There are several books out now, and a couple of documentary films, about New Orleans; I will be reading Dave Eggers' Zeitoun soon; it might be a good way into this history and a nice follow up to Skloot because it's about a single family and what happened to them.
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
I think others here were interested in Zeitoun, too. Not sure if I'll have time with all my other commitments but will see if I can find a copy just in case. It is a good time to look back at that horrendous event.
ReplyDeleteNice interview with Spike Lee here:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/spike-lee-returns-to-new-orleans-for-if-god-is-willing-and-da-creek-dont-rise/
I read Zeitoun a few months back and found it very interesting. Eggers pretty much sticks with the family, following the harrowing situation that ensued with Zeitoun lost in the Lousiana penal system following the hurricane. One of the threads in Treme seemed to parallel this situation, but I imagine many persons were lost in the shuffle that ensued. Look back in the archives, carol, for comments.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't brought myself to read Brinkley's The Great Deluge.
I received it for Christmas last year and read it soon after. Zeitoun and his family went through hell!
ReplyDeleteHere you go Carol,
ReplyDeletehttp://am-perspectives.blogspot.com/2009/12/zeitoun.html#comments
Thanks, Gintaras. Zeitoun is going to be the "One City, One Book" in SF this Fall. (The choice always seems to be some Bay area author; we have a lot of them, although perhaps not in the first rank, except perhaps in genre fiction.)
ReplyDeleteMarti, it seems that many books are about people going through hell of one sort or another; could it be that it is more interesting than heaven?
Rachel Maddow did a great show from New Orleans on Friday that you can watch here -- at least until Monday p.m.:
ReplyDeleterachel.msnbc.com
I guess it depends on where you want to go with New Orleans, but The Year Before the Flood is getting rave reviews. Ned Sublette is a musicologist and loves cultural history. He also wrote a previous overall history of the city entitled The World That Made New Orleans.
ReplyDeleteCampenella's Bienville's Dilemma also sounds very interesting,
http://blog.nola.com/susanlarson/2008/11/richard_campanella_chronicles.html
"Zeitoun" keeps the suspense/tension level up and zips right along--trying not to grind my teeth too loudly when reading on the train to/from work.
ReplyDeleteGintaras" Hope you'll post when/if you get a chance to see "When the Levees Broke." Am putting "Treme" DVD on my C'mas list (but not planning on going back to HBO for the Scorsese 1920's Atlantic City venture with Steve Buscemi, though a co-worker says they paid particular attention to the period music in it.)