The Books of the States: Nebraska (5 electoral votes)
With California and Texas in our rear-view mirror, we've entered the home stretch of our state tour, with only two states left with double-digit electoral votes (and those just barely: WA 11, AZ 10): mostly it's 3s and 5s from here on out, which makes you feel that you are hitting one of those straight interstates in the Great Plains where nobody's really going to bother you if you take it up to 85. But the going is not going to be so fast: here I am in Nebraska, and I find myself wanting to nominate twice its allotted five. And so I'll do just that.
I assumed all along I'd be putting Willa Cather on the Nebraska quarter, and it's not for lack of love for her books that I'm not. I just like the idea of putting Mari Sandoz, the self-made historian and daughter of the plains, there, and I wouldn't be surprised if Nebraskans, given the choice themselves, would too. (I don't know--you tell me!)
Here are two slates of delegates for the Cornhusker State:
- My Antonia by Willa Cather: Isn't it a pleasure when an encrusted old classic turns out to be wonderful and full of life? I'm generally of the "there's a reason they're classics" school, but it's still a thrill and a surprise when a book read and loved (and not loved) by so many others becomes a personal favorite, and that's what happened when I came across the clarity, melancholy, and--yes--joy of My Antonia for the first time.
- Old Jules and Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas by Mari Sandoz: A prairie pairing: Sandoz's biography of her eccentric and ambitious pioneer father, who (and this is Wikipedia talking here) discouraged her bookishness and then on his deathbed asked her to write his life story, and her way-ahead-of-its-time account of the life of Crazy Horse (published in 1942, when many who knew her subject were still alive, and still the most influential biography of that central American figure). (For another long-beloved Native American life via the pen of a white Nebraskan, see John Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks.)
- All the Strange Hours by Loren Eiseley: Eiseley was a major midcentury writer, who brought together the "two cultures" of science and art (itself a very midcentury concept!) in his poetic approach to his study of paleontology, anthropology, and evolution. All the Strange Hours is his autobiography, written late in his life but grounded in his hard High Plains childhood and his discovery of the natural world there.
- Delights & Shadows by Ted Kooser: During his term as U.S. Poet Laureate, Kooser, plainspoken and proudly rooted in his home state of Nebraska, won the Pulitzer Prize for this 2004 collection.
- Acme Novelty Library #19 by Chris Ware: I'll put this here as a placeholder for his ongoing serial, Rusty Brown, the latest installment of which appears in the this year's edition of Ware's colossally exquisite annual. Ware did his early comics at the University of Texas and has worked since in Chicago, where Jimmy Corrigan is set. But anyone who has followed his career knows how much stake he puts in his Omaha childhood, and he's returned there in his second full-length work, still in progress. The jury (at least this jury) is still out on how Rusty Brown will come together, but there are few people out there whose work I watch with more anticipation.
And here's a second team, who the starting five can trust with a lead any time they need a breather:
- The Field of Vision by Wright Morris: Morris is cited as much as anyone when you start talking Nebraska writers, but although the wonderful Bison Books at the University of Nebraska has kept a number of his books in print, he seems like he's fallen out of the wider conversation. I haven't read him myself, but this 1956 National Book Award winner is generally considered his best.
- Dalva by Jim Harrison: I already trolled for Harrison recommendations in my Michigan post, but this novel, perhaps his most acclaimed, tells Nebraska history through the life of a memorable woman.
- The Echo Maker by Richard Powers: I kept reading Powers novels, always intrigued by his potential and his premises, until I finally found the one I loved (Galatea 2.2). And I haven't read him since! Is that perverse, to abandon him just when he's made me happy? If I was going to go back, it would be for this NBCC Award winner.
- Tell Me a Riddle by Tillie Olsen: Olsen, who grew up in Omaha, published only three full books in a life of motherhood, work, and activism, but the four stories in this midlife collection made her a legend.
- Counselor by Ted Sorensen: Sorensen graduated from the University of Nebraska law school and soon became JFK's intimate and alter ego. Long a New York lawyer, he published his long-awaited memoir this year, to generally admiring reviews.
--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
Patrick Murtha on December 05, 2008 at 05:25 PM
If Wright Morris has "fallen out of the wider conversation" -- an unfortunately true statement -- then so much the worse for that conversaation. He is a most impressive novelist, better than many of his more celebrated contemporaries. He rewards reading in depth: The Field of Vision is not a bad place to start, and The Works of Love is another of his best books. There are about twenty novels in all.
MARY on December 06, 2008 at 06:52 AM
Though I'm not from Nebraska, I loved Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas. It's a must read for every American, if not every human being.
MARY on December 06, 2008 at 06:52 AM
Though I'm not from Nebraska, I loved Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas. It's a must read for every American, if not every human being.
mary on December 06, 2008 at 07:07 AM
I should add that Jim Harrison's "Dalva" lead me to Mari Sandoz's "Crazy Horse." Another great book.