Ron Rosenbaum wrote (in The Observer): "it was
a document that might provide both clues
to the final aesthetic direction of the greatest writer of the past
century—and a new perspective from which to look at his astonishing,
puzzling, endlessly rewarding past work."
When this story first
appeared on the list, I sent a one-word message which the moderator did
not post. The word was "Rosebud," a word which here means (to use a
Lemony locution) that people might be exaggerating the importance of a
single, short work. Near the end of "Citizen Kane," a reporter says, "If you could have
found out what rosebud meant I bet that would've explained
everything." But the character named Thompson, who has been skeptical
of this idea since the first reel, says, in part, "I don't think any
word can explain a man's life. No, I guess rosebud is just a piece in a
jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece."
Jay Livingston