“At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners” is a short story by Lauren Groff that was selected for the anthology 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories. It covers the life of Jude, from his boyhood in his Florida house by a swamp until he returns as an adult and then his life as an old man. He has a difficult relationship with both parents, for different reasons, and he has an affinity for numbers. This story is a bit on the longer side, but it’s well worth reading in full. If you need a refresher, here’s a summary of “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners”.
“At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners” Summary
Jude is born in a Florida house by a swamp full of reptiles. His father is a herpetologist (studies reptiles and amphibians) working at the university, and the house and grounds are full of the creatures, living and preserved. Jude gets comfortable with fanged creatures at a young age. His mother, a Northerner, is afraid of scaly creatures and sings to keep them away. She once left for a week after an incident with an albino alligator in the bathtub. Jude’s sister is born dead shortly after.
Jude’s father joins the war effort and goes to fly cargo planes in France. His mother immediately clears the house of all the swamp creatures. A week later, they move ninety miles to the beach. His mother is revitalized by the refreshing environment and Jude likes playing in the sand. His mother notices his fondness for numbers in the way he counts things.
Jude’s mother opens a bookstore. His uncle buys it with her money and signs it over, because women can’t buy property. She reads to him at night now, instead of singing. She allows Black customers into the store after hours, which would upset Jude’s father.
Early one morning on the beach, Jude sees a submarine offshore and the periscope looks at him. He doesn’t tell anyone about it.
Jude’s mother hires a Black woman, Sandy, to help at the store and watch Jude. His mother and Sandy become friends and hang out in the evenings.
Jude discovers multiplication at six by calculating the ants at an ant hill. He’s overjoyed by the knowledge. Jude’s mother has rarely mentioned his father the past few years and he doesn’t remember much of the old place.
Jude’s father returns. He says something to his wife on seeing Sandy and Jude never sees Sandy again. His father hits him in the face because he’s timid. His mother comforts him so he can fall asleep. When he wakes up, the family is in the car headed home.
Life goes back to the way it was by the swamp. Jude’s uncle isn’t welcome and his mother hardly eats and gets very thin. His father starts selling snakes on the side and disappears for two or three nights gathering them. One time, his mother packs their things and they go to the train station. As they’re about to board, Jude’s father arrives and grabs Jude. His mother is torn but leaves by herself.
Alone now with his father, Jude takes over the domestic duties. He walks three miles to school. He knows numbers better than his teacher. He doesn’t volunteer answers but knows them when he’s asked. No one bothers him after he attacks a bigger boy for making fun of him. He keeps to himself. He plays with the dogs his father brings home, but they always get eaten by an alligator.
Jude is lonely but takes comfort in numbers. When he’s ten, a vaguely familiar man gives him a package with books of poetry and geometry. There’s also a letter addressed in his mother’s writing. It’s on his mind a lot but he doesn’t open it. When he finishes the geometry book, he puts the envelope in it and tapes it shut, hiding in under his mattress. One night, it’s gone.
The next time Jude sees the man on the street he asks who he is. It’s his uncle, who opens his arms to Jude, but he walks away.
The university expands until the grounds are next to their land. Jude’s father won’t sell and let this rich reptile haven be encroached on further. Jude thinks of the large sum of money they could get. He knows it would be easy to make more money with it.
At thirteen, Jude discovers the university library and spends his time reading there. One day his father finds him there and they leave together. He takes Jude snaking for the first time. His father acknowledges his ability in math before they sleep the night in their tent.
Early in the morning they go into the swamps and work quietly all day catching snakes and dropping them in a sack. Jude doesn’t understand his father’s almost holy reverence for what he does until he’s much older.
“At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners” Summary, Cont’d
Jude joins the high school track team and wins a trophy in the two-hundred meters, which his father disparages on the grounds that Blacks aren’t allowed to compete. Jude avoids his father until he leaves on one of his trips. He doesn’t come back in over a week so Jude tells the university and they send out a search party. He’s found dead in his tent with his face turned black.
Jude avoids his uncle and keeps to himself at the house. He cleans it up the way his mother would have liked. When he graduates, he goes to Boston where his mother has a book store. When he finally goes in, she’s very happy to see him but he stays stoic. She insists he come to her place.
He visits her once a week afterward and has difficulty coping with the strength and lateness of her love. In his junior year at university, she dies after a prolonged illness.
Jude is left with his numbers and teaches briefly before he’s switched to a research role. He seduces women, engages in high risk outdoor activities and drinks lots of beer. He develops a big belly and likes it.
At thirty, Jude is weary. One day crossing a street he’s hit by a bread truck and sustains serious injuries. A homely, heavy woman tends to him on the street and goes to the hospital with him, keeping him awake to avoid a coma. She visits him during his stay, feeding him and combing his hair.
Jude wakes up one night to find her sleeping head on his chest. He marries her because it seems a natural thing to do. While relearning how to walk, he receives a large offer from the university for his father’s land. He and his new wife go to Florida and visit the site.
His father’s land stands out against the brick buildings and parking lots. Jude’s wife kills a snake in the tub with her bare heel, amazing herself and attracting Jude.
That night, they decide to stay. They renovate the house extensively. Jude’s wife opens an antique shop in town. Jude gradually sells small pieces of the land, getting increasingly large sums for them. He makes wise investments. In their mid-thirties, they’re financially free.
Some years later they have a daughter. When he holds her, Jude feels the weight of responsibility and potential danger in her fragility. His wife takes her from his arms just before he passes out.
Jude’s daughter grows sturdy and prefers music and English to numbers, which makes him glad. Jude doesn’t express his feeling for his daughter in physical affection or in words, but he trusts that she understands his love. She has a competitive spirit.
Jude’s uncle becomes a regular visitor and then a friend until his death. With the university’s expansion, there are far fewer snakes around. He puts an invisible fence around the now small lake to keep the dogs safe.
One day Jude goes deaf. He undergoes many tests but the cause remains a mystery. He’s given a hearing aid that doesn’t help much and he rarely uses it. His daughter researches possible treatments but nothing helps. At Thanksgiving dinner with his family and friends he feels isolated.
When his daughter starts college in Boston, his wife goes with her for four days. They have an emotional goodbye. Jude assures his wife he’ll be fine on his own. That night, he turns up his hearing aid high until the sound hurts, but he wants to feel it.
Jude misses his wife more than he expected. On the second night, he sits in the silence on the verandah and wonders where all the reptiles have gone. He fixes a gutter on the roof. In the morning he goes to the lake and sees the boat his wife had bought him that he never used. Hungry for something, he decides to take it out.
It’s hot and the water is thick with algae. The silence is eerie, unlike what he remembers. He stops a while. Whatever he was looking for isn’t out here. He sees the oars have slipped from the locks and floated ten feet away into the duckweed.
Jude knows the danger of the lake. He saw an alligator just a few days ago and there are still some snakes too. There are also microscopic organisms in the water that can infect the brain.
There’s no shade and the mosquitoes attack him. He can’t swim and there’s no wind to push him to shore. Hours pass and he feels ill. He sleeps a while. He imagines his father’s disapproval of his life and how he’s sold off the land. Jude has lived safely, not passionately. He remembers his father’s love of the swamp and his own love of numbers.
The wind picks up and starts pushing him to his house. He must have fallen asleep, because he wakes in the darkness and walks onto the shore. He realizes that the large, white, glowing figure rushing toward him is his wife. He can tell by her smile that she’s scolding him. He puts his head on her, letting go of his inadequacy and accepting her love, knowing he’s lucky to have escaped the hungry darkness again.
I hope this summary of “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners” by Lauren Groff was helpful.