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A Lucky American Childhood
More than any other individual, Paul Engle was the spirited force behind the creative writing workshops now so abundant in America. His indomitable nature, enthusiasm, and great persuasive powers, coupled with his distinguished reputation as a poet, loomed large behind the founding of the influential Iowa Writers' Workshop.
A Lucky American Childhood will appeal to people with memories of the small-town America that Paul Engle describes with such affectionate realism and to all those interested in the roots of this renowned man of letters.
A Lucky American Childhood will appeal to people with memories of the small-town America that Paul Engle describes with such affectionate realism and to all those interested in the roots of this renowned man of letters.
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
228 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1996
About the author
Paul Engle
90 books1 followerEngle was a noted American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is perhaps best remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. During his tenure (1941–1965), he was responsible for luring some of the finest writers of the day to Iowa City. Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Kurt Vonnegut and other prominent authors served as faculty under Engle. Additionally, Engle increased enrollment and oversaw numerous students of future fame and influence, including Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver and Robert Bly.
Born Paul Hamilton Engle, he attended Coe College, The University of Iowa, Columbia University, and Oxford University (where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar). Engle's first poetry collection "Worn Earth" won the Yale Series of Younger Poets and his second, "American Song" (1934), was given a rave front-page review in the New York Times Book Review.
Born Paul Hamilton Engle, he attended Coe College, The University of Iowa, Columbia University, and Oxford University (where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar). Engle's first poetry collection "Worn Earth" won the Yale Series of Younger Poets and his second, "American Song" (1934), was given a rave front-page review in the New York Times Book Review.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 30, 2021
When home is London or Paris, a wealth of artistic gifts have been poured out in praise of your city, but if you live in a small city in the American Midwest, well, the songs in praise of the city are considerably fewer. So it was really an unlooked-for gift to stumble across this little memoir of author and poet Paul Engle's growing up years in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the late 1800s to early 1900s. As a transplant to this city, I enjoyed enormously all the references to streets on the southeast side of the city where I live. Local history becomes a living past, mingling curiously with the present, in the hands of a skillful author describing the exact location of a dolphin fountain where the horses watered, which I delightedly recognize as being across from the park where my children play today.
One particularly wonderful chapter goes into glorious detail on the sensory experiences of childhood: the sight of his mother sewing, all the fascinating items in her sewing box, the smells of the horses and of printer's ink and empty cigar boxes, the tastes of homemade pickles and butter and bread, and the feel of leather bridles and the coat made for him from the hide of a horse that died. It's a nostalgic and perhaps slightly sentimental paean to memory, but it's also got a lot of wisdom about a sanitized world where more things are synthetic or artificial, odorless, less richly textured and altogether less alive. What we gain in not sniffing animal poop, we lose in not having intimacy with--life. And the poet is also honest about the evil that was then, even in the past where he experienced so much life and beauty, most palpably when he brings the anti-semitism of his neighbors in Cedar Rapids, which he saw much of when he worked as the Sabbath fire-lighter for local Jewish immigrants, into juxtaposition with his experiences in Nazi Germany. Truly, as he says, we do not know how to be human.
Perhaps what was lacking was a narrative thread joining together the richly described scenes from his growing up years. He talks about getting a Rhodes scholarship and going to Oxford, but the book doesn't give you much of a sense of how that happened to the son of a midwestern horse handler. He also describes seeing some of the lead-up and aftermath in Europe of the second world war, but it was very unclear whether his experience of that was as a soldier or as a visiting scholar. Still, my complaint is only of the more the book might have been. The book that it was was an excellent tribute to this place and that time, and I am very glad to have read it.
One particularly wonderful chapter goes into glorious detail on the sensory experiences of childhood: the sight of his mother sewing, all the fascinating items in her sewing box, the smells of the horses and of printer's ink and empty cigar boxes, the tastes of homemade pickles and butter and bread, and the feel of leather bridles and the coat made for him from the hide of a horse that died. It's a nostalgic and perhaps slightly sentimental paean to memory, but it's also got a lot of wisdom about a sanitized world where more things are synthetic or artificial, odorless, less richly textured and altogether less alive. What we gain in not sniffing animal poop, we lose in not having intimacy with--life. And the poet is also honest about the evil that was then, even in the past where he experienced so much life and beauty, most palpably when he brings the anti-semitism of his neighbors in Cedar Rapids, which he saw much of when he worked as the Sabbath fire-lighter for local Jewish immigrants, into juxtaposition with his experiences in Nazi Germany. Truly, as he says, we do not know how to be human.
Perhaps what was lacking was a narrative thread joining together the richly described scenes from his growing up years. He talks about getting a Rhodes scholarship and going to Oxford, but the book doesn't give you much of a sense of how that happened to the son of a midwestern horse handler. He also describes seeing some of the lead-up and aftermath in Europe of the second world war, but it was very unclear whether his experience of that was as a soldier or as a visiting scholar. Still, my complaint is only of the more the book might have been. The book that it was was an excellent tribute to this place and that time, and I am very glad to have read it.
July 9, 2009
A memoir by Paul Engle, who directed the Iowa Writers Workshop for decades and also founded the Iowa International Writers Workshop. This book tells of his childhood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, back in the days when some people thought cars were a passing fad. The book is full of imagery and descriptions of things of all the senses; vivid memories of what that Engle missed as the world modernized and became more "antiseptic". But his use of imagery is indicative of his status as a poet; prose is not his "native language", and since there was not really a plot or story line (except a few anecdotes in some chapters), I found the reading a bit laborious. But it did make Cedar Rapids, as he described the rich diversity that constituted it, more than just "that blue collar city to the north", which seems to be the Iowa City opinion.
May 31, 2011
I finished this a few weeks ago, but I'm just now finally getting around to writing about it. I love memoirs & I love Iowa, so Engle's recounting of his childhood in Cedar Rapids during the early 20th century was absolutely wonderful for me. Plus I'm kind of envious hearing how his childhood as a horseman's son led to him becoming a Rhodes Scholar and spending time in Europe on the eve of WWII, and eventually founding the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. The best thing is that, unlike listening to an elderly neighbor's painful recounting of their now dim childhood memories, Engle is a gifted writer and strings along an interesting collection of vignettes. While the chapters are mostly self-contained and only somewhat chronological, somehow it all seems to fit together in an unexpectedly perfect way. If you like this sort of thing, you could do a lot worse.
August 20, 2009
Set about a generation older than I am, but in the area in which I grew up, this book resonated very well with me. A pleasant reminiscence. I thought his poetry background enhanced his prose, making it very rich and evocative, as though he were savoring the words.
December 21, 2011
This book is about a guy who grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in the 30's. It's really good, and it reminds me of the scenes of Iowa along with stories from my family.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews