The book that Abingdon selected was The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, published in 1940 when McCullers was only 23; it was her first novel.
I have to admit that I had never read the book. In fact, the only thing I had ever enjoyed by McCullers was a television production of her play, Member Of The Wedding. I had very much identified with the adolescent girl in that play who idolized her older brother and fiancee. So, I proceeded to read The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and in popular idiom, was "blown away." Where was this book when I graduated high school in 1952? Or at the very least, I think it should have been assigned reading for American Literature 101 instead of Hemingway; ...Lonely Hunter is far more relevant than the Spanish civil war.
I couldn't believe that I was reading about race relations and the U.S. economic system in a book published a year prior to the start of World War II. I kept returning to the publication date to make sure I had read right because the sentiments were those of the mid-1960's cultural upheaval. Besides, it was difficult believing that a 20-year-old white Southern girl could have had the perception of the characters that she revealed.
In short, I was, and am, impressed!
Admittedly, the book is depressing and I had to put it down for a week at one point. I burst into tears at other points
I wasn't able to attend everything that was scheduled during "The Big Read," not even the kick-off, but I did attend two events during March. The first was a play at the Barter Theatre, Adjoining Trances, which consisted of an intriguing dialogue. The characters are Carson McCullers and Tennessee Williams, and the setting is a summer home in Cape Cod where the two of them, platonic friends,
worked side by side on their projects.
The second event was the discussion I attended last Saturday. It was meant to be a meeting for those who had memories of the "Great Depression" of the 1930's.
There were a dozen people present at the Abingdon Seniors Center besides the library director who facilitated, and a young female reporter from The Bristol Herald-Courier, with her toddler on her hip.
The oldest storyteller there was an 89-year-old M.D. who had been a teenager when the banks failed in 1929. The next oldest was another gentleman from Greeneville, TN who had been born in 1930; then me, born in northern Indiana in 1934; and another gentleman from southern Ohio born in 1935. Several women sat in the circle, but did not participate in the discussion.
We talked about the hardships of that time and how people conquered their obstacles and survived. There was an overriding tone of pessimism about today's events, and that old-age attitude that the current younger generation doesn't have what it takes and have been spoiled. I wouldn't let the meeting close with those words, so I commented that I was more optimistic, that if our young people today could figure out all the gadgets they have, they'll be able to figure out how to solve their problems. I must have resonated with the young reporter because I was quoted in the newspaper the next day!
