SOURCE: Dunleavy, Janet Egleson. “The Making of Mary Lavin's ‘Happiness’.” Irish University Review 9, no. 2 (autumn 1979): 225-31.

In the following essay, Dunleavy traces the origins and development of Lavin's story “Happiness.”

Mysterious and fascinating to those who study the craft of fiction, the creative process is equally mysterious and fascinating to those who practice it.

When, for example, did the seeds of “Happiness”, first published in The New Yorker of 14 December 1968, begin to germinate?¹ No one knows, not even the author of the story, for Mary Lavin's method of composition is to allow such seeds to grow at their own rate, in a conscious but untilled corner of her mind, until form and theme become evident. Only then is the first written draft committed to paper, after which the long and sometimes frustrating task of conscious development, pruning and cultivation is begun.²

The metaphor of writer as gardener (frequently...