The Goddess

Krantz was most at home behind the wheel of an automobile – so maybe it’s fitting that he died that way? His most cherished possession was the goddess – his 1970 Citroen DS.

Krantz especially liked long road trips where he could get into that mode – become one with the machine – a quasi-mystical experience. I recall childhood summer holidays in which he’d drive the three of us from our home on the outskirts of Paris – to the Atlantic coast near Bordeaux or south to the Mediterranean. The goddess was a very comfortable as a passenger too.

The Citroen DS – mythologised by Roland Barthes in his essay The New Citroen – had become a style icon by the time Krantz acquired his vehicle in the early 70’s. By the mid seventies Citroen had decided to stop making the DS, and they became collector’s items. But Krantz would never have parted with his.

Of course, his love affair with wheels began with Krantz driving Esther from New York to California in the summer of love – like Kerouac he traveled in search of the American dream – but became disillusioned.

At the end - the goddess became his nemesis - just a mangled mess of metal, and Krantz finally met the death that had been lying in wait all along. I often think about the fatal crash, and whether it was inevitable.

As for me, I couldn’t care less about cars. I don’t own a vehicle, though I have a driver’s licence. I recently hired a car to go house hunting, and it was ok, but nothing would make me buy one. Maybe the memories are too painful.

So there you have it. Krantz and the goddess. No wonder he wrote a book about it. But that’s another story.