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 also recommend Joe Mitchell's "Up in the Old Hotel."
ReplyDeleteWHAT IS THE FULL QUOTE: We are learning more and more about less and less, until...?
ReplyDeleteWas this the book that had a brief story where a self styled reformist distributed greeting cards that said,
ReplyDeleteHAVE NO MORE CURSING!
I don't know where the quote originally came from, but I see Flipswap cellphones have co-opted it,
ReplyDelete"Do more and more with less and less until you can do everything with nothing"
Seems that Harris and Blanck subscribed to the same adage.
It is always appalling to read how greedy manufacturers try to squeeze every last drop out of their workers. The sweat shops in Indonesia, China and Vietnam are no better than what you read in this account. Worse even. All we have managed to do is transport the same attitude abroad, which is why American unions find themselves with the short end of the stick.
ReplyDeleteJoesph Mitchell's"Up in the old Hotel" is a wonderful wonderful book.I heartily second Rick's thumbs up.And today the 29th would have been Chartres's 61st BDay so Happy BDay Mary!!
ReplyDeleteIndeed! She is missed.
ReplyDeleteDid some research and found that it was Mitchell's ''Up In the Old Hotel'' which had the story of that anti-cursing reformer -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vqronline.org/articles/1996/winter/carrington-grammar/
quote:
''a man who has devoted his life to the eradication of profanity''
HAVE NO MORE CURSING
Where has Avrds been of late.Busy with her degree I hope.
ReplyDelete