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An American Childhood by Annie Dillard |
To: ALL Date: 03/15
From: WSRF10B SHERRY KELLER Time: 2:32 PM
AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD by Annie Dillard
I think it's remarkably coincidental that we've read
two books in a row that revealed the inner lives of
children. I swear I didn't set it up that way. And the most
important discovery both these children made was "I am
alive!" In Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, Douglas made the
parallel discovery that he would one day die. Do you all
think that the hormonal rage in the 16-year old Annie was at
all related to this same discovery?
When I was a girl growing up in NC, I often longed to
be one of the town kids, instead of one of the farm kids.
Dillard's book gave me some insight into what a town kid's
life was like. Not simply a town kid, as it turns out, but a
real society kid (I don't think they even had that sort
where I lived).
I loved her parents. Can't you just imagine being in a
family where jokes and jazz are so important? They were
hypocritical to some extent, though. Why do you think it
was important to them that their children carry on the
tradition of "being in the right place" when they themselves
had totally abnegated that privilege/responsibility? Do you
think the "benign neglect" notion of child-rearing was a
detrimental or a positive thing? I remember my husband
wishing that his father had gone to his baseball games.
Years later my father-in-law said he didn't go to them on
purpose, because he didn't want to intrude on Tom's "thing."
Every generation has its own philosophies, I guess. Do you
think her parents were just self-absorbed or really thought
she would do better without too much interference?
=============== Reply 1 of Note 20 =================
To: WSRF10B SHERRY KELLER Date: 03/15
From: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Time: 2:50 PM
Sherry, I thought AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD was a wonderful
memoir. I hadn't been that crazy about some other Dillard
books that I'd read before, but now maybe I'll go back and
re-read some of her work. I have an new appreciation for it.
In Dillard's case, the "benign neglect" seemed to have
worked out fine; for other kids, this might not have been
the case. Dillard was extraordinarly self-motivated, as when
she spends whole mornings in the attic sketching and
re-sketching the baseball glove. The grandmother, too,
picked up some of the parental slack; after all, two of the
sisters spent almost their entire summers with her.
Every once and a while, the privelged life got to me,
though. I'll have to think more about this point.
Was it Annie Dillard who lived in Oregon and got into
trouble with the comments that she made about women in the
Northwest? I seem to remember a discussion of this on CR,
but can't recall if it's the same author.
Barb, thanks for recommending this one!
Susan
=============== Reply 2 of Note 20 =================
To: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Date: 03/15
From: FNMN56E LYNN EVANS Time: 8:34 PM
Susan, Now and then the privileged life got to me too. I
once even thought the book really ought to be called "A
Privileged American Childhood." I remember reading all the
build-up hype about daddy going on his sail down the
Mississippi and how would mother ever manage... and then
discovering some brief reference to mom's full-time help!
Nurse AND cook! I mean, puh-leaze.
Also, I'm not convinced about the benign neglect. It seems
so, from her telling, but such a sturdy, self-reliant soul
(and wasn't her brother the same?), in my opinion, was
nourished in ways she may simply be unaware of, so
accustomed was she to being loved and supported. Lynn
=============== Reply 3 of Note 20 =================
To: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Date: 03/15
From: FNMN56E LYNN EVANS Time: 8:39 PM
Susan, Oops! Wanted to mention though that I really just
loved this book. Privileged or not, every child should have
such a childhood.
=============== Reply 4 of Note 20 =================
To: FNMN56E LYNN EVANS Date: 03/15
From: KXBZ24A ANNE WILFONG Time: 9:23 PM
I read this book years ago and need to brush up, but the
"benign neglect" concept was one of my mom's standards. We
had room to grow, experiment, and develop without telling
her where we were every minute. It was wonderful as a kid to
have that sense of freedom and responsibility, to think and
make our own choices. Nonetheless, it must've been tough for
Mom to sit back & let us do it.
Anne, who had a relaxed, free childhood, and a unique set of
parents, for our neighborhood anyway
=============== Reply 5 of Note 20 =================
To: FNMN56E LYNN EVANS Date: 03/16
From: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Time: 10:11 AM
Lynn and all, I loved this book, too. So much of it reminded
me of my own childhood; I spent a lot of time roaming my
neighborhood, too, & remember when empty lots seemed like
forests. Childhood is not all joy, of course, but I just
loved the way Dillard captured that aspect of it. She used a
lot of details and specificity in her story so that she was
able to make her points without hammering them: the
chauffeur's water glass, the ponds & streams book at the
Homewood Library, the long staircase that separated her
newest neighborhood from the oldest. Wonderfully done.
Susan
=============== Reply 6 of Note 20 =================
To: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Date: 03/16
From: FNMN56E LYNN EVANS Time: 10:49 AM
Susan, I remember that too! (when empty lots seemed like
forests...) Everything was such an adventure: the "pretty
rock pile" we used to hike to wasn't just a heap of gravel
dumped there by 2-1/2 ton trucks; they were a "secret find."
The sandbags turned to stone on the beach were mysterious;
the abandoned tunnels were a dangerous, haunted hideaway;
etc. etc.
And the days went on forever! Lunch seemed like a
necessary break, something we needed to rest up from our
morning labors before launching ourselves into the endless
afternoon. Dinner was a lifetime away. Sigh! Lynn
=============== Reply 7 of Note 20 =================
To: FNMN56E LYNN EVANS Date: 03/16
From: FDLX59B MARY ANNE PAPALE Time: 11:59 AM
I read AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD a few years ago. While I didn't
grow up in Pittsburgh, my husband did, only a stone's throw
from Dillard's original neighborhood. So I was prepared to
be put off by the privelege, but that never really happened
to me. I think the fact that Dillard realizes that she had
an atypical upbringing even for the priveleged helps in that
regard.
Because of the setting, AAC is read by virtually every
Pittsburgh reading group. But I have to admit that I got
bored with this book about 3/4 of the way through, and went
on to more exciting reads. I did like THE LIVING a lot more
because I found it more compelling. MAP
=============== Reply 8 of Note 20 =================
To: KXBZ24A ANNE WILFONG Date: 03/16
From: FNMN56E LYNN EVANS Time: 12:13 PM
Anne, I like your mom's approach to child-rearing. But maybe
it wasn't really so tough for her? I mean, if she really
understood the importance of letting kids make their own
decisions, maybe it came naturally to her? Do you remember
her seeming conflicted about not getting/being more
involved? Maybe just at particular junctures?
Questions questions, eh? Sometimes it all seems like such
a crapshoot. Lynn
=============== Reply 9 of Note 20 =================
To: FDLX59B MARY ANNE PAPALE Date: 03/16
From: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Time: 5:53 PM
Mary Anne, what is THE LIVING about?
Interesting to hear your comments about AAC and Pittsburgh
reading groups! I've been debating whether to give this to a
friend who grew up in the city. She might have already read
it.
Are you in Michigan now?
Susan
=============== Reply 10 of Note 20 =================
To: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Date: 03/16
From: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Time: 6:35 PM
Annie Dillard seems to have adored both of her parents, so I
don't think she had any resentments about the "benign
neglect." They might not have been involved in their
children's activities per se, but they seemed to really talk
to them a lot, explaining what they thought was important
and why, they danced together (gee --I totally can't imagine
that with my parents!), and they laughed a lot together.
It all sounded pretty idealic to me, and it was fun reliving
her childhood with her.
One of my Dad's favorite expressions was "Children should be
seen and not heard." I don't think you'd find many parents
saying that today, but in the fifties children were left on
their own a lot more. The world was a safer place (except
for the bomb, of course ), and there were always a lot of
mothers at home. It was a good time to grow up.
There were lots of things I could relate to in this book,
but I think Annie Dillard's self-awareness was really
exceptional. At times it seemed to get in the way of just
living and enjoying things.
Ann
=============== Reply 11 of Note 20 =================
To: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Date: 03/17
From: NDKB53A THERESA SIMPSON Time: 2:06 AM
I would bet that self awareness which gets in the way of
just living and enjoying things is a trait of many writers.
This book was a very quick read. I agree with Lynn that a
better title might have been An Extremely Privileged
American Childhood. Privileged not only in social/economic
status, but also in a good way, hopefully obtainable by
almost everyone, in that she had freedom to pursue whatever
interested her. I thought her parents were far more
involved in Annie's life than she admitted to - she tells us
that her mother drove her to the library every week; that
when she really wanted a microscope, they bought her one;
(plus gave her the space and the time to use it). I didn't
think her parents rejected their social background at all -
they just played around with it, because they knew they
could get away with it (just like Annie played around at
being a wild teen-ager - drag racing, by golly - but never
seemed to doubt that this would interfere in any way with
her ability to go to college).
How did the rest of you think this early example compares to
the current batch of memoirs?
Theresa
=============== Reply 12 of Note 20 =================
To: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Date: 03/17
From: FDLX59B MARY ANNE PAPALE Time: 10:06 AM
Susan, Yes, I am alive and well in MI and getting back into
my reading groove.
THE LIVING is about pioneers going to the great Northwest,
told from the woman's point of view. It was one of those
books that had me captivated from the start. MAP
=============== Reply 13 of Note 20 =================
To: NDKB53A THERESA SIMPSON Date: 03/17
From: FDLX59B MARY ANNE PAPALE Time: 10:16 AM
Theresa,
The current batch of memoirs seem pretty formulaic to me.
Female authors were sexually abused, males physically
abused, and most were pretty poor. Katharine Graham's
autobiography also tells a story of privelege, but it is
also a history of the POST. I am finding it refreshing to
read about a childhood that wasn't sordid. MAP
=============== Reply 14 of Note 20 =================
To: FNMN56E LYNN EVANS Date: 03/17
From: KXBZ24A ANNE WILFONG Time: 10:26 AM
Lynn, you have a point about the "benign neglect" coming
easy to my mom. She never seemed in conflict over this, and
was never too nosey about friends or too involved in our
little tiffs with neighbors (as long as no one got hurt...)
I think this made us more comfortable approaching her with
problems & ideas--she was so nonjudgemental--and in my teen
years, my friends gravitated toward her more than they did
to me, it seems. What a compliment to her.
Anne, with rich memories of childhood & Mom
=============== Reply 15 of Note 20 =================
To: NDKB53A THERESA SIMPSON Date: 03/17
From: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Time: 10:36 AM
Theresa, that's a good question about this book compared to
the recent crop of memoirs. I was thinking about that when I
read AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD, and, along the lines of what
Mary Anne was saying, I was relieved to read a book with so
much joy in it. Dillard's book seems to be a more
intellectual self-history than some other memoirs; it's so
concerned with the life of the mind. Many of the recent ones
are about surviving almost war-like conditions within the
family; the point they make is "This is how I lived
(overcame these terrible conditons)" while Dillard's is
"This is how I thrived." Dillard was given the opportunity
to have a childhood, while quite of the few of the recent
memoirists had to become adults at very young ages, often
taking care of parents and younger siblings. I think it's
important to hear all these stories, but as a reader, I have
to admit that I enjoy the ones like AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD
more than some of the others.
Susan, also a former rock collector
=============== Reply 16 of Note 20 =================
To: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Date: 03/17
From: BUYS59A BARBARA HILL Time: 1:38 PM
Another thing that made Dillard's memoir more interesting to
me besides being a happier one than I've read in the last
year was that she told about her city too, gave us a brief
history of it, and it's geography,and even mentioned some of
the people who contributed to the city.
Reading AAC and DW has been a great nostalgia trip! I, too,
relived parts of my childhood while reading Dillard's. One
of the side effects of this book was that I starting writing
a list of questions to ask my mother, about some of my
incomplete memories. Things I never thought to ask as a kid.
Barb Hill
=============== Reply 17 of Note 20 =================
To: NDKB53A THERESA SIMPSON Date: 03/17
From: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Time: 9:43 PM
Theresa,
Well, I very recently finished ANGELA'S ASHES, a memoir by
Frank McCourt. This has been discussed here before and some
people found it very depressing, but I just had tremendous
respect for the reslience of the author, and his story held
me spellbound. On the other hand, I tried to read LIARS
CLUB and couldn't get through it -- too upsetting.
As others have mentioned, one of the nicest things about
AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD is that it is a happy story. In fact,
through most of the book, I kept asking myself, dosen't
anything bad ever happen to this child? Apparently not,
or maybe she just preferred not to tell us about it, right
up until her teenage years when she experienced some fairly
mild rebellion. Basically, she was a very lucky child and
had the grace to recognize it. I liked the book a lot,
although by the end the self-analysis was starting to wear a
little bit thin.
Ann
=============== Reply 18 of Note 20 =================
To: FDLX59B MARY ANNE PAPALE Date: 03/17
From: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Time: 9:43 PM
Mary Anne,
Is THE LIVING non-fiction?
Ann
=============== Reply 19 of Note 20 =================
To: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Date: 03/18
From: NDKB53A THERESA SIMPSON Time: 0:24 AM
I think that those who enjoyed An American Childhood would
also like M.F.K. Fisher's childhood memoir - As We Were.
Another introspective, self-aware child with loving,
well-off parents. Eudora Welty's childhood memoir would be
another good choice - another basically happy book-worm. I
actually prefer both the Fisher and the Welty to the
Dillard. Now, can anyone think of something similar by a
male writer? I was disappointed with J.M. Coetzee's memoir
("Boyhood") - plus, he had his share of grief - a dissolute
dad, etc. Russel Baker wrote a good memoir - he had a tough
childhood, though. But he was pretty sanguine about the
whole thing. Theresa
=============== Reply 20 of Note 20 =================
To: NDKB53A THERESA SIMPSON Date: 03/18
From: WSRF10B SHERRY KELLER Time: 8:25 AM
Just a little side note, here. Sometimes things seem
absolutely too coincidental. Sunday I was talking on the
phone to one of my dearest friends from New York. We keep in
touch, but not very frequently. She has a son who goes to
Wesleyan and is an English major. I mentioned that I had
just finished a book by an English professor there. She of
course knew right away that it was Dillard. On spring break,
her son and two of Dillard's protoges (where's that accent
button) went to Key West (I think, somewhere in Florida) and
stayed in Dillard's vacation home. No big news here, but I
just think it's neat to insert a little bit of trivia. It
seemed very generous of her.
=============== Reply 21 of Note 20 =================
To: NDKB53A THERESA SIMPSON Date: 03/18
From: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Time: 6:49 PM
Theresa,
I liked Russell Baker's memoirs a lot. Thanks for the tip on
M.K. Fisher and Eudora Welty.
Ann
=============== Reply 22 of Note 20 =================
To: WSRF10B SHERRY KELLER Date: 03/18
From: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Time: 6:51 PM
Sherry,
Well, I did wonder about the rest of the story, as I was
reading this book. So Dillard teaches at Wesleyn. Do you
know if she has always been a professional writer and
teacher?
Ann
=============== Reply 23 of Note 20 =================
To: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Date: 03/18
From: WSRF10B SHERRY KELLER Time: 7:15 PM
I don't really know any more than what the book cover said
on my copy of AAC, that she is a professor at Wesleyan.
I liked the part in the book about Carnegie. Imagine trying
to spend all his money so he wouldn't have to leave any
behind to "burden" his heirs with. At least the were
well-warned.
Sherry
=============== Reply 24 of Note 20 =================
To: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Date: 03/18
From: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Time: 10:20 PM
Ann, here's some info on Dillard, which I'm cribbing from
The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the U.S. Born
1945. PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK (1974) established Dillard as
a major American naturalist. The book received the Pulitzer
Prize & earned Dillard a contributing editorship at
Harper's. PATC described as a "work of mystical naturalism,
allusive and imagistic, exploring the tension between
nature's fertility and violence, between inclusiveness and
isolation."...With THE LIVING (1992) Dillard established
herself as a "labor novelist in the regionalist, Stegnerian
mode..."
The other night I re-read WRITING LIFE (1992), which
Dillard wrote when she was living in Washington State. I
liked it for the most part, but found it much more ethereal
than AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD.
Here's what the Oxford book says about AAC: "Annie Dillard
describes her extraordinarily ordinary childhood in the
homogenous middle-class urban American of the 1950s. Social
issues of the decade---racial tension, enforced conformity,
and ambivalence toward corporate life---are masked behind
tales of learning how to tell a joke or conducting smelly
experiments with a chemistry set. The tensions between
affluence and fear, and individualism and conformity that
informed the period's social criticism
(in such works as MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT, THE FEMININE
MYSTIQUE, and ONE-DIMENSIONAL MAN), appear in Dillard's
child's-eye retrospective as part of the remarkable warp and
woof of life. This emphasis on pluralistic ways of knowing
and a balance of tensions dominates Dillard's work."
Other works:TEACHING A STONE TO TALK (1982), LIVING BY
FICTION (1982).
Susan
=============== Reply 25 of Note 20 =================
To: NDKB53A THERESA SIMPSON Date: 03/18
From: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Time: 11:27 PM
Theresa, in regard to memoirs by a male writer, I really
liked Willie Morris's NORTH TOWARD HOME, which was published
in 1967. Morris grew up in Yazoo City, Mississippi, in the
forties and fifties, then went away to college at the Univ.
of Texas. The memoir is mostly about growing up in Miss.
Willie Morris later became the editor of Harper's Magazine,
& he does write with feeling about the Mississippi "exiles"
that could not bear to live in the state because of its
intolerant racial climate. He moved back to Mississippi in
the eighties and lives there now. I liked NORTH TOWARD HOME
better than the more recent NEW YORK DAYS, about his days at
Harper's; NEW YORK DAYS became too
name-droppy for me.
I haven't read MFK Fisher's memoir; I should get it.
Eudora Welty's is wonderful. I've read a couple of AIDS
memoirs, for lack of a better term, that I thought were
beautiful: Mark Doty's HEAVEN'S COAST and Paul Monette's
LOVING ROG (I think that's the title). The latter was one of
the saddest, most loving books I've read; I liked it much
more than Monette's book HALF A MAN, which won some literary
awards. I cried through a good portion of LOVING ROG &
wanted to write Monette afterward to tell him what a great
book I thought it was. I should have done it; now Monette is
gone. --Susan
=============== Reply 26 of Note 20 =================
To: WSRF10B SHERRY KELLER Date: 03/18
From: FAVB99B JANE NIEMEIER Time: 11:52 PM
Sherry and all,
I have been out of town since Saturday, and I finished AAC
on my way home today. You have all mentioned many of the
things that I was thinking. I liked the parallels between
DANDELION WINE and this book. I liked young Anne's
curiosity about everything and her misery as a teenager. I
think that we can all relate to that. Her view of teenage
boys as something wonderful made me realize that I used to
feel that way about boys at that age. Since, I now teach
teenage boys, I find them to be gawky, funny, charming, and
out-of-control but not wonderful. AAC reminded me how my
viewpoint has changed. Jane, back in snowy Colorado
=============== Reply 27 of Note 20 =================
To: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Date: 03/19
From: FDLX59B MARY ANNE PAPALE Time: 10:05 AM
Ann, No, THE LIVING is fiction. I wouldn't call it a
historical novel exactly, but rather fiction set in a
certain time period. And now that I've said that, I realize
that I can't define the difference, if there is one. Maybe
someone else who has read TL can help me out here. MAP
=============== Reply 28 of Note 20 =================
To: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Date: 03/19
From: FDLX59B MARY ANNE PAPALE Time: 10:26 AM
Susan,
The Pittsburgh papers did a piece on Dillard a few years
back when AAC was published. I remember reading that she has
a guest house or studio where she can escape and write while
the nanny takes care of the kids.
Dillard may describe her upbringing as homogenous middle
class, but much of it was and is today decidedly upper
class. For example, the Ellis School for Girls has a few
more middle class students today than it did in the 50s and
60s, but not many. I like Dillard's writing, but there's
this aspect of her that seems to want to place herself in
the Pittsburgh mainstream, when she couldn't have been. MAP
=============== Reply 29 of Note 20 =================
To: FDLX59B MARY ANNE PAPALE Date: 03/19
From: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Time: 12:42 PM
Susan and Mary Anne,
Thanks for the information on Dillard. So, THE LIVING is a
novel written in the Stegnerian style -- that sounds like
something I should definitely try.
The Oxford reference to Dillard's "middle class" childhood
gave me a jolt too, Mary Anne. Dillard herself seemed to
realize how privileged it was. It is odd, isn't it, how
almost everyone in this country likes to think of themselves
as middle class (at least publically)? In one of my son's
high school classes, the teacher asked how many considered
themselves middle class, and everyone raised their hands.
=============== Reply 30 of Note 20 =================
To: FDLX59B MARY ANNE PAPALE Date: 03/19
From: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Time: 2:52 PM
Mary Anne, Ann, and everyone, that "middle class" reference
in the OXFORD COMPANION TO WOMEN'S WRITING IN THE US
surprised me, too. (The Dillard entry was written by someone
named Carol Schaechterle Loranger; I should have mentioned
that in my note since I was quoting so extensively from what
she wrote.) "Upper middle class" seems more apt.
I liked the information about Pittsburgh that she included
in the book. I thought this opened up AAC, made it more
aware of the bigger world.
Susan
=============== Reply 31 of Note 20 =================
To: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Date: 03/19
From: DNBR75A S THOMSEN Time: 9:11 PM
Dept. of Corrections: the titles of those Paul Monette books
I mentioned earlier should have been BECOMING A MAN: HALF A
LIFE STORY and BORROWED TIME, which was the one I liked.
Susan
=============== Reply 32 of Note 20 =================
To: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Date: 03/19
From: FAVB99B JANE NIEMEIER Time: 11:46 PM
Ann,
When we were in San Diego earlier this week, we were
browsing in a used book store, and I was mightily tempted to
buy THE LIVING just from the first page. It is definitely
my kind of book. I decided to wait and buy it here at home
because 1) we had only carry-on bags and 2) as usual, I have
too many books in my TBR pile. And this inclination to buy
THE LIVING happened even before I read these notes! Jane
who spent an hour and a half shoveling snow today
=============== Reply 33 of Note 20 =================
To: FAVB99B JANE NIEMEIER Date: 03/20
From: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Time: 6:37 PM
Jane,
If you get to THE LIVING before I do, please give us a
report.
San Diego is really beautiful, isn't it? Love the climate.
Ann
=============== Reply 34 of Note 20 =================
To: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Date: 03/20
From: FAVB99B JANE NIEMEIER Time: 10:36 PM
Ann,
I am off the subject here, but it was very difficult to
return to Denver because the sun was shining in San Diego,
and the pilot informed us that there was a major snow storm
going on in Denver. He had the gall to say, "Why are all of
you leaving San Diego when I can see the sun shining here?"
I felt like running up to the front of the plane to inform
him that I wouldn't be leaving if I could change my airline
tickets to the next day. How cruel can you get? We barely
made it into our driveway and then had to shovel for an hour
and a half yesterday to make it out. We had two feet of
snow in the shallow places and four feet in the drifts.
Ah, San Diego!!
Jane in CO where the sun is shining again
=============== Reply 35 of Note 20 =================
To: FAVB99B JANE NIEMEIER Date: 03/21
From: NCSH82B BARBARA MOORS Time: 0:23 AM
Oh Jane, I relate totally. San Diego is one of my favorite
places. Would love to live there. I've been thinking
about you when I heard about the snowstorm in Denver on the
radio. Hope you're cozy by a fire by now. And, Anne, what
about you?
I'm about 30 pages from finishing AAC but couldn't resist
the phenomenon of actually being able to participate in a
discussion of a CR list book while it's going on. I find
myself very much under Dillard's spell, much as I was when
I read PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK. Both books are part prose,
part essay and that seems to be a style I enjoy. In
addition, I love her emphasis on honing in on the detail of
life...followed by her wonder at how we can ever manage to
absorb even a fraction of it.
I definitely had the impression that she knew her family
was upper class, not just upper middle class. But, her
description of their society and those above them strike me
as that of a social anthropologist...sort of the Margaret
Mead of Pittsburgh wealth. And, when she presents them in
that light, I find them curiously interesting too...a
phenomenon of human culture.
I also want to encourage those of you who like
Dillard's fascination with nature to read PILGRIM AT TINKER
CREEK. It opened with this paragraph which had me
helplessly hooked on the book from the outset:
***
I used to have a cat, an old fighting tom, who would
jump through the open window by my bed in the middle of the
night and land on my chest. I'd half-awaken. He'd stick
his skull under my nose and purr, stinking of urine and
blood. Some nights he kneaded my bare chest with his front
paws, powerfully, arching his back, as if sharpening his
claws, or pummeling a mother for milk. And some mornings
I'd wake in daylight to find my body covered with paw
prints in blood; I looked as though I'd been painted with
roses.
***
To those of you who've suffered through me reprinting this
before during a discussion of PILGRIM and maybe again when
we talked about our favorite opening paragraphs of books, I
apologize. But, when I think of Dillard, I think of that
paragraph. The book continues with that same fascination
for the life that we all miss in our daily hustle-bustle
that you see developing in her in AAC.
And, if Dale were here to join in our discussion (please
come home, CBJ), he would certainly comment on the
Polyphemus moth which the teacher put in too small a jar.
He recommended AAC to me after I read PILGRIM and included
that story. When I read it, I actually expected more anger
in Dillard's reaction. That was certainly there, but so
was a wonder at the moth's perseverence and joy in being
born. But, the last sentence about still being able to
"see its golden wing clumps heave", gives me a catch in the
chest.
I definitely would like Dillard at the dinner party,
Theresa. Barb
=============== Reply 36 of Note 20 =================
To: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Date: 03/21
From: NCSH82B BARBARA MOORS Time: 10:23 AM
Just finished AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD this morning and I feel
that same exuberance that I felt after reading PILGRIM.
This woman just reaches in and touches me at the core.
What a perfect description of adolescence...that wonder in
yourself at the boiling pot of anger and irritability.
I still remember wondering what on earth made me hate my
father so much...and deciding that since I hated my
step-mother so much, I had better try to soft-pedal the
negative feelings about my father. It was impossible to
live with such intensely negative feelings about both of
them. It all made me love her head mistress and the
teacher who let her paint in the back of the room. In a
today's schools, she would have been permanently on
suspension. In my new role as parent of adolescents, I
kept thinking practical thoughts about how much easier it
would be for her if she was getting more exercise. It's
amazing how much nicer my boys are when they come back from
swim practice.
I also loved her references throughout the book of
wanting to be "free of myself". She talks about the glory
of it when she was 10 and younger. Then, when she is going
through adolescence, that horrible self-consciousness seems
to be one of the things that most imprisons her. It occurs
to me that one of the most wonderful things about aging
after adolescence is that release from self, not worrying
nearly as much about every little skin change, etc. (I
envision a total mental breakdown if you did).
I was also interested in the theme struck by both
Bradbury and Dillard about "knowing you are alive." Is
this a common theme in coming of age books that I've missed
before? It seems highly coincidental that they both
centered on this so much. One of my favorites of Dillard's
paragraphs on this subject is the following:
***
Knowing you are alive is feeling the planet buck under
you, rear, kick, and try to throw you; you hang onto the
ring. It is riding the planet like a log downstream,
whooping. Or, conversely, you step aside from the
dreaming fast loud routine and feel time as a stillness
about you, and hear the silent air asking in so thin a
voice, Have you noticed yet that you will die? Do you
remember, remember, remember? Then you feel your life as a
weekend, a weekend you cannot extend, a weekend in the
country.
***
This is a paragraph that I'd like to print out, frame
and hang near my computer desk.
And, on a tiny detail note, I loved that she talked
about "the innumerable righteous orange-bound biographies I
read." Those filled my days when I was 8 or 9 and I've
never found anyone else who remembers reading them.
"Righteous" describes them perfectly. What heroic figures
they made of every single historic figure! Barb
=============== Reply 37 of Note 20 =================
To: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Date: 03/21
From: NCSH82B BARBARA MOORS Time: 10:23 AM
And, Ann, I loved hearing that you liked ANGELA'S ASHES. I
had the same dread about the depressing theme and yet
instead felt that same respect for his survival and
attitude. You emerge on the other side feeling a sort
of exuberance that we all have the potential for such
strength. ELLEN FOSTER gave me a muted version of the same
feeling...muted because it was far more fictional, probably.
Barb
=============== Reply 38 of Note 20 =================
To: NCSH82B BARBARA MOORS Date: 03/21
From: KXBZ24A ANNE WILFONG Time: 12:39 PM
Barb, I read every single one of theose biographies when I
was in the 2nd and 3rd grades. I loved the childhood
portions more than the adult accomplishments. I particularly
remeber the ones about Jim Thorpe and patrick Henry. Don't
ask me why!
Anne
=============== Reply 39 of Note 20 =================
To: KXBZ24A ANNE WILFONG Date: 03/21
From: NCSH82B BARBARA MOORS Time: 3:37 PM
For some reason, Clara Barton got big play in my memory.
Do you remember the silhouette illustrations? Barb
=============== Reply 40 of Note 20 =================
To: NCSH82B BARBARA MOORS Date: 03/21
From: KDEX08B RUTH BAVETTA Time: 8:25 PM
Hi, all. I really enjoyed this book. I found it an easier
read than PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK and THE WRITING LIFE. I
guess that's because it was more of a story and less
philosophical. A little mouse of doubt began niggling at me
about halfway through, though. Do you think she was REALLY
such an organized, intellectually curious child, or is she
polishing things up a bit? I mean, I had rock collections,
and matchbook collections and butterfly collections. I drew
and made lists of things to do. But I never followed
anything through to the extent she seems to have. She must
have been an extremely organized kid. I've used the drawing
book she used. The lessons are really for adults. They
involve long sometimes tedious drawing sessions every day.
What kid has the stick-to-itiveness to do that? And her
identification of minerals is the kind of stuff I did in
college. Do you think she worked so methodically? Or does
she just remember it as such because of the gloss that
childhood tends to acquire over time?
Ruth, no stranger to the Mohs Hardness Scale herself
=============== Reply 41 of Note 20 =================
To: KDEX08B RUTH BAVETTA Date: 03/21
From: NCSH82B BARBARA MOORS Time: 9:05 PM
Well, I don't know, Ruth. I tended to buy it, but I can be
gullible. I did think that she was an especially hungry,
slightly obsessive child. But, I'm also not sure that the
actual day-to-day facts are the point in this book. The
essay qualities of it are my favorite and even
the characters, whether they are fictionalized or not.
I did some Internet surfing tonight about Dillard and
found a couple of good articles about her. She was born in
1945...somehow from AAC, I got the impression that she was
born before that. When she went away to college, she
married her writing instructor. She's quoted a couple of
times as saying that this relationship was incredibly good
for her writing. The experiences that led to PILGRIM were
prompted by a very serious bout of pnuemonia which made her
think that she had to get away for some time by herself.
She was 29 when she won the Pulitzer for that book.
One article about her made reference to her being
married and divorced several times but I didn't find
anything more specific than that. In any case, an article
written in '96 said that she'd been married to her current
husband for 9 years and it sounded like she had children.
There are also a couple of reprints of the infamous
interview in which she made her disparaging comments about
Northwestern women. There were an equal number of such
comments about how NW men treat women. I actually found
her kind of likeable in the article. She certainly wasn't
being politically correct, but she was being honest, very
off the cuff.
Hope all of the above is accurate. I didn't print any
of it out. Also found 2 pictures of her. She looks
pretty, open and intelligent. I'm always fascinated to
find these pictures of authors, for some reason.
Barb
=============== Reply 42 of Note 20 =================
To: NCSH82B BARBARA MOORS Date: 03/21
From: FNMN56E LYNN EVANS Time: 9:28 PM
Barb and Ruth, Considering she grew into the sort of person
who could spend however long living on the edge of a creek
in backwoods Virginny, maybe she would almost have to be
that sort of kid?
My most memorable scene from Tinker Creek: coming upon the
frog that, surprisingly, didn't jump -- then discovering a
large insect sucking its innards out from behind.
Goodness. I will never complain about freeway driving again.
Lynn
=============== Reply 43 of Note 20 =================
To: NCSH82B BARBARA MOORS Date: 03/22
From: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Time: 10:32 AM
Barb,
Thanks for the biographical information. I wondered what
kind of family life she ended up with after she left home.
And Ruth, I would say that she had a strong obsessive
tendency, which goes a long way towards explaining her
childhood discipline. Such people aren't easy to live with,
but if the obsessiveness isn't too extreme, they can be high
contributors to society.
Ann
=============== Reply 44 of Note 20 =================
To: TQWX67A ANN DAVEY Date: 03/22
From: KDEX08B RUTH BAVETTA Time: 1:47 PM
Lynn and Ann, you may be right about Dillard's personality.
It was just hard for me to believe a child could have such a
drive to follow through on all those projects.
Putting that aside, tho, I could see parallels between her
childhood and mine. Not the moneyed part. My dad was a
college prof, you don't get rich doing that, but her endless
fascination with the world around her. I was a kid like
that, too. (I just didn't do it as efficiently as she
evidently did.) Empty lots were heaven. The Santa Monica
mountains were my refuge.
And there was a very similar attitude towards jokes and
humor in my family. In fact, I think we communicated better
on that level than any other.
Perhaps because I was like Annie in so many ways (including
a flirtation with the wild side as a teen), was why I was
skeptical of her veracity when it came to things that didn't
jibe with my own life.
Ruth
=============== Reply 45 of Note 20 =================
To: KDEX08B RUTH BAVETTA Date: 03/22
From: FNMN56E LYNN EVANS Time: 2:07 PM
Ruth, I suspect a fascination with the world around us
characterizes most of us on the board. Ditto sense of humor.
And yet we're different in many other ways: some of us are
dreamers, others more practical, some organized, others all
over the place, etc. etc. Perhaps curiosity, sense of humor,
etc. etc. aren't driving factors for particular personality
types, but more on the order of blue eyes and brown hair --
they can show up anywhere. Lynn
|
 Annie Dillard I was relieved to read a book with so much joy in it. Dillard's book seems to be a more intellectual self-history than some other memoirs; it's so concerned with the life of the mind. -S Thomsen Her view of teenage boys as something wonderful made me realize that I used to feel that way about boys at that age. Since, I now teach teenage boys, I find them to be gawky, funny, charming, and out-of-control but not wonderful. AAC reminded me how my viewpoint has changed. -Jane |