The Lacuna

The archivist, Violet Brown, writes a note that explains her background and decision to publish Shepherd’s notebooks, correspondence, and other notes. Mrs. Brown is a middle-aged woman from North Carolina who was widowed early in her life. Shepherd left Mexico following Trotsky’s murder and settled in Asheville, North Carolina. Soon after, Mrs. Brown came to work for Shepherd as his secretary. While she worked with him, he was very reluctant to share his private writings with her. However, he often lamented that there were no pictures of Trotsky’s photographer, Sheldon Harte, because Sheldon was the one taking the pictures, and “it struck him as wrong that a man should disappear” (348). Mrs. Brown uses this perspective to justify publishing Shepherd’s private notebooks because she does not want him to disappear.

After delivering Frida’s paintings to the gallery in New York City, Shepherd went to Washington, DC, to find his father. There, he learned that his father had died and left him his Chevrolet Roadster. Shepherd went for a drive and ended up in Asheville. He lived for a time at a boarding house run by Mrs. Bittle, which is where he met Mrs.