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
That sounds perfect! I have only read a couple of Vidal's histories but have wanted to read them all in order at some point. They aren't great novels, but they make for fascinating reading. I think he is truly brilliant.
ReplyDeleteNICE photo.
ReplyDeleteSometime in the last year the area around the sign and the sign itself have been taken into the public domain and turned in to a park. A rare example of Los Angeles caring about its heritage; usually it just gets trashed. The sign is a bit trashy, too, from my occasional glimpses the most interesting one is over the sculpture garden at the LA County Museum of Art. It seems balanced by the big red stabile in the garden.
ReplyDeleteavrds, I hope you read those historical novels, in order is nice but not necessary. They are a great way to learn history, similar to the Flashman novels in that respect, and nothing like Philippa Gregory's take on the Tudors.
There a few books like that, where I really want to read them all. Vidal's are certainly on that list. I have never read Flashman, but might at some point try the one in the American West -- I think there is one like that...?
ReplyDeleteHarry Flashman is in America a few times, finding himself in an Apache war troop, defending the end of a famous fort in your corner of the world that got burned to the ground (my baf I can't remember the name), as an accidental participant at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in two different books in the west. He also is a slaveholder, a part of the underground railway, at the theater when Lincoln dies (he refers to this, but it isn't played out in the story), and with John Brown at Harpers Ferry. I hope you can forgive him his Raj-ish attitudes toward various races, sexes, and classes. He always gives the individual his due and where appropriate, admiration.
ReplyDeleteYes there are a few but there is the one titled"Flashman and the Indians"Speaking of there are two Indian books featured in the August HBC one just on Wounded Knee and the other on the Sioux.
ReplyDeleteBo, give Harry his due. It's "Flashman and the Redskins."
ReplyDeleteCarol,you are correct.I can't stare at my Flashman titles in the bedroom because they reside in the dining room bookcases now.
ReplyDeleteI think it was Flashman and the Redskins that first caught my attention. Probably an old NY Times discussion -- between Bo and Carol, no doubt!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the Hollywood sign just recently private development of luxury homes nearby on the same hillside was headed off by private donations to buy the land from the developer.After a month of nice thick coastal fog in LA with Temps a good ten degrees below normal we went up twenty to 94 today and for the next several days with the valley around 104.Uggh.
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