For The Time Being by Annie Dillard (July 2017)
A
friend described this book to me as 'collage-like'. (It's better than
any one line summary I could come up with, for sure, so let's go with it.) Dillard's 'collage'
covers a host of big ideas and her ruminations on varied topics such as
God, sand, or birth defects slowly meld together to produce a
pondering, meandering work I enjoyed a good deal.
The
nature and length of the book keep my reflections today at a minimum. I
liked Dillard's note about how Americans worry too much about the
ongoing rush of technological progress. Whoops, I should say 'worried'-
the note was made about Americans from a century ago. The tendency to
fret over a world changing 'too fast' is not a modern phenomena.
Her
notes about the bubonic plague hint at how easily history forgets major
events. I (like I assume is the case for many) learned about the
European outbreak of the 14th century, a pandemic often referred to as
the 'Black Death'. I did not learn until reading this book about a late 19th century outbreak in Asia. This outbreak killed ten million people in India alone.
Dillard
doesn't make much effort to consider why one outbreak is well-known
while the other is relegated to history's cutting room floor. I liked the approach she took in this aspect. As she guides us through her ruminations on the general questions of life, meaning, and existence, Dillard is content to merely observe and describe. The task of
reflection is left to the pondering reader. What lies buried beneath remains a
mystery only for those unwilling to dig.
Footnotes / imagined complaints
0. A-string-what?
There
is a gap between me and those who delight in each syllable from
Dillard's pen. An online commenter wrote about this book: 'her prose is
astringent'. My thought exactly...
I've
been known to describe trivial passes during soccer games as 'petulant' so I'm certainly not one to get worked up about unnecessary flaunting of vocabulary. But I
do find it noteworthy anytime I'm reminded of my preference to read good
ideas poorly written rather than the other way around.
