Lori Presents Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Jacquie's Email Notice

“What a wee little part of a person's life are his acts and his words! His real-life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself. All day long, the mill of his brain is grinding, and his thoughts, not those of other things, are his history. These are his life, and they are not written. Every day would make a whole book of 80,000 words -- 365 books a year. Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man -- the biography of the man himself cannot be written.” ― Mark Twain

Hello Literary Ladies!

I believe this year's theme is more open to interpretation than others have been in the past. "The biography of the man himself cannot be written," writes the great Mr. Twain, and I think it will be fascinating to re-visit this quote after our year of exploring Biography is complete. What can we know of a person from their deeds as well as their writings and their art? How can they be understood and, perhaps even, in this era of intense personal scrutiny, be judged?

We shall continue our exploration of this intriguing topic this Wednesday, October 6th at 12:45 pm with Lori's presentation on Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. As the weather at the moment looks fair, we will be meeting in Joanna's glorious garden. If there is any doubt, please look for Fran's email on the subject by 11 am on Wednesday.

Until then, enjoy the grinding of the mill of your brains, for I know there are wonderful stories being written there! -- Jacquie

Christine's Minutes

On October 6, 2021, ten members of the Literature Club gathered on Joanna Reisman’s lovely stone patio, behind her Revolutionary War-era house. Surrounding us were elegant river birches, also known as black birches or Betula nigra, flaunting their peeling bark. Given that we are post-Covid, or perhaps still mid-Covid, it did not go unnoticed that two of our members (one fifth of the attendees) sported new haircuts. 

President Fran Greenberg rang the bell at 1 pm, and thanked Joanna for her backyard, the good weather, and the liquid refreshments. She also thanked Connie for her delicious plum tart. The minutes of our previous meeting were read and accepted. The treasurer reported that we have $345.52 on hand. It was decided that we would ask Debbie Quinn, the Hastings librarian, to determine the best book to honor our late member, Phyllis Frankel, either a biography about Eleanor Roosevelt or one on American history. 

And then, as if scripted, at the instant our speaker for today, Lori Walsh, was announced, the leaf blowers began their buzzing accompaniment from across the trees. 

Lori’s subject was Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, known to most of us only as the author of a heart-rending childhood classic, The Yearling. We were about to learn how much more there is to MKR. 

It was a review by Dwight Garner in the Times of a new biography of Rawlings, by Ann McCutcheon that intrigued Lori and decided her choice of subject. The reviewer wrote: “It’s a pleasure to meet this cursing, hard-drinking, brilliant, self-destructive, car-wrecking, fun-loving, chain-smoking, alligator-hunting, moonshine-making, food-obsessed woman again on the page”. It was likewise a pleasure for us. 

Marjorie Kinnan was born in Washington DC to Arthur Kinnan and Ida May Traphagen, a frustrated social climber. Her mother’s determination that Marjorie would have success in her stead, and her self-sacrifice all contributed to Marjorie’s future achievements. The mother-daughter relationship was close, and often fractious. Marjorie met her first husband, Charles Rawlings, while working at the literary magazine at the University of Wisconsin. Her mother thought he was not good enough, and she was proved correct. 

But Charles was the one who took the couple to an orange grove in Cross Creek, Florida. While he was off yachting and gallivanting, Marjorie dug in her heels and decided she wanted to write about the region and its characters, the ‘Crackers’ and the Blacks. She took up alligator hunting. She learned understand the local dialect, in which they spoke almost “Chaucerian phrases.” She started writing stories and vignettes about her Florida neighbors. In 1930 she sent 8 sketches to Scribner’s, and they bought one, “Cracker Chitlins”, for $130.  In 1931, the story “Jacob’s Ladder” caught the eye of the famous and fabled editor, Maxwell Perkins. Thus began a 17-year relationship and hundreds of letters. Perkins encouraged her to write about the region she knew so well. Her first novel, South Moon Under, came out in 1933, and was a Book of the Month Club selection. 

Members read selections from Blood of My Blood, a memoir published after her death. It was a scathing indictment of what she called ‘ruthless mother love’. 

We also read from the biography, The Life She Wishes to Live, by Ann McCutcheon.

 

The Yearling was published in 1938 and rocketed to best sellerdom. It won, and deserved, the Pulitzer. It is the moving story of a young boy, Jody Baxter, who adopts an orphaned faun; it is filled with vivid characters, bear hunts, snake bites, and anything else you could possibly want. 

Marjorie’s non-fiction book, Cross Creek, also became a Book-of-the-Month selection, in 1942. In it she described many of the local characters, and not all of them were appreciative of the attention. In 1943 Zelma Cason filed a lawsuit claiming that Rawlings had defamed her – apparently, she objected being described as an “angry and efficient canary”, but at the same time she wanted to participate in the royalties from the book. The case dragged on for 5 years, and in the end, Rawlings was ordered to pay Zelma $1, and court costs. 

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlins died at the age of 57, of a cerebral hemorrhage. She had lived large and vividly; she had two husbands and no children; she was friends with Ernest Hemingway, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Zora Neal Hurston; and she was financially independent. She advocated for preserving the Everglades and for the end of segregation. It was an enormous pleasure to make her acquaintance. 

Respectfully submitted,

Christine Lehner, Recording secretary