Wednesdays 12:00 – 2:00 PM
January 12, through March 2, 2005
D.O.C. House
Annie Dillard set out to write a study of her hometown, Pittsburgh, PA, and found herself writing a memoir, An American Childhood (1987). When all else is gone from her brain, she writes that topology will be left: "the dreaming memory of land as it lay this way and that." Elizabeth Bishop begins her poetry collection, Geography III (1976), by excerpting an 1884 geography textbook, and closes with:
"--Yesterday brought to today so lightly! / (A yesterday I find almost impossible to lift.)"
This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind by Ivan Doig (1978) explores his childhood in the Tierney Basin of Montana: "Scotchman and coyotes was the only ones that could live in the Basin, and pretty damn soon the coyotes starved out." All these writers question the connections between land and memory. How do they influence each other? Which is longer lasting? Is either true?
Be forewarned that there are 615 pages of close reading. Both the prose and poetry are dense, colorful and humorous. None of these writers are "easy reads" but all are exceptionally rewarding. The quality of the course will be determined by each individual's willingness to read with care, as there will be little lecture and much lively discussion.
Class is limited to 16 members.
PATRICIA NORTON, a musician, poet, Middlebury College political philosophy major, literary studies student and mother, brings a diverse range of interests to her reading. Post-graduate seminars have fine-tuned her literary skills. This will be the tenth course she has offered through ILEAD.
