I went ahead and read Carson McCullers' A Rock A Tree A Cloud, which Mr. Sexson sent to everybody. Quite lovely in its simplicity. But is it really simplicity? It does in fact seem that McCullers knew about Plato's levels of love and the ascension of them, and knew how to articulate it in just this way. One person(the old man)teaching one other(the paper boy) what he ought to know about love, and a rather harsh pessimist(Leo the cafe owner)who scoffs at love.
Perhaps we could even say the old man is comparable to a Silenus statue; ugly on the outside, beautiful within. And I'll not speak more today...