As I mentioned yesterday, it was time for me to think again about how well I have been writing about the 50 state books and whether this is a meaningful, entertaining endeavor. So ...
Why Am I Reading a Book About --or Set in -- Every State?
It did not naturally occur to me that I had to psychoanalyze my motives for this year's book reading resolution until a friend of mine, who reads the blog but does not post comments, sent me an email about how onerous and trivial it all seemed:; that my comments had no larger relevance, and that my time would be better spend doing something else. Well, that was a nice wake-up email first thing in the morning. But it did provoke me.
Initially, as I have told many friends, the years when I read a biography for each letter of the alphabet never lasted long enough for twelve months of enjoyment. (See my essay on why I read biographies, January 30th.) So for 2009, I was looking for a way to tackle a theme that would last a full year. Fifty books seemed within reach since it took me only five months to do the alphabet.
Fifty evoked the USA. That option paralleled my college roommate's goal to visit every state. I thought I could do that, but from the comfort of home and not have to deal with bad weather or poor accommodations. But at a deeper level, I wanted to be more like De Tocqueville, looking to find typical Americans -- to understand their rigors, dreams and failures. Could I find a new national essence or would I discover we had become more splintered and differentiated than merely along the dimension of red and blue politics?
After a couple of years of memoirs, accompanied with a barrage of plain old fiction from my "face to face" book club, I decided not to be limited in genre when selecting a representative from each state. Given my innate preference, I would have preferred something historical in every case, but had to balance the interests of the "Slackers."
Also I acknowledge that this is an opportunity to fill in a gaping hole. Even though I am an English major, I have read very little fiction by American authors. Here's my chance to read all those giants of American literature, Pulitzer Prize recipients, Guggenheim Fellows, National Book Award winners, books everyone else read as part of their summer reading lists from school.
But distilling all these rationalizations into the real reason why: I want to see whether where someone is indelibly affects that person. Does home or roots circumscribe options, or align characters with larger issues? Does the author use a point in time or a particular location to describe something uniquely universal? Does the writer employ literary devices, especially the use of home, neighborhood or region, as a metaphor or as an impetus to move the story along?
So, my friend, have I explained my reasons for this undertaking? I also recognize, reading has to be entertaining (or I might as well turn on the DVD ... apparently something all of American is doing or the Washington Post might not be ending its book review section). I hope to be travelling across space with a story that moves along interestingly and makes me sorry to leave one state for another.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
One hallmark of friendship is the desire to "slap up one side of the head" anyone who dares to criticize our friends. So, to the unregistered ( get with the program , even I a techno-peasant could figure out how to do it) critic of "why read the fifty states" I'd offer up that the concept of geography is very important to the study of literature. I'd also recommend that we add yet ANOTHER book to our list but this one has a more overarching purpose. It's "Seeing Through Places: Reflections on Geography and Identity" by Mary Gordon. I've proposed this read for two years in my face to face book club but will try again during this spring's rounds of selection. The point to this well-acclaimed book is that we are all shaped profoundly by place. We'll undoubtedly have some in our 50 state menu where place blurs more into region;e.g., Southern lit but we also have some like Straley's novel set in Sitka Alaska where it's impossible to picture the characters and action in a different locale. My larger "two cents worth" however is that we all read to feel communion with others and to erase that innate certainty that no one else on eather has the same feelings and thoughts. When we connect with someone, be it fictional or not, we feel less alone.
ReplyDeleteWe MUST be doing something right in having selected as our theme for this year a tour of all 50 states. I found a book ( alas in hard cover) called "State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America." It's edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey and it has enlisted novelists, reporters, etc to write a "unique literary snapshot" of one of the fifty states. I've not had time to go into internet land and figure out a) if the book is any good and b) how easy it is to get ahold of but on the surface of it, we should expand our list of readings to get a look at this nobel venture, clearly mirroring our fearless leader's great idea of doing all of the states. I agree with some of her comments that we're not always going to get either a book that we like or one that has any particular feel for the state in which it's set, but it's still a great idea!
ReplyDeleteHello out there. . . .??
ReplyDelete