The All-Time All-Timers (part 1 of 3)

I mentioned in my last post that when I get asked about my favorite book, I often try to answer with a book that is not from the canon, not read and discussed in classrooms across the country.  I teach American Literature quite a bit, for example, so choosing Huck Finn or The Scarlet Letter or The Great Gatsby as my favorite seems too expected, too ordinary.  So, instead, I answer I Am One of You Forever (see my last post!) or I mention the name of a book I read recently and enjoyed.

But here’s the thing.  I love those canonical books.  Familiarity breeds contempt? Not when you’re talking about Hester Prynne.  I have read and re-read some of these books 15 times.  Seriously.  I’m in deep with most of the novels that you and everyone you know read in high school.  I know Gatsby so well I could plan the menu for one of his parties.  I’ve travelled down the Mississippi with Huck long enough that I can recite entire stanzas of Emmeline Grangerford’s poetry.  I’ve seen enough of Hester’s backbone and grit and passion that I sometimes blush when I talk about her. 

So now my current two-week plan is to write about one of these giants of American Literature every few days.   Check back often!    

Be forewarned: Some of what I say may be English teacher-y!

Today’s selection:  The Great Gatsby!

This is just a great book to read and discuss and teach.  The themes are deeply American and have real resonance with most students. Reading Gatsby makes me consider:  

• Is it possible to be a “self-made man” in today’s America?  And is it possible to reinvent yourself? 
• Who, and what, do we value in America?  Has that changed over the years?
• To what should we aspire in life?  Greater social heights, like Myrtle?  Security, like Daisy?  Love, like Gatsby? Superfluity, like Tom? 

Additionally, Gatsby has re-entered the popular culture because of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie and other, smaller references, like this one from the unrivaled TV drama, The Wire. (WARNING:  Some of the language, although appropriate to the character and situation, is saltier than a can of cashews.  In other words, the characters swear).   

People know The Great Gatsby right now, so it’s an entirely appropriate topic of conversation at dinner parties.  Right?

 OK, maybe not.  But these themes are still on point, and these discussions work in the classroom, and that’s one reason I love re-reading and teaching this book. 

The other is because, once in a while, when I find myself lost in the narrative, a section of Gatsby just slaps me awake.  I notice these sections more upon re-reading.   For example, my favorite part of this book has become when Gatsby introduces Tom and Daisy around one of his parties:

He took them ceremoniously from group to group:

“Mrs. Buchanan … and Mr. Buchanan –“ After an instant’s hesitation he added: “the polo player.”

“Oh no,” objected Tom quickly, “not me.”

But evidently the sound of it pleased Gatsby, for Tom remained “the polo player” for the rest of the evening.

 It’s a small bit, but I look forward to it every year. It just strikes me as so funny.  And humanizing. Gatsby gives the needle to his competition, and Tom, God love him, can’t stand to have his pretentiousness popped. FYI:  If I’m ever at a party with you, and I introduce you to someone as “the polo player,” it’s not a compliment.

Find your old copy of Gatsby and give it a go.  Next up, The Scarlet Letter!

I Am One of You Forever

I Am One of You Forever

Fred Chappell

I can’t remember when I first read this or how I came to it; I would guess my mom or my Aunt Jody passed it to me.  My mom is a reader through and through, and her sister Jody is the same, perhaps with a little more interest in Southern literature.  I just know that for many, many years, when people would ask me for the title of my favorite book, I’d cite this one.  Part of my answer was, maybe, an attempt to avoid a work from the canon, a Huck Finn or Scarlet Letter.  Part of it was, probably, a desire to sound in the know:  Forget what others say – here’s your right answer! (In the 1990’s I had a bit of the “young hipster who only likes obscure bands” attitude about books.  I probably still do.  But don’t we all enjoy the act of discovery, of gaining esoteric knowledge, of initiating and sharing that knowledge with others?). Chappell’s work is widely respected but I wouldn’t call it mainstream, so I Am One of You Forever is the perfect choice for “favorite book” for a certain personality at a certain age.  Which is to say, me, for a long, long time.  

But here’s the thing – I knew what I was talking about.  It is a great book.  It’s hilarious, touching, and poetic.  The story  (most simply: a boy grows up on a North Carolina  farm) is simple and episodic.  There’s only the scantest hint of a plot: uncles who are part myth and part magic arrive and leave, the boy and his father and their farmhand antagonize the boy’s grandmother, and life, the good and the bad of it, continues.

If the story is simple and straightforward, the writing is simple and astounding.  Chappell writes clearly and with economy (it’s not surprising that he is an accomplished poet) and his writing in places is just plain beautiful. 

Here’s an excerpt from when Johnson Gibbs, the 18 year-old farmhand, is introduced to the family.  It’s not the most poetic section of the novel, but it’s memorable.

My mother – who was no help at the farm, since she taught school all day – took to him immediately.  She loved boys – that was probably a big reason she married my father.  She loved most of all boys who were quiet and cheerful and well-mannered, as Johnson was.  And he was good-looking besides.  When my mother was introduced to him her hands went automatically to her hips, smoothing her skirt.

Johnson’s eyes were of a light blue color, and when he met my father they became lighter, almost transparently blue.  His smile tightened a quick animal reaction.  There would be conflict between them – that was inevitable – but the introduction went off affably enough, and took place on a Sunday.

They didn’t fight until the next day.  It was a law woven into the fabric of the universe that these two young men were going to have at it; and Monday was as good a day as the Lord ever made.

The mother smoothing her skirt over her hips, Johnson’s smile tightening – I have never forgotten those details.  And consider how much we learn about everyone in those three short paragraphs! 

Listen, I don’t know if this is my favorite book anymore – is it even possible to pick just one book as a favorite? – but this is a great, great novel.  You won’t regret reading this.