The Confessions of Edward Day

No one in the audience of the 1982 New York production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya would forget the excitement generated by the performances of Edward Day as Astrov and Madeleine Delavergne as the fetching and frustrated Elena. While the public was enthralled with the erotic tension between Astrov and Elena, one member of the audience looked on with a cold heart. Guy Margate, Madeleine's husband and long-time associate of Edward Day, had reason to be bitter about the theatrical triumph taking shape before his eyes. As far as Guy was concerned, Edward had cheated him of his rightful place on the stage with the beautiful and talented Madeleine. And Edward, as everyone knew, owed his life to Guy. But during the last week, Guy Margate is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Madeleine, who suffers a nervous collapse during the final performance of the play, never appears on the stage again. 'My Emotions' is more than an investigation of a scandal. It examines the relationship between action and emotion. As Edward Day 's first-person narrative makes clear, for an actor emotion is stock in trade. Though fatally involved, Edward Day and Guy Margate can never be friends.The possibility of a human connection between them is poisoned by envy and worn thin by the burden of gratitude. Questions arise in the course of Day's confession. Who can live with a debt that can never be repaid? Can self-esteem survive when everything contains an element of obligation? 'My Emotions' takes place in the artificial and rarefied atmosphere of the theatre, but it addresses a universal quandary: What in this world do we owe one another?


Genre: Literary Fiction

"Martin writes with amplitude, precision, grace, and wit." - Margaret Atwood