Midwestern Literature

T.C. Boyle, Frank Lloyd Wright and the Women Who Loved Him at Unity Temple Monday, February 16th, 2009
(exerpt from daily architectural blog)
“It’s still another late listing to the February calendar of architectural events, but you still have time to adjust your own calendar and post a reminder to head out to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple in Oak Park on Monday, February 16th for a reading and book signing by acclaimed novelist T.C. Boyle for his newest novel, The Women, described by the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation as “a masterful ode to the complex and create live of Frank Lloyd Wright told through the experiences of four women who loved him.” Four women who were, successively, abandoned by Wright, murdered (not by Wright), addicted to morphine, and, only after he had lived 92 years, actually survived him. But what marriage doesn’t have its ups and downs?

Getting a handle on the slippery Frank Lloyd Wright can be a bit of a minefield. Just ask playwright Richard Nelson. And, of course, you can never please everyone. Case in the point is a post I put up last week regarding the New York Times rather schizoid reaction to Boyle’s latest work. On a recent Monday, reviewer Michiko Kakutani slammed it as “dreary . . . tedious, predictable melodrama.” By the following Sunday, however, on the cover, no less, of the weekend book review section, the book had morphed, in the eyes of Joanna Scott, into something “powerful . . . mesmerizing . . . Boyle at his best.”

Being, as I’ve frequently mentioned, basically illiterate, I’ve yet to tackle Boyle’s opus, but he’s written highly praised takes on John Harvey Kellogg (The Road to Wellville) and Alfred Kinsey (The Inner Circle). And what better way to spend an evening than in one of the great buildings of the 20th century? 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street in Oak Park, a talk and reading by Boyle, followed by a book signing and refreshments in Unity House. More info on-line, or call 708/383.8873.”

Waking on Sunday morning, I managed to get coffee and watch a piece on TC Boyle and see the FLW home in the Santa Barbara area that he owns and calls home. A well known writer and sometime eccentric, Boyle takes us through his surroundings with a renewed understanding of FLW’s purpose and philosophy. After tackling the very rocky story (in his latest book ) of FLW’s personal life, he seems to have come to the conclusion that sometimes dysfunction can and does inspire. My guess is that coupled with great creative instincts, FLW had adult attention deficit disorder and only in lucid moments did his automatic technical skills seep out. But that is just my take. One only has to stand in front of Fallingwater or any of Wright’s creations to sense this was truly genius at work.
His passion for nature in art was of course inspired by Louis Sullivan, but honed thru the
lens of japanese sensitivity. Interesting, that it is these structures that are his true legacy and his side escapades and relationships are dwarfed by the magnificence of his body of work. This is a story that continues to confirm for me, at least, the fact that one always has to separate “who the are” from “what they do”. And sometimes i wonder as I am sure Boyle did, could we have one without the other?
lbw

    In Native Son, the black protagonist, Bigger Thomas, is neither a yesman resigning himself to the exploitation by white slaveholders with thoughts benumbed by the whites’ religion and the Bible in hand, nor a protester fleeting to the north because of his color a little different from the whites’. Yet, he is a young man living in Chicago, a central city under the reign of white Americans in the 1930s after the Civil War, with racial segregation as its environmental background.
    In the story, a new and normal image of black people with good and evil as well as the gamut of human feelings is first seen on the young black protagonist Bigger Thomas. Wright also sets a milestone in American literature at that time, especially in black American literature, through giving a new description of the American social environment as well as black people’s living status and sufferings without being limited to the southern plantations. From the introduction, we can know that in the following ages many black American writers such as James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Alex Harry, etc. were greatly influenced by Wright and his works. The book Native Son was even adapted for a play performed on Broadway.�
    At the beginning of the book, Bigger’s family of four lives an extremely tough life and is squeezed into a dilapidated house. His father died at the hands of some white mobs when Bigger was young, which plants extreme fear, indignation and hatred towards the white world deep into his mind. However, seeing the planes steered by the white flying freely in the sky, Bigger can do nothing but dream of it. All these are originated in his color and race.  ????
    Bigger does not like the whites but has to follow the white’s ways and rules. To make a living for the family, he works as a driver and stillman for Mr. Dalton, a white estate investor, although it is against his will. A new life for him is around the corner. However, when he is carrying Dalton’s drunken daughter Mary up to her bedroom, he comes across Mary’s blind mother. Out of the extreme fear of the white world, he makes a great disaster that he kills Mary with a pillow by accident because he does not want to be found in her bedroom. From this, it can be seen how the society led by the white Americans oppresses the black at that time.   ????
    Though she is just an old blind white, it is frightful enough for a black young man to take risks and finally kill somebody accidentally.
     In terms of society and criminal laws, Bigger has become a murderer. In order to escape from the arrest and punishment of the white world, he burns Mary’s body and writes a kidnap note to impute the murder to Mary’s friends, the white republican Jane. But his conspiracy finally comes to light when Mary’s remains are found in the furnace during the cleaning. Then Bigger begins to fight against the white police, during which he kills his girl friend Bessie for fear that he will be implicated. He at last is caught and loses his young life.
     Native Son is typical not merely because Wright has created a new and up-to-date protagonist Bigger Thomas, or it won’t be so successful. In Mrs. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, there is a classical argument on black people between the noble white manor owner, who has bought uncle Tom, and his sister. And in Native Son, the author also uses a long length to describe the dialogue on whether Bigger’s crime belongs to social or personal issue, which happens between the white Jewish defender Max and the white state prosecutor Buckley.
?For example: Before Bigger works for Mr. Dalton, he once thought of robbing a shop owned by white people. What’s more, when he takes the drunken Mary back to her bedroom, with the alcohol effect and human instinct, he as a healthy and strong man came up with a pure desire for Mary, but just then, Mary’s blind mother appears at the door. What an impressive scene! Bigger, as a black man whose ancestors suffer all kinds of oppression and exploitation from the whites, does not want to serve the Whites but he is unable to escape from their control. When he makes the big mistake of murder, he thinks that it will happen sooner or later: if not killing the whites, he will be killed by them. He does not feel guilty as a normal man does, but has fears of revenge from the white people who will not care about him or his race.�
    After the incident, the whites take this opportunity to besiege the blocks, where the blacks live, and beat many innocent black people.
    Another commendable description from the book is Mr. Dalton, who has offered a job for Bigger. Mr. Dalton is a typical character. On one hand, he donates money to black schools and advises Bigger to go to school but has never hired black employees or black students; on the other hand, he hires Bigger and offers him a handsome reward, but he reaps staggering profits from the blacks by renting houses of poor quality at a heavy price.
    Mr. Dalton is exactly the same with John Waller, a white plantation owner who buys Kunta Kinte but sells his daughter in the book Roots by Alex Haley over 30 years after Native Son. ???
    When Dalton receives the false kidnap note, he begs the kidnappers to release his daughter who has actually been killed and burned in the furnace. Later, Dalton finds his daughter’s remains in the furnace. At last, Bigger is caught, which makes people believe that justice has long arms.      ??
      At the end of the book, when it comes to the judgment for Bigger, the statements from both plaintiffs and defendants are very impressive. It is a shining point in the book and worth reading. ???? Native Son is a city protest novel written by Richard Wright in 1930s during Harlem Renaissance. Based on the real life of black people in America, Wright impartially and objectively creates a black character called Bigger, who was born and lives during the period in which the blacks are oppressed and exploited by the whites, by using strict conception and masterly writing skills. This character is different form that created by Mrs. Stowe. In her books, the blacks are extremely subservient and kind, just like the white priests. The unknown black child, like “Native Son”, was born 106 years after the Civil War, over 130 years later than Mrs. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
     In the past few years, as a Chinese reader, I have read some novels and books about American black people. I find that many Chinese know little about Black Literature due to certain historical and political reasons and they have only heard of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The pity is that, most of them even don’t know Roots, one of the classics in American literature broadcasted in the 60s -70s during the period of Black Civil Rights. I wish there will be more works like those of Richard Wright’s, such as his early works Uncle Tom’s Children and his autobiography Black Boy, and I do wish these works will meet our Chinese readers as soon as possible. ?

   No matter in which standard, Dreiser is not a leading character and maybe can only stay in an embarrassing position in the history of American literature. But he can describe the hero’s pursuit for woman, house and artwork in artistic ways in order to show that he advocates human instinct and enjoyment and his agreement with the new consumption ideology and propaganda of it. In a way, “Sister Carrie” is not going to overthrow capitalist system but publicize because people’s pursuit for comfort and enjoyment will promote economy without any doubt.
   This book mainly talks about Carrie, the girl who was beautiful but timid, young, innocent, clever and vain and who was reluctant to leave her families and hometown, but filled with the dreams about the luxurious life in metropolis. She intended to make a living in Chicago alone, get together with her sister and then seek for new life. The dazzling lights of metropolis drove her to the train to Chicago, but she didn’t know lies, fake, wickedness and hypocrisy were covered by the lights. To survive, she successively became the lover of Drouet and Woodhurst, and at last took the opportunities to become a famous actress.
   The most attractive section for me is the description of Carrie’s first time to enter the flourishing stores of Chicago. The thorough description of women’s eagerness for materials seems like the anatomy of me and the women around me. The hard job-hunting experience of Carrie and her life in sister’s home make me share her feeling.
   The story turns into peace. To survive, she had to rely on someone and was attracted by the consideration and manner of the men who are much older than her. The feeling of the past 200 years is much the same with the feeling in modern times.
   Elopement is a surprising turning point and the later changes of Hurstwood and Carrie’s destinies are the most important and wonderful point of this book in my opinion. One came down to a beggar and the other became independent without the need to cling to someone any more. The description about how Hurstwood gradually lost his confidence, abandoned oneself to vice and became callous to things, and the careful description of Hurstwood’s psychology makes me see the images of some people. With her own talent, good personality and good luck, Carrie finally achieved the success of his career, which is what I look forward to.
   Though the novel doesn’t make much description about Carrie’s spiritual blankness after she became rich in material, this seems to be the finishing touch of main idea. Look, more money will not make spirit full. Such a tone like that seems to be within the expectation of modern people who are 200 years from that time and still feel empty in belief no matter how much money they have. In my opinion, though author doesn’t include it, how much substantial Carrie feels before?
   The brother of Mrs. Vance was mentioned twice in the novel, the clever and nice looking man who held different attitudes to the social ethos of that time and reached some achievements in science. This seems to be a virtual image, but this is the hope to move forward.
   At last, the suicide of Hurstwood is reasonable, but the novel still sighs for the economic crisis.
   I like Dreiser’s detailed description about one’s psychology, including the analysis of one’s personality, so much so that I seem to read one’s heart. It is hard to make this in reality.
   Carrie is the girl with inborn intelligence and good taste which is the basic for her success.
   Someone said she was a successful woman because she searched for her dream in a new city with her youth and beauty and finally reached to resplendence step by step; someone said she was a failure because she chased for the pompous and virtual life and ran away without mercy once a man’s glory faded, and at last had to dream about the unreachable happiness in her rocking chair; someone said she was a trouble woman because the gentleman-like Hurstwood lost all reputations and died outside because of her.
   Did she ever love the Drouet who gave her material enjoyment? No. She lived with him just because the money she could get from him was more than her weekly salary which was 4 dollars. Was she evil-minded? Of course not. She was kind-hearted in nature only that she couldn’t resist the attraction of peacockery. She sold her conscience to exchange for the richness in material, but she didn’t regret. Her story was made the social background of that time. Otherwise, her future would be uncertain.
   Did she ever love the former manager Hurstwood who lost all his reputation? Maybe yes. But what is more is that she made a dirty trade with her beauty. She was eager for a good marriage, but the Hurstwood, who eloped with her with the money, didn’t truly love her. Between them, love was too far to reach.
   Someone said “actress is hardhearted in nature”, but who has made the so called “actress is hardhearted in nature”? Actresses themselves or external environment? If they are really so hardhearted, how can they devote all their feeling to the plays to make the characters they play so real? It is just that they have experienced too many hardships in life and can’t devote their true feeling to real life or put their true love to one person.
   Carrie was a pure and kind girl and could originally have better life and get the perfect love in her heart, but her effort for life made her lose that true love in her heart and subject her to blankness and loneliness. In the end, she became a famous actress of that time and could live independently, which proved that her survival power was infinite. Someone will argue since she has infinite power to survive, why does she rely on rich men and trade with them with her beauty at the start? But who has ever thought how terrible it could be for a pure and kind girl to move to a strange city alone? If she hadn’t made this choice, she would have had to live in the darksome bunkhouse and live tasteless life every day. Who ever want to live that kind of life?
   Her departure may seem heartless. But is this she? I don’t think so. It is not hard to see that she did have some feeling toward Drouet and Hurstwood at first, but the real life didn’t allow her to embrace this love. How could those men living in the so called upper society give up the dissipated for an innocent country girl? They just wanted to have a new taste now and then and possess another thing to show off. Her vainglory didn’t allow her to return to the past life, so she wanted to change the past life and was willing to sacrifice her youth and body. If not for her beauty, would Drouet help her at first? If Hurstwood didn’t contend for her for her beauty, would she make such achievements? I think the answers to the two questions would be “no”. It was just because of these two so called high-class men that this little girl could accumulate so much social experience, wasn’t it? It was just they that made today’s Carrie, wasn’t it? To the regret, after Carrie opened the door of destiny with hope, she went through it with confidence and then went to open another door; she bet with her youth but only got loneliness. Society created such sadness for Carrie but she copied such sadness and made herself walk to the abysm of life step by step. She asked for her experience. Why did she trust the sweet words of the men she didn’t know much at all without a careful consideration?
   In fact, the image and embodiment of Carrie become more common in real life, so much so that people no longer feel surprised at her story, nor will they pay much attention to such a story. Everyone wants to own gorgeous life, the peace of life, true love and become famous in a night, but real life can’t offer us whatever we want. Love must be given up for life. We all know we can’t fill our stomach with love or survive with love alone, not to mention the love today is nothing more than a trade! To own true love and status, one must give up something. You must give first and then get back. The Drouet was the salesman who was mild, quiet, and confident and liked to advance to women, and the man with rich social experience who had ever travelled to many places. If not for him, how could Carrie possibly have such an ending? But he treated Carrie nothing more than a passing traveler in his life. In fact, how could such a man like him possibly give his true heart to Carrie? It is not hard for us to see that this man also had vainglory and wanted someone to remember his good. In the argument with Carrie, he told Carrie to remember his good and be thankful for the great help he had offered. But later, after Carrie became famous, he had the cheek to meet her and ask her to return to his side, in order to show how capable he was. He was not sincere to meet her, otherwise, how could he possibly date another woman on the same day? This can prove this man’s falsity.
   As for Hurstwood, he was the former manager of the hotel and the man who was sophisticated, easygoing and capricious. But he couldn’t resist Carrie’s beauty and was defeated by her unique charm. But his character had been gradually formed by his vocation and the result always played the role in his slow, painful and sad degeneration. His ending is the saddest. Others lived the rich life, but his life became worse and worse, and in the end, he had to end his sadness with death. We can say that he was worth his ending for his greed and evil ideas. His life and future were destroyed by his temporary greed. What is more pathetic is that he didn’t have the courage to express his heart to the one he loved, nor did he put down his pride to consider and work hard for the future. The changes inside him tell the degeneration process of a man. He intended to own her and live the kind of rich and high-class life, but he didn’t want to put down his pride to work for breads. In his heart, he always thought of his splendent past and always thought he was the most excellent and should be worth better life, only that he hadn’t met a chance. To the regret, his thought and behavior finally destroyed him. He didn’t know only the effort could bring better life and an opportunity would not come until he was willing to put down everything and worked hard for life. In the end, he ended up with begging for life and lived in poverty and soreness. Even in this situation, he didn’t forget Carrie. He came to her to beg for some money to live in his most difficult situation. At first, he begged with his love, but later turned his love into hate and anger. In fact, it would be better to say that once he lost his social position in Chicago, his tragedy was started.
   If a man has to live in this way, I think it would be better for him to leave this world because he was not only losing his face and bringing shame to his past, but also would add to others’ burden. It can say that his death was also a good way out because at least he didn’t have to sell his labor, or see others’ face or go begging any more. A man must live with dignity. While you don’t respect yourself, how can you make others respect you? Put down everything, start from the start and work hard for life. At least, doing these is not a waste of time in this world.
   The wife of the former manager Hurstwood, Julia is a cruel, selfish, jealous and peacocky woman. For her own rights, she could expel her husband out of home. In fact, it can say that she married Hurstwood not for true love, but to satisfy her own vanity, money and status. She is also the woman with profane halo. The daughter of the former manager, Jessica is a spoiled, vainglorious and non-filial noble girl. They both have a good ending owning a valuable love, becoming the wife and mother-in-law of a rich man. Mrs. Vance is a young married woman who is beautiful and sociable and likes doing crazy things and going to cinema. She is the good friend of Carrie and sometimes gave her blank inner world a drop of spring and temporary happiness.
   Why didn’t Carrie feel happy while enjoying rich material life? Anyone who lives in the city wants to live a rich life and hopes to have his/her own house, car and saving. Why did Carrie still feel unhappy with these conditions in hand? In fact, when she just arrived in Chicago, in the train, she was eager and looked forward to her present life so much. When she truly owned the life she wanted, why did she feel unhappy and lonely? Why? What should be the final goal of life toward happiness?
   In fact, it is never wrong to pursue for high standard and high class life. It is right to pursue for material life, but it is not a goal. To live happily and meaningfully, one should have trustful and true friends, a warm and sweet family and take his/her own responsibilities and obligations.
   Ames, this young man’s unique attitudes attracted Carrie, but she wouldn’t feel special toward him because of this. She had so much understandings and social experience about her life and big city that she wouldn’t easily devote her own love. But, it can say that this boy made Carrie understand more about the contents, stories and feelings of books and made her live in an ocean of books and find comfort in the books.
   In this world, to make a success, you are needed to give up some valuable things and have enough courage. Everyone wants to live a rich life, but this kind of life is not available to anyone. I think this is impossible. If everyone becomes rich, what standard should be adopted to show they are rich? It is right to pursue for material life, but it is not everything. With rich material life, we can live, but we can still go on without it. Don’t let the interests of material life blind your heart and don’t give up the life you want for material interests. One should be sincere to others and the world and treat others with a true heart, so that he /she will live the life he/she wants and his/her life will be meaningful in this world.
   In fact, man’s life is not long, nor short. It is up to the way you live. It is bitter to live with a death heart, loneliness and the intention to chase for material life. Besides outer things, we have many more inner things to chase for. Why can’t we be reasonable in the pursuit for these to make our life meaningful?
   Dreiser’s works are very real and practical just like USA.
   “Go on, go on”, said by humanity. Don’t be sad, don’t linger around, don’t regret. Destiny is pushing you forward and forward…… I have these words in my mind every time I find there is no road behind me. I have these words in my heart every time I feel depressed.
   An answer is not the most important in the examinations given by life because we will never know the result. You have no idea where your choices will take you because there are always doors for your choice after you get through one door. To be more justly, there is no right or wrong because you are always given a choice until the moment you leave this world. By then, though you already know the positions of traps, hidden passages, wrong paths and treasures, you no longer have another choice because you already reach the termination and are not allowed to start over. The ones given the choices will be the people after you. They may repeat the choices you have made. Therefore, there are unavoidable repeated mistakes in the history.
   There is no such thing as real success or failure. This is the unbearable lightness of being and your insistence will make the god laugh.
   Wait, wait, I have other words to tell.
   But, there is no god in the world. Who dare to laugh at me!
   Carrie is like this. She opened one door hopefully and then another when she felt disappointed, so she kept putting her hands on the doorknobs, turning and opening. No one could tell whether she already failed. When one gets tired of the life and stops trying, this is the real failure of life. He always thought of the fruitless road he ever got through, the past refulgence, the value things he lost and didn’t hold any hope for the things behind the door. At this time, no matter where he was, he already failed.
   So, success or failure is like this. It is not measured by the situation you are in, but your heart and state.

Endless forests, rivers, sunset shining above swamps, fences by the secluded country road, a friendly and handsome woman in jeans standing by the door of the pasture Maybe you still remember the film “The Bridges of Madison County”, which was once a great hit a few years ago. It is set in the typical countryside in American Midwest.

Midwest is a general term for the vast areas in the north of America. There are twelve states like Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. Among them are big cities like Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis. In the rural areas, agriculture and livestock breeding develop quite well. For example, Iowa is famous for its high-yield crops, which possesses well- arranged fields; the neighboring state Wisconsin is a dairy product base in America, where cows and horses are well raised.

The region stretches for over one thousand miles in length and breadth, with woodlands and hills in the northeast, long rivers and broad expanses of grasslands southwest. Each state has its own peculiar scenery. About one and half a century ago, substantial grasslands, swamps and forests were the paradise of wild animals. It’s recorded that wild cattle ran as powerfully as the tide; the Inhabited the areas of wild pigeons were as long as over one hundred miles along the Michigan lakeshore. They were too many to be counted in several hours when they flew and covered the sky and the sun. After agriculture was developed in the region, the original natural landscape was greatly changed. Many animals even died out because of excessive hunting in the late nineteenth century. However, the region is still an ecological treasury. For example, Minnesota is known as the “state for lake”, with countless waters hided in the forest. Thousands of kinds of flowers floated on the surface with famous trout in the water. What’s more, Minnesota is the source of the Mississippi River.

In Midwest, people in rural areas live tranquilly and simply, with a loose and conservative lifestyle. Most of them are whites. Therefore, this is a region with no racial conflict but a single cultural pattern and good public security. Even in the 1990s, for the young from metropolis in eastern and western coast, Midwest is the pronoun of remoteness and tedium. People from Midwest are reluctant to be away from home. They would like to go back in spite of low incomes at home. I once chatted with a carpenter who worked in Detroit for only one day. I asked the reason why he went back home and he explained that there were too many cars in that city. It’s known that modern technologies of communications and broadcasting can’t bridge the gap between cities and urban areas. Peasants, fishermen and hunters are much more interested in seasons, crops, beer and TV sports programs rather than the romance of candle dinners. People there pay attention to their neighbors and make discussions when a stranger comes. For several times, I was in the limelight of bars and stores in the countryside, with many eyes fixed on me. Particularly the children gathered to watch me—-a monster with flat face and low nose. Social scientists say that closer relationships are a sign of an older society. And it is.

In the America, a dynamic and vigorous country, Midwest is a deposit, a balance and relative eternality. Compared with rapid rising and falling of the stock market in the east and rapid development of the electronics industry in the west coast, Midwest enjoys its forests and grasslands from dawn to dusk. Wall Street in New York is a typical representative of America, so is Silicon Valley. Yet the countryside of Midwest is another typical America you have ever met, which is also the stable hinterland of America.

Yes, in October endless forests become colorful and rolling hills are covered with splendid decorations. Highway stretches along the beautiful corridor and a chapel with white spires stands quietly just around the turning, by which you are drunk and attractive. One of my America classmates said he felt drowsy by the endless narrow highway like driving in a tunnel when driving home and his mind was going to crash. At last, he had to turn up the music to get rid of the sleepiness.