Editor’s Note: Maine Bound is a column featuring new books written by Maine authors or set in the Pine Tree State.
BY DANA WILDE
OF THE NEWS STAFF
UPCOUNTRY: REFLECTIONS FROM A RURAL LIFE, by Robert Kimber; Down East Books, Camden, 2005; trade paperback, 168 pages; $14.95.
“Upcountry” is a new paperback edition of Robert Kimber’s book of essays first published in 1991 by Lyons & Burford Publishers. The book collects 29 essays written in the 1970s and ’80s, most of which appeared in Down East magazine, as well as Country Journal, Yankee magazine and other homey publications.
The essays are, as the subtitle indicates, reflections on Kimber’s back-to-the-land life on his farm in Temple. They cover standard themes such as the joys and aggravations of Maine weather, inscrutable Yankee neighbors, fishing, and Thoreauvian excursions into the hills, valleys and rivers of western Maine.
In reissuing “Upcountry” in paperback, Down East Books does a good turn to readers who enjoy the magazine’s safely earthy ruminations on the Norman Rockwell-like features of Maine. Kimber’s musings are mainly vivid and pleasant, and while attaining the elevations of his principal literary predecessor, E.B. White, is mostly beyond his reach, nonetheless these essays are tightly constructed, and better-dispositioned than a similar piece of his that appeared last year in “A Place on Water.”
Kimber’s writings have been published in Audubon and Field & Stream magazines, among others, and his books include “A Canoeist’s Sketchbook,” “Made for the Country” and the upcoming “Living Wild and Domestic: The Education of a Hunter-Gardener.” He still resides in the farmhouse in Temple.
BY DANA WILDE
OF THE NEWS STAFF
THE CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS, by Jeffrey Lewis; Other Press, New York, 2005; 240 pages, hardback, $22.95.
Jeffrey Lewis’ “The Conference of the Birds” is the second volume in a projected “quartet,” whose first installment, “Meritocracy,” won awards last year for its treatment of well-to-do young Americans in the 1960s. The sequel’s intent seems, again, to be to reproduce the spirit of a certain generation of Americans at a certain point in time, 1978 to be exact.
It sort of does this, if I recall aright, but beware: This is not nostalgic fun.
In fact, it’s painful and confusing. In the novel, a group of young Americans, mostly affiliated with Harvard and The New Yorker magazine, have submitted themselves to the instruction of a cryptic spiritual teacher in New York City. It seems obvious early on that the guru, Joe, doesn’t really know what he’s doing, and his followers explicitly don’t: Most of the book concerns the narrator’s bewilderment about what’s happening.
The title duplicates the title of a mystical work by the 12th century Islamic poet Farid al-Din ‘Attar, or possibly some other medieval author who mimicked his work. The few readers who know this will recognize that Lewis’ book, like Attar’s, is about the quest for spiritual growth. For others, stray appearances of words such as “Sufi” and “Gurdjieff” are clues. The trouble is, no spiritual growth appears to take place, though it’s hard to tell.
The narrative is tiresomely disjointed, bleeding in and out of stream-of-consciousness self-harangues that, true to life, have no beginning, end, middle or point, raising and dropping questions like pieces of litter. The characters’ psychological pains are examined one pixel at a time, as if we’re looking at a hypermagnified photograph – the picture cannot be seen.
“‘It’s all so shapeless,'” the narrator complains of the group’s writing project called The Bird Guide. “‘Maybe that’s the problem, it’s shapeless.'” Good guess. Later, two chapters detail the followers sanding a floor, and it’s as boring as it sounds.
This book aims to reinduce the feel of 1970s spiritual ennui. It succeeds. But its method is akin to proving TV is psychically harmful by watching TV. The states and stations of American spiritual life do not need to be replicated; they need to be treated.
Jeffrey Lewis was a writer and producer for television’s “Hill Street Blues,” for which he won Emmy awards. He lives in Los Angeles and Castine.
BY WAYNE E. REILLY
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
FOLLOWING THE GREEK CROSS OR MEMORIES OF THE SIXTH ARMY CORPS, by Thomas W. Hyde, new introduction by Eric J. Mink, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., 2005, paperback, 280 pages, $29.95.
The Greek cross was the army insignia for the 6th Army Corps in which Maine native Thomas W. Hyde was a staff officer and a field commander through much of the Civil War. Long recognized as a classic account of the activities of the Army of the Potomac, it’s back in print with an index, which was missing in previous editions.
Lt. Col. Hyde rose rapidly through the ranks and received the Medal of Honor for his bravery at the Battle of Antietam. Of additional interest to many Maine readers is the fact that Hyde went on to found Bath Iron Works, one of the state’s signature companies.
When it was released in 1894, The New York Times called this book “one of the most fascinating records of personal experience in the war of the rebellion ever published.” Considering the country was being deluged in such memoirs, that was high praise at the time. Today it is still a major resource for historians writing about the war in the East, even though it was written 30 years after the war ended.
Erik Mink has uncovered new evidence of the book’s authenticity by comparing Hyde’s wartime correspondence to his family with the contents of his memoir. Most of the book is based directly on these contemporary documents.
However Hyde’s description of Gettysburg “appears greatly exaggerated,” says Mink. “Hyde apparently injected himself into the story more than his actual participation warranted.”
These injections involve Hyde’s memories of his activities during the Confederate assault on Cemetery Ridge. In fact, his correspondence indicates that just prior to the attack he was probably taking a nap, and that he didn’t see the main attack. Perhaps, in this instance, what he told to his grandchildren got mixed up with reality.
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