Theme

Fidelity

Not the same as remaining. The question of what, exactly, is being kept.

• Joseon, pansori tradition

  Chunhyang at Namwon

  Mongryong and Chunhyang pledge themselves. A magistrate later treats her body as something office can take. The pansori is a story of fidelity. It is also a story of coercion. Name the coercion.

• High Roman Empire

  The Empty Threshold

  She is in Campania for her health. He rereads her letters, walks to the room where she sat, and writes as if the wax could keep her. Her side of the correspondence does not survive.

• Washington, July 1861

  If I Do Not Return

  A week before First Bull Run, Major Sullivan Ballou writes to Sarah. The letter became famous. The war was not beautiful, and the famous text may not be the one his hand first made.