The Books of the States: Rhode Island (4 electoral votes)
I've been looking forward to Rhode Island day, in part because, my Frederick Douglass dream aside, I'm not sure there's a writer quarter I'd enjoy seeing more than the one to the right. To begin with, there is Lovecraft's dour shovel of a mug, and then there is the pleasant thought of such a deeply odd fish (or, to use language he might prefer, a hideous, slimy creature from the black seas of infinity) appearing on government-issued currency. And he is a famous homebody, sticking close to Providence, Rhode Island, where he was born and where he returned for good after a failed attempt at marriage in Brooklyn.
I'm also pro-RI because I quickly came up with an interesting and tidy little list of four books, each remarkable in their own quite different ways. But, fearing another John Irving debacle, I didn't stop my researches there, and so it's a little harder to limit myself now to four, but here goes:
- H.P. Lovecraft: Tales by H.P. Lovecraft: The authoritative Library of America edition. I challenge you to name a book with better Statistically Improbably Phrases than this one: "curvilinear hieroglyphs, greenish soapstones, tarry stickiness, twilight abysses, nameless scent, spiky image, shunned house, twilit grotto, elder things, membraneous wings, attic laboratory, hill noises, fishy odour, domed hills, buzzing voice, scientific zeal, frantic note, lurking fear, blasted heath, captive mind, slanting wall, frantic letter, grocery boy". My god--what's your favorite? They tell a skin-prickling story all by themselves (and I do fear for that "grocery boy"...).
- A Key into the Language of America by Roger Williams: The founder of Rhode Island also wrote one of its great and strange books, this little 1643 guide to the language and culture of the Narragansett, remarkable in its time and ours for its openhanded approach to native culture. Am I wrong to say that this can hold its own with Moby-Dick and The Postman Always Rings Twice as one of the most brilliant opening paragraphs in American literature: "Observation. The Natives are of two sorts, (as the English are). Some more Rude and Clownish, who are not so apt to Salute, but upon Salutation resalute lovingly. Others, and the generall, are sober and grave, and yet chearfull in a meane, and as ready to begin a Salutation as to Resalute, which yet the English generally begin, out of desire to Civilize them."
- The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: This early feminist story of a young wife and mother losing her mind is every bit as chilling as the creepiest Lovecraft tale.
- Saints and Strangers by Angela Carter (it's out of print?!? geez...): Not her best-known book, but my favorite, and one of my favorites by anybody anywhere (speaking of opening paragraphs, I lived under the spell of the opening of "The Cabinet of Edgar Allan Poe" for about three years.) The best stories in the collection are her bloody British fabulist's response to American history (especially the masterful "Fall River Axe Murders"), although the connections to Rhode Island in particular are admittedly slim (she taught at Brown in the early '80s).
What a strange and fantastic group of four, but there are certainly other contenders. Staying at Brown, there are the great postmodernists who ruled there for decades, Robert Coover and John Hawkes, although neither of them wrote in particular about RI, as far as I know. And across town at RISD, there has been David Macaulay, the meticulous opener of worlds for kids. Updike set The Witches of Eastwick (and, presumably, the new Widows) in RI, Galway Kinnell and Spalding Gray were raised there, and a master of modern weird, Paul di Filippo, was born in Providence and lives there today. --Tom
- See all of our state posts
- Read our introduction to The Books of the States: 50 States, 538 Books
- Read our interview with State by State editors Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey
nichole on October 03, 2008 at 04:32 AM
As a native Rhode Islander, I agree with your choices. I don't know which I would bump off in favor of Chris Van Allsburg (Jumanji, The Polar Express), but I feel he should be one of the 4.
pdas on October 11, 2008 at 08:20 PM
John Casey's Spartina
pdas on October 11, 2008 at 08:31 PM
And, of course, The Prince of Providence. Buddy! Buddy!