A Review - Solnit, Rebecca, 'The Blue of Distance', 2005.

"The blue of distance comes with time, with the discovery of melancholy"

Following on from my first review, this time we’ll be looking at another braided essay - ‘The Blue of Distance’ by Rebecca Solnit. Once again I’ve got my questions from Louis and the ‘Sahab Seven’ rating system on standby. Let’s get into it…

What is effective in the author’s telling?

The multiple examples of the colour blue were effective in distinguishing the horizon as hosting “a deeper, dreamier, melancholy blue…the blue of distance”. Solnit uses this to gesture to themes around desire and distance. Her personal examples, e.g. seeing her old turquoise dress, grounded the essay in the author’s memory and her relatable goal of making sense of the past. The historical examples, e.g. 15th century paintings, strongly implies that “the blue of distance” is a primordial concept that has been explored by people in the past as well as in the present.

Where did you need more from the author to be engaged?

The author puts much emphasis on describing things such as “small sprays of brown oak leaves” and “pale brown roses”, but it’s not clear how this relates to the other ‘threads’ in the essay. Similarly, the author doesn’t make it clear how the ‘colour of distance’ is related to emotional states like solitude and desire. I needed more clear direction from the author throughout the essay; at times, the lengthy description of places such as Antelope Island felt needlessly dense and long, straying away from a focus on blue as the colour of distance in favour of more abstract manifestations of memory and intangibility.

What did the piece make you consider in an associative manner?

The piece made me consider how the blue of distance inevitably manifests itself in different forms throughout our lives (“The blue of distance comes with time, with the discovery of melancholy, of loss, the texture of longing, of the complexity of the terrain we traverse, and with the years of travel”). It also made me consider maturity as a way to make sense of the losses of time and appreciate distance.

What were your overall thoughts?

I liked segments of the essay, but found much of it to be very digressive from the centrality of blue as the colour of distance. The author’s fascination with blue is established early on, but at times felt tangentially related to the other ‘threads’, which were centred on more abstract concepts such as desire and longing. Unlike ‘The Empathy Exams’ by Leslie Jamison, I felt that this essay lacked the same personable tone to keep me engaged throughout.

Overall rating: 3 out of 7 Sahabs

To read about the Sahab 7even rating system, please visit this post.