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More About Regional Writers

Those of us who have read This Stubborn Soil, A Seasoning of Weathering, Look to the River, along with so many other of his works, cannot help but attest to the worthiness of the effort to extol the universal to be found in the local. 

So many writers are labeled as regional when in fact the narrative may reflect a particular area but the context transcends to a much broader realm.  Writers typically strive for a timeless dimension which would allow their works to be relevant regardless of the frame of reference.  Of course, time, place, and people are those components which are the backbone of most any portrayal, and we, the readers, are the associated responsive elements.  We must be ready for the activity of reading.  Consequently, how we react to what we read is the emphasis, or the major focus, of the effort. 

Some people might never be ready to read Shakespeare simply because of the archaic nature of so much of his work.  Also, there is the contention that if we are not entertained we may never go back to a source.  Experience may be the telling factor which allows, along the way, a broadening of perspective which will engender further exposure to that which might have seemed alien or not worthwhile.  For these variables, and many more, reading is a challenging proposition. 

I have been reading and re-reading William A. Owens, of course along with many other writers, with a heightened awareness with the passage of time.  A commitment to reading is a mainstay of many of us, and we would feel diminished without something at hand to bolster our days.  I know this may be resoundingly esoteric, but a reading passion is not something espoused by everyone.  How ironic to seemingly narrow the frame of reference, coming from one who has spent his entire career in education, when education is supposed to teach and refine those communications skills to the extent that we depend on and feel comfortable with the exercise of reading. 

Dr. Owens would probably give me a bad time for belaboring the point, but readers seem to be a limited cohort as compared to movie goers and those caught up in the visual.  There are so many different venues competing with books; we are spread thin just trying to have an awareness of all that is out there.  It is no wonder that some writers are the best kept secrets of an area.  What a surprise when the name William Humphrey is brought up, and very few realize he was from Clarksville, Texas. 

Anyone have any comments about Owens or Humphrey?

Reader comments

One my earliest recollections of films and books involves Home From The Hill and, I think, illustrates how the simple discussion of history (and culture) can become a little slice of history itself.

When I was a child my mom was fond of telling me about seeing various movie stars in Paris during the filming of Home From The Hill. If my memory of those tales can be trusted, many of the stars stayed at the old Embers Motel on Bonham Street because it was new then and featured a swimming pool. No such accommodations existed in Clarksville at the time, though much of the filming, I was told, took place in Red River County. My mom often mentioned seeing Robert Mitchum sitting on the upstairs balcony at The Embers overlooking the pool, drink in hand.

Naturally, I would ask, “Who?“ or “Why?“ So she’d explain about the stars, the movie and Humphrey’s book, though she had not read it.

Inasmuch as our memories make up our personal histories, Humphrey’s book and the subsequent film have in their way become a part of Paris’ past, at least in the minds of those like myself.