It is hard not to think of Nebraska without thinking of its greatest writer. Here is a marvelous piece by Capote, Remembering Willa Cather . I remember seeing a stage production of O Pioneers! and being deeply moved by its raw emotions. I had read My Antonia before, and soon found myself hooked, like Capote was by the simple elegance of her prose and the way she was able to evoke so many feelings through her characters. Much of it came from the fact that she had lived those experiences herself. Her father dragged the family from Virginia to Nebraska in 1883, when it was still a young state, settling in the town of Red Cloud. named after one of the great Oglala chiefs. Red Cloud was still alive at the time, living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in the aftermath of the "Great Sioux Wars" of 1876-77. I don't know whether Cather took any interest in the famous chief, although it is hard to imagine not. Upon his death in 1909, he was eulogi
For Bo:
ReplyDeleteMy other summer reading:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/books/review/Royte-t.html
Right smack dab in the middle of "War & Peace" I finally got my hands on a copy of Mary Beard's "Fires of Vesuvius".
ReplyDeleteSince I haven't "had my life" in Lambert Strether's phrase, I wondered who had ended up with my it. Mary Beard is the one who got the life I'd have had if I'd only had my "druthers".
Avrds,I'll look in the book review in the morning.On a like note the NYTimes home delivery natl sunday edition is going up to 7.50 a week which I think brings an end to my long association with the Sunday print edition.The newstand price right now is 5.00
ReplyDeleteOh, that's too bad. I pay $7.00 or $7.50 here for the Sunday edition here. It's the only print edition I can get of the Times unless I get it via mail.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Bozeman many years ago, I could have the Sunday Times delivered in the afternoon, but I don't think they have that service here. I should check. I still love reading a real paper.
The daily here, alas, isn't worth paying for (it's an Iowa chain paper), although I'm beginning to think I should resubscribe just because I often miss what's going on at the university or whatever.
Chartres, is that Mary Beard, the historian? I don't know that book. In fact, if it's the same person, I know nothing about her. (Or, if it's not the same person, obviously know nothing about that Mary Beard either.)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure which person I'd like to change lives with. Maybe Wallace Stegner? He wrote history and fiction and commentary about the West. But that's not an easy path for any one, much less a woman, to follow in. I keep plugging away trying to make it up as I go a long I guess.
Interesting article in the Sunday NYTimes mag today on Bill Clinton and his world.Also a nice essay in the back of the book review about a book edited by Mark Kurlansky on regional American Food.It was originally a Federal Writers project that was scrapped with the advent of the war and was lying about a storage area at the Library of Congress all these years.
ReplyDeleteI saw your comments about the Times last night but didn't realize it was going up here in the NY metropolitan area until I bought the Monday paper for $2. Little Monday paper! How does it go up by 33-1/3% all at once? I never got a raise such as that. Now I see that Sunday's paper is going from $4 to $5. I bought the paper every day from the time I moved here until the daily went from $1 to $1.25. Then I bought it occasionally an didn't realize for a while that it went to $1.50. They must not want us to buy it, even here in NYC. Unemployment is way up and now the cost of the paper is too. I know they are in trouble, but it's their own doing.
ReplyDeleteWatched the first part of the NBC Life in the White House program last night and was fascinated by what happens in a day -- including a quick trip off grounds by the president to pick up burgers and fries for the office, and a burger with ketchup for dorky Brian Williams.
ReplyDeleteI wish the film crew could have stayed in some of the meetings -- I would have sat through them gladly -- but of course when the substance started they ran the cameras out. Still, it was well worth watching.
And couldn't help but notice the interview in the Blue Room, which figures prominently with Lincoln.