In the New York Times on Wednesday, December 17^th, 2008, Phillip Alder filed a tribute to Tom Smith, one of the “true gentlemen” of bridge—that social card game at which one could always make a living, if we are to take Robert Cohn at his word in The Sun Also Rises. Whether or not that was a reasonable profession in 1926, I can’t imagine where a man, in his twenties or thirties, could go looking for a bridge game in the 21^st Century, and much less one where he could make a good deal of money.

But what is remarkable about Alder’s article is not its subject—bridge and Tom Smith—but that it assumes its readers will have any idea what he’s talking about. Alder, discussing one of Smith’s greatest bridge hands, writes:

“After confirming that he and his partner had all four aces, Smith bid five no-trump to ask for kings and express interest in a grand slam. North, with extra values, could have jumped to seven spades. But since he had nothing to spare, he showed one king. And South, who could not count 13 tricks, signed off in six spades.”

I feel no shame in admitting that I have absolutely no knowledge of bridge, and that the passage above to me is as indecipherable as the walls of Khufu’s tomb must have been to Abdullah Al Mamun when he wandered into its chambers in 820 A.D. But I don’t care. The tribute fascinated me, and for two reasons. Firstly, in fewer than 500 words, Adler presents a hero (Tom Smith), the world in which he is heroic (New York bridge), and one of his great triumphs (a game of bridge he played while a student at Cornell). In terms of narrative compression, that is quite an achievement.

Secondly, in order to portray this world, Adler uses a vocabulary specific to the subject, without ever pandering to the uninformed. As a member of the uninformed, I don’t feel ostracized, even though I’m being left out. Rather, I feel a little dizzy, as I do after I read a Borges story. But whereas after “The Death and the Compass” I did not think, “Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a drink with Erik Lonnrot?” after Alder’s article I did wish I’d attended the cocktail party where Tom Smith was honored for his contributions to bridge.

Tom Smith is not an American icon. His being honored at the Regency Whist Club is certainly not national news, and is of negligible importance to any more than a few hundred people who know Smith personally. But the article is nonetheless a joy to read because Alder took evident pleasure in writing it.

By Kaelan Smith