I finished The Solace of Open Spaces, Gretel Erlichs's essays about Wyoming. There are some wonderfully descriptive passages, but I wasn't completely satisfied. She mentions getting married (doesn't give her husband's name) and getting hit by lightening in a few sentences in the same essay. No follow up on either. There is not much about Erlich's personal life that I could find anywhere, although there is a lot written about her books. Her recovery from being struck by lightening involved a lot of therapy, and in the process, it seems her marriage disintegrated. But a couple of sentences on each is all you get in Solace--although she did write A Match to the Heart about her painstaking recovery. Erlich's love for Wyoming is obvious, as is her adventurous spirit (her many other books cover a wide-range of locales and environmental issues), but her personal essays reveal little about her inner life.
The following quote appeared on Michele's Heart and Hands blog today, and it resonates with me:
“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.”---L. R. KnostI particularly like the line: "Not with time, as they say, but with intention."
I like that too. Thanks for this, although I have not read the book--Erlich is an unknown. Will visit the blog.
ReplyDeleteErlich has written a lot of books, but this is the only one I've read. I'm debating reading another one. :)
DeleteThis book seems like a thought-provoking one that would keep you awake at night. I love those books! The ones that won't let you go. That get inside your head and you find yourself thinking about its subject at the oddest times. I thought I recognized her name, so I checked it out: she a National Geographic writer. Here's the link I found: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/gretel-ehrlich/
ReplyDeleteI found that article when I was searching for information about what happened to the once mentioned marriage. I was familiar with her name and with some of her book titles, but had never read anything by her. Finally, decided to read this one because I love the title and lived in Wyoming when I was small. Erlich has certainly led an exciting life. :)
DeleteIt does seem to me that being struck by lightning would be something that would take more than a couple of sentences to cover. I can imagine not writing too much about being married or at least not without discussing exhaustively with spouse first...
ReplyDeleteIt felt kind of like a teaser: I got married. I got struck by lightening. Full Stop. No more mention of either in any of the essays. She mentions a number of other people by name and in several essays, but no name for her husband and no further mention. It piqued my curiosity that other people she knew have names and were mentioned frequently, but nothing in any other subsequent essays about being married, as if he were written out. Which is exactly what she did. The marriage didn't survive her treatment--but I had to research to discover that. There may be more in A Match to the Heart....
Delete"Not with time, as they say, but with intention", resonates with me today. I'm going to keep this entire quote. I have a feeling that I will need to read it every day for the next 4 years.
ReplyDelete:) It is a timely quote, isn't it? It works in so many different ways, but hopefully some of the turmoil of the current world can be mended.
DeleteI really like that quote from Michele's blog too. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteThe quote is so in line Hemingway's "we are all broken, that's how the light gets in" andwith Leonard Cohen's "Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."
DeleteI lived in South Dakota for a couple years, and while we were there, we traveled quite a bit in the region. Since then, I seek out essays and first person accounts of life in the West. I read THE SOLACE OF OPEN SPACES a few years ago, and experienced the same dissatisfied feeling you express, but I can't bring myself to get rid of the book. I can see it on the library shelf as I type this. Thanks for the review and the additional information about Erlich. Quote very apropos.
ReplyDeleteThe title alone makes it worth keeping! It wasn't just Erlich's lack of personal context in her essays that bothered me, but her pronouncements about the people in general. They were her responses to certain of her friends and neighbors transformed into generalizations about all Wyoming ranchers, cowboys, sheepherders. But I admire the woman and her courage, the wide range of her interests, and her willingness to become so physically involved--from Wyoming, to Greenland, to the Arctic.
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