Jack Chalfin

Memoirs of a Moth Jack Chalfin

Memoirs of A Moth explores the difference between our memories and the real events that inspire them. The past is often transformed by our subconscious to coincide, more closely, with our fantasies. Gwen Harrington's altered memories makes this account of a young woman's struggle, several stories woven into a single tale. Nothing excites Gwen, nothing holds her interest. In her attempt to escape from under the shadow of her overbearing mother, she finds herself married to Marcus, a controlling sociopath. Gwen is a dull, gray Moth who desperately needs color in her life. Leo Schultz, the famous painter who is her mother's lover and the only father she knows, has a whole palette of colors. As Gwen recalls, his knack to be where he is needed and to say what must be said is more of a secret than a talent. Exiled from her mother, and isolated by her abusive husband, Gwen imbues Leo with the qualities she finds missing from her life- a little girl's father-fantasies and a young woman's unrequited needs. The blurred edges between memory and reality unfold in the three epilogs told from the perspective of the three main female characters who each has needed Leo in her life.