{"id":75009,"date":"2014-08-06T14:45:04","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T18:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=75009"},"modified":"2014-08-06T13:58:40","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T17:58:40","slug":"stuff-and-nonsense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/06\/stuff-and-nonsense\/","title":{"rendered":"Stuff and Nonsense"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"nystant\"<\/a>

An illustration by H.\u2009M. Bateman for the Ministry of Health\u2019s WWII-era \u201cCoughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases\u201c campaign.<\/p><\/div>\n

Among other things, E.\u2009B. White has the distinction of being one of the few writers to really express the misery of seasonal allergies. In \u201cThe Summer Catarrh\u201d (1938) he details Daniel Webster\u2019s struggles with hay fever, proclaiming, \u201cthere is a fraternity among those who have been tried beyond endurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

He exaggerates for effect, of course. Part of the misery of allergies is the knowledge that, generally speaking, they\u2019re as toothless as they are persistent. They\u2019re definitionally endurable\u2014albeit at the expense of that elusive thing, \u201cquality of life.\u201d (\u201cQuality of life,\u201d much like the box we\u2019re supposed to think outside of, seems to be a thing that exists primarily in negative space.) Prescriptions, Claritin, neti pots, humidifiers, special pillow covers: they\u2019re all just panaceas. When you have allergies, you have allergies. To the outsider, it must seem somewhere between hypochondria and a cold\u2014unpleasant, certainly, but mostly just annoying. And it is<\/em> annoying. It is the least romantic thing in the world. Sniffling, snoring, \u201citchy, watery\u201d eyes and a malaise that feels like nothing so much as a faint and chronic hangover \u2026 these do nothing for the soul at all. <\/p>\n

Allergies are a relatively modern malady, the product of industrialization, urban living, and deforestation. Almost any diet craze worth its salt will claim a diminution of symptoms as one of its benefits. If the subject interests you, try Gregg Mitman\u2019s excellent Breathing Space: How Allergies Shape Our Lives and Landscapes<\/em><\/a><\/em>.<\/em> It\u2019s a colorful read\u2014the allergy industry is mind boggling\u2014but also a sobering one, as discussions of pollution and urban planning are inextricably linked with cynical questions of politics and marginalization. (And quite often, the lifelong health effects are very far from benign.)<\/p>\n

As a child, I had no patience with my parents\u2019 allergies\u2014their constant sniffling, their inability to smell and taste certain things, their chronic sense of being unwell without ever really seeming sick. When I got older, I suddenly appreciated why they\u2019d had boxes of aloe-soft tissues in every room in the house. I even understood why they moved to Arizona\u2014although that still strikes me as a drastic step.<\/p>\n

They, whoever \u201cthey\u201d are, say it is a bad year for allergies, but it always seems to be a bad year for allergies. I even forget which the bad seasons are supposed to be, since pollen and ragweed and rotting leaves all seem awful in their own unique ways.<\/p>\n

E. B. White, again, has the right idea. As usual, he is magnanimous without mawkishness:<\/p>\n

\n

Webster, even though he knew very little about the cause of hay fever, must have found, just as I find, in this strange sensitivity to male dust and earth\u2019s fertile attitude a compensatory feeling\u2014a special identification with life\u2019s high mystery that in some measure indemnifies us for the violence and humiliation of our comic distress that makes up for the unfulfillment of our most cherished dream.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Among other things, E.\u2009B. White has the distinction of being one of the few writers to really express the misery of seasonal allergies. In \u201cThe Summer Catarrh\u201d (1938) he details Daniel Webster\u2019s struggles with hay fever, proclaiming, \u201cthere is a fraternity among those who have been tried beyond endurance.\u201d He exaggerates for effect, of course. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[14886,14885,14887,453,14890,14888,14889],"class_list":["post-75009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-allergens","tag-allergies","tag-allergy-season","tag-e-b-white","tag-gregg-mitman","tag-ragweed","tag-the-summer-cattarh"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Misery of Seasonal Allergies in Literature<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sadie Stein on E. B. 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