For Love of Leander
A Romance
by
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After the lovemaking, when they held themselves so closely that Leander lost all memory of Heloise, and Marian lost all awareness that Leander was married to another woman, a holding that was a desperate desire for union with one another, a holding that rendered their very bodies invisible to one another, while undreamed of vistas of beauty opened up before them, they opened their eyes and saw one another and became conscious of the world they had come in from to be in this place of ineffable bliss.While they lay together in that embrace she said "Tell me about the class I missed. Tell me what he said about Madame Bovary." But then a change came over her face and the brightness was dimmed. "No," she said. "Don't tell me about her...Tell me about Apollo." And the brightness came back to her face."Yes. Tell me about Apollo. Did you write some more lines while...while we were apart?"The magic spell under which they had lain was broken. The web of gossamer threads spun of wonder parted, and the world of classrooms came into being. But she banished that world quickly in favor of the mythical realm where the god of light sends his golden shafts into the hearts of mortals who seek to know the truth that lies beyond history, beyond facts, beyond the probable reality lying beneath all human endeavor. But with Apollo now came the harsh reality of Leander's life. The reality of his marriage.And so came again Doctor Townsend, dark clad and frowning, to dispel the aura of mystery, to tarnish the golden shafts of wonder and to reawaken him to memories of the long weekend spent with Heloise and her father. "Heloise's father has been with us for four days," he said, and the world of magic, of wonder and bliss was gone."I couldn't write," he said, and he was enveloped in loneliness even though Marian's slender body, with the upstanding breasts and the soft grey eyes and the half parted lips, lay touching him.He looked into her face and tried to concentrate on the beauty there, tried to enter into the repose and the expectancy he saw there. But saw too that her eyes asked to know more, that her lips were forming the question yet unspoken, seeking the knowledge that would be the destroyer of the beautiful illusion.
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About the Book
In the old myth Leander loved the goddess Hero and he tried to swim the Hellespont to reach her. But the goddess dwelt on the top of Olympus, the mountain of the gods, and the waters of the Hellespont were rough, and Leander drowned. In this modern myth Leander is a young man who aspired to greatness, for he would capture the essence of Apollo the god of Light and Truth. But our modern Leander is caught in the choppy waters of an unhappy marriage to the fanatical Heloise and the tragic love affair with the beautiful Marian. It seems that he will perish altogether in the violent waters. The Reverend Doctor Townsend is the father of Heloise. He does not tolerate either divorce or infidelity. Marian’s father is even more intolerant of Leander’s behavior. With such fatherly disapproval, Leander, whose own father died early, is in trouble. No good can come of this entanglement, even though Professor Embers believes that Leander has great promise as an epic poet. That promise, never realized, is all that supports Leander struggling in the waves he himself has made. Only Heloise, in her fanatical zeal, dares to hope.
About the Author
A native son of Georgia, Henry Buchanan lives and writes in Calloway County near the small town of Murray, Kentucky. He is a theologian with special interest in mythology. Buchanan made his literary mark as a teller of southern tales, moved from tale telling to writing serious fiction grappling with issues of religion, politics and the social ethic. He says "I am writing a mythology for today. I am bringing the ancient tales men lived by long ago into the present experience of modern man." In his writings he depicts the struggle of man with the divine presence on his path. The author of FOR LOVE OF LEANDER has written for THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, EBONY, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, and other magazines and newspapers. His published books include: AND THE GOAT CRIED, THE MARRIAGE MYTH. THE TELEVANGELIST, THE SINNER MESSIAH, THE DAY CHRIST CAME BACK, JAY CEE, IN THE TOBACCO PATCH, THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER, ALFIE’ S STORY, ALFIE AND THE MOONSHINERS, AND THE REST OF ALFIE’ S STORY, THE GOAT ALSO LAUGHED, THE TALE OF THE CAT WHO HAD NO TAIL, and NO GREATER LOVE. Hanged in effigy in the Deep South during the great racial revolution of the fifties, Buchanan brings his theology to bear forcefully upon the burning social issues of this day.