PSU Magazine Spring 1994

VARIETIES OF HOPE, edi ted by Go rdon Dodds FROM HERE WE SPEAK, ed ited by Ingrid Wendt and Primus St. John (O regon State University Pre · -, 1993, $18.95/$32.95 ) New anthologies feature Oregon literature O regon author , like all Western writers, work aga inst an ep ic back– ground wo rth y of the most exa lted imaginat ion.Two new anthologies of O regon wri ting suggest that the sta te's writers absorb the landscape's power but res ist grandios ity in their express ion of it, instead incorpo rating the land 's influence into intense ly personal statements. Like a well -planned buffet, Varieties of Hope and From Here We Speak reward both the browser and the reader looking fo r substance. The two books are the third and fo urth volumes, respective ly, of the O regon Literature Series, a project of the O regon Council of T eachers of English. U lri ch Hardt , PSU education professor, is managing edi tor for the series, and George Venn, an English professor at Eastern O regon S tate College, serves as general ed itor. Varieties of Hope, ed ited by PSU professor Gordon Dodds, includes a wide sweep of non -fiction ranging from personal essays to biographica l sketches and journalistic reporting. In "An Indian's View of Ind ian Affa irs," C hief Joseph tells a stra ightfo rward and painful story of the U .S. mili ta ry's breach of fai th aga inst th e Nez Perce. In "Blazers on My Mind," Karen Karbo lampoons the Portland baske tball ticket scene. The volume thankfully breaks out of the traditional Western rut of glorify– ing the tribulations of the white pioneers to the exclusion of other participants in the saga. The pionee r ta les that do appea r come from refreshing pe rspecti ves, such as Thomas Condon 's lyri ca l portrait of the John Day fos ii beds, which he discovered in 28 PSU Magaz ine !'TE\'E DIPAOLA FROM HERE WE SPEAJ< n 1862 while serving as Congregational minister in The Da lles. Condon was an early connoisseur of the romantic character of eastern O regon 's deso late terrain. Of th e ex tinct tapirs and rhinoceroses whose fossi lized bones he found , Condon wrote, "Mute historians arc they of the fa r-d istant past, uniting with hundreds of others to tell strange stori es of the wonderful wea lth of fo rest, fi eld , and lake-shore of that period." Modern pieces also underline the pass ion fo r nature fo und even among O regon 's urbani tes. In "Birth of a Lamb," Barba ra Drake tells of her enchanted bu t clumsy midwi fe ry during a ewe's difficul t labor. As a co ll ege teacher new to animal husbandry, Drake consul ted a sheep manual constantly, bu t her writer's ear captures vivid details in a way no manu al would ver record: "A newborn lamb make · a tiny baa, at first remi n iscent of th e waa cry of a human baby. The ewe answer · with a soft nicker unlike any of the othe r vo icings sheep make, a sound that attracts, comfo rts, and quiets the newborn ." From Here We Speak was edited by Primus Sr. John , a PSU English professor and poe t, and Ingrid Wendt, a Eugene poet and teacher. ln additi on to bringi ng a scholarly prec ision to the task, the two have also shown (as has Dodds) that there are times when politica l correctness in the service of art pays off richly. The O regon poe ts represen ted incl ude not just one token Native American , but speakers from many tribes-Japanese Americans, African Americans, G reek-Americans, and even A ll -Americans. The editors devoted about half of From Here We Speak to contempora ry poets, and this section alone make the book worthwhile. Wendt and St. John considered the work of more than 300 poets from all over the state and se lected not onl y established members of the litera ry community but unknown writers as we ll. Lincoln C ity poet Lois Bunse's funn y fa ntasy about the creati on of the world is a perfect example of the epic inside the personal (Kalava la is the Finnish epic) : Right In the Kalavala It Says a woman created the world. She probably looked u/Jfrom the dishes , bubbles of creation studding her fingers stepped to the back door, looked over the yard, saw nothing but whitecaps, and said , "Let's have a little land here. "... What emerges from both co llections is a feeling of commonali ty based on a strong sense of place, though it's clear that, th e mo re diverse th e vo ices, the more diffi cult it is to pin a common label on their tone. Each of these two volumes feel like a well-balanced work-one that truly represents all the dimensions of the state. Readers should not overlook the first two books of the O regon Literature Se ries. The World Begins Here and Many Faces, cover short fiction and autobiograph y. The two remaining volumes, collecti ons of fo lk literature and letters and di ari es, are scheduled fo r publication this summer. D (The books were reviewed by Valerie Brown , a Portland free lance writer and frequent contributor to PSU Magaz ine.)