Capturing the essence of a place

[Lynn]

This morning I was listening to “A Way With Words”, one of my favorite public radio shows, which explores the use of words including regional variations in usage and pronunciation. During the show, one of the hosts read a very evocative passage about W Hollow written by Jesse Stuart, a Kentucky author and poet. (I’d include a reference here, but I didn’t catch the actual work it came from.) It was the first time I can recall hearing of Stuart, but I loved the way he used language to paint a picture.

The passage captured the essence of rural Kentucky perfectly and the host posed a question that I thought might be interesting to explore here. She asked what authors or works we thought captured the essence of other states or areas of the country. As I thought about it, I realized that might be one reason I like Jane Smiley’s work so much – she captured the Iowa of my childhood and young adulthood perfectly in parts of A Thousand Acres and her recent trilogy. It’s not the things that happen in the plot necessarily, but the descriptions of the countryside, agriculture, and rural/small town society that speak to me.

So I’d like to ask you all – what author or specific work do you think captures the essence of your part of the country or world?

[Ann]

I like this challenge..

[Tonya]

There is a book which perfectly captures the landscape of my youth, I have no doubt, and it has been on my mind to read it for years and years. Small Texas town, one movie theater (ours closed when I was still in middle school.) I'll get to it one day.

The Last Picture Show

[Lynn]

That sounds like a potential nomination for the Classics Corner, Tonya. I don't think I've ever read it either, although I'm pretty sure I've seen the movie.

[Book Concierge]

Tonya wrote: "There is a book which perfectly captures the landscape of my youth, I have no doubt, and it has been on my mind to read it for years and years. Small Texas town, one movie theater (ours closed when..."

I remember when I saw the movie (when it first came out) and my brother and I turned to each other and remarked "watering the street" ... that was our job at Grandma's to keep the dust down (small Texas town) ... every afternoon she'd have us "sprinkle" the street in front of her house.

[Lyn]

I think Tom Robbins has depicted the Pacific Northwest well. I've read all his books, so not sure which one does it best, but I remember blackberry brambles overtaking everything in perfect PNW fashion in one of his books.

[Tonya]

Lyn, you made me think of Sometimes a Great Notion. Strong sense of place; that book that sucked me into an unfamiliar landscape and held me hostage.

Book, it was the only book to come to my mind. I bet you have many others?

[Melissa]

I think Louise Erdrich does a marvelous job evoking Minnesota. So does Jonathan Franzen, in places.

[Lynn]

I agree about Louise Erdrich's books. I like the way her books evoke the place combined with the culture of the native Americans in that place.

[Scout]

I'd have to say that Flannery O'Connor captured the essence of Georgia, where I grew up and live. Of course, her novels and stories were set in the late '50s and early '60s, a time when I was a child, but they captured the language, the landscape, and the kinds of characters that I still recognize.