The Reader and the Writer

“This is my story, my giving of thanks.” —Hannah Coulter (p. 5)

Welcome to Hannah Coulter, by Wendell Berry. In this episode, Rhea and Shari discuss the power of Wendell’s work in and for their lives. They talk about his way of seeing every single thing that opens up to us a story that, as Hannah writes in the beginning: weighs upon us, presses against us and fills all our senses to overflowing (paraphrased from p. 5). They discuss the long-view narrative structure (much like Crossing to Safety), memory, and the trinitarian life hidden in plain sight. They talk about Hannah’s beginning that is a continuation of Nathan’s ending, the story that is her story, Nathan’s story, their story together. They talk about the humility of knowing one’s own neediness, the golden threads of love and gratitude, kindness that keeps alive, and her unique way of describing what it is to be “in love.” They talk about the light that shines in darkness and never goes out calling us always back into life (paraphrased from p 57). Of course, they talk about Membership.

They do none of this while maintaining dry eyes.

Below is our reading schedule:

* Chapters 1-7: June 23

* Chapters 8-15: June 30

* Chapters 16-24: July 7

Further Wendell Berry Resources:

* The Berry Center

* Berry Center Bookstore

* Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry

The Wendell Berry poem I (Shari) keep on my desk:

IX.

The incarnate Word is with us,is still speaking, is presentalways, yet leaves no signbut everything that is.

(from: This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems)

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“The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It’s good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.” —Sixo to Paul D.

Only this woman, Sethe could have left him his manhood like that. He wanted to put his story next to hers.

Welcome to our final episode of Beloved, by Toni Morrison. In this episode, Shari and Rhea discuss the first images, and any Scripture that came to them when they finished the novel. They discussed axes, fruit, chopping down, our creature limitations and the devastations we aren’t meant to carry. They discuss the four strange chapters at the beginning of this section; the “thoughts of the women of 124, unspeakable thoughts, unspoken.” (235) They read aloud the unspoken conversation and discuss the ways in which, when read this way, it sounds a little like the call and response of a Black Spiritual. They discuss why possession v. love, why the women of the community were the only ones who could exorcise Beloved, and Paul D was the only one who could heal Sethe’s brokenness. Finally, they ask themselves: “What do I say is my best thing? What do I act like is my best thing?”

Our next book is Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry. We will read it over three weeks.

Here is the breakdown:

* June 23: Chapters 1-7

* June 30: Chapters 8-15

* July 7: Chapters 16-24

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“What is it you gentlemen are thinking of when you are with Mrs. Casaubon?”

“Herself,” said Will…. When one sees a perfect woman, one never thinks of her attributes—one is conscious of her presence.” (409)

Welcome back to Middlemarch. In this episode, Shari & Rhea discuss beauty and love from multiple characters’ perspectives. What is love and beauty according to Will Ladislaw? Lydgate? Rosamond? Dorthea? They talk about Farebrother and the apostolic question surrounding Dorthea and Lydgate’s conversation: What does “apostolic” mean? What has it become in the world of Middlemarch? How is all this apostolic talk relevant with the question of the Reform Bill looming in the background? Finally, they discuss the dead hand. Is there more than one dead hand? What are all the ways these dead hands are affecting the living?

Next month, is Book 6 (only three books left!). That episode is set to air the second Friday of July. Between now and then, consider making a Casaubon/Ladislaw family tree. It may just come in handy as you continue to read!

Here is the R&W outline for Middlemarch, Book 5 for your personal use:

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Welcome back to Beloved. In this episode, Rhea and Shari discuss the way this section of the story has a sense of suspendedness to it in ways that are hard to understand or explain. They discuss this phenomena through the unique p.o.v.’s: Baby Suggs (beyond the grave), the “four horsemen,” and Stamp Paid. They discuss the moments of “communion” happening and what each one is signifying, pointing toward and away from. They talk about the way the back and forth of the narrative time leaves them feeling suspended over time itself, and the implications of this for the characters, especially Sethe who is now anxious to live in the “no-time” behind the locked door of 124 with Denver and Beloved.

And because so much of this story leaves them beyond the realm of understanding, they end with poetry from Gwendolyn Bennett: “Epitaph.”

Epitaph by Gwendolyn Bennett

When I am dead, carve this upon my stone:

Here lies a woman, fit root for flower and tree,

Whose living flesh, now mouldering round the bone,

Wants nothing more than this for immortality,

That in her heart, where love so long unfruited lay

A seed for grass or weed shall grow,

And push to light and air its heedless way;

That she who lies here dead may know

Through all the putrid marrow of her bones

The searing pangs of birth,

While none may know the pains nor hear the groans

Of she who lived with barrenness upon the earth.

Next week Rhea and Shari will discuss the final portion Beloved: pp. 236-323.

The next book they are deep reading is Hannah Coulter, by Wendell Berry (yay!!)

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Welcome back to Beloved, by Toni Morrison. In this episode, Shari and Rhea discuss the novel in a bit of a different way, that is, in the way of movement. What is the push and pull of each character? Where is the status quo that each is continually striving for and what is the continual element disrupting that design? Where and when and to who is each character saying yes, or no to, and what is the resulting consequence of that decision—however conscious or unconscious that may be. All these things help reveal a movement happening: for the characters individually, and the story as a whole. And how is memory involved in all this movement? How is it pushing, pulling, causing, disrupting, animating, and fragmenting these people, their lives, and our lives, too?

If you missed our last episode, you can listen to it here:

You also may like reading my most recent essay asking the question: Could AI ever get so good that it could write Beloved??

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer. If you liked this post, show it some ❤️ and share it with others. .

The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the literary work we’re doing, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to our first episode of Beloved, by Toni Morrison. In this episode, Shari and Rhea introduce their four week reading of this powerful novel by way of poetry. Rhea discusses how poetry has helped her digest the intensity of the narrative by reading poetry along the way. They talked about Morrison as a writer, her beliefs about fiction, narrative, and the participatory compact she makes with the reader. Rhea explains how her regular process for reading has drastically adjusted with reading this novel, and why this new approach feels like the right one for now. They discuss memory as a narrative device: how memory functions in Beloved, how it is the subject matter within the story, now it is guiding the story’s structure, how it is a theme, and how Morrison is using memory as a theme to explore other big ideas. And they talk about memory as it relates to language: how language and memory both reside in our bodies, how this shows up in the characters, and what it means for us as readers moving forward into Morrison’s world of Beloved.

Show Notes:

* Toni Morrison essay: “Memory, Creation, and Writing”

* The Source of Self Regard

* African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song

If you’d like to go deeper into this week’s reading, or want some help as you discuss Beloved with a friend or reading group, here is a PDF of this episode’s outline and detailed book notes.

Finally, look for Rhea’s Beloved Reading Guide to drop soon!

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Most happy she that most assured doth rest, But he most happy who such ones love best

—Spenser (from epigraph in ch 37)

Welcome back to our year(ish) long read, Middlemarch, by George Eliot. In this episode, Shari and Rhea discuss all the ways Book Four feels pivotal; the story lines begin to really boil in “Three Love Problems,” and there is no shortage of curiosities to go with it. First, they talk of reform in this section, and all the ways the greater idea of “reform” webs itself into the story’s greater themes. They discuss the “three love problems”: who exactly does Eliot want us to think of here? They talk about the “gossamer web” of young love-making, and wonder why Eliot applies it to Lydgate and Rosamond and not, say, Dorthea and Casaubon, or Dorthea and Will? Rhea recognizes the possible significance in the repeated mention of the “pale stag” (once in Ch 9, and then again in Ch 37). Shari wonders if the Bulstrodes really give a rip about Rosamond marrying Lydgate, or if their “caring” has a more selfish motive at heart. Finally, they do a “lightning” round (more like a slow thunder rumble), asking each other those burning questions they have moving forward.

What about you? Any questions or predictions for what will happen next?

If you haven’t already, go to the R&W Middlemarch page and download Rhea’s next set of bookmarks! Scroll down to find them.

Finally, for your continued deeper dive into Middlemarch’s Book Four, or use in a book group, homeschool study, and all purposes in-between, here is a PDF of our Book Four outline:

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Welcome to our final episode on Anne of Green Gables! In this episode, Shari and Rhea discuss the Scripture in these last chapters, hidden in plain sight. They talk about how this Great Conversation serve the narrative turn of the novel toward its fullness: in Anne’s character, and as a human being into wholeness. They talk about the way ambition seems to be the theme-thread running strong through this last section of the story, in the same way imagination, goodness, and romance occupy important roles in other sections of the story. They talk a long time about the role nature plays through all of Anne of Green Gables, and the fundamental role it’s meant to play in our own lives. They talk about the role of imagination in faith, hope, and love, desires, duty, and knowing our place as sons and daughters, not orphans or slaves.

Finally, we ended with two questions we invite you to consider and contemplate over the next several days:

* In this season of life, what is Anne inviting you to see? To believe?

* How then will you live?

As a bonus to celebrate R&W’s reading of Anne of Green Gables, we’re attaching this episode’s outline for your personal use, whether to spend more time with Anne on your own, or in your book club, homeschool group, and more. Later this year, The Reader & Writer will be sharing our episode outlines regularly for all our paid subscribers. But for now, it’s free. :)

Our next read is Beloved, by Toni Morrison. Our first episode will air the last week of May. In the intervening weeks, look for some bonus episodes on all things literary, great and small alike.

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Welcome back to Anne of Green Gables. In this episode, Shari and Rhea discuss the narrative shape that this story is taking in ways that are different than the traditional story arc structure. They talk extensively about goodness, Anne’s ideas of it, the ways her ideas are limiting and how much of the community seems to help foster those limits. They discuss goodness as in ideal versus goodness as a human charecteristic—how each is different and where the overlap occurs. This naturally leads to a discussion of beauty, truth, and goodness: how each one informs, strengthens and adds to the overflow of the others. And, they talk about how, for all Anne’s wild imaginations, her ability to imagine herself being vulnerable to the “other”—particularly Gilbert Blythe—is woefully stunted, or more likely, blocked by her fears.

Be sure to check out Rhea’s reading guide for Anne of Green Gables:

Also, please tell us how you’ve been inspired by Anne of Green Gables to stretch your imagination and find new ways to play!

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The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our literary work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

“Dear me, it’s only been three weeks since she came, and it seems as if she’d been here always. I can’t imagine the place without her.” —Marilla

Welcome back to Anne of Green Gables. In this episode, Shari and Rhea spend time discussing our narrator: When does she pop out from behind the book to talk to us? What effect does this have on our experience of the story? Our feelings about the characters? They also talk more about the imagination, and how critical it is to develop our imaginations, especially as it relates to the life of faith. They talk about romance, not the “kiss, kiss” kind, but rather romance in the grander sense. Finally, they ask whether or not Anne’s extreme emotion, imagination, and romance are hyperbole if it truly is Anne bringing all that is in her to bear in every joy and despair, with no real in-between’s.

Rhea’s amazing Anne of Green Gables Reading Guide is available! You can find it here:

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you like this post, please ❤️ it and pass it along.

The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our literary work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.