece."


Jay Livingston