LOST!
Somewhere along the literary line, I miss-placed a favorite essayist of mine - Annie Dillard.
I remember her first book “Pilgrim At Tinker Creek”, many years ago. It has led me to marvel quite often on how Annie Dillard was able to see so much of genuine interest in tiny Tinker Creek flowing down, uneasily at times, from an odd-shaped Tinker Mountain, near Hollins, Virginia. She saw things and observed wonders in those waters which were never there for me when I lived in Southwest Virginia and occasionally walked along that same stream..
I followed her writing career from those days forward and my youngest son presented me with a copy of her excellent little book of essays dealing with how she went about writing. He, and others, knew that I was drawn to Annie Dillard when it came to reading, and I can remember being excited to find her writing pieces for The Atlantic Monthly. Such a union of two of of my all-time favorites joined together seem logical and predestined to occur.
She moved to New England, I think, at about that time and a subtle change had taken place in her life. She seemed more mature, older - not aged, at all - I don't ever think of Annie Dillard as ever getting old. She was still as reflective as every concerning the teachers which come to us as we communicate with Nature and read it's message. She seemed mellowed a bit by time. That is something which comes to all of us through added years of experience, I'm sure. I heard that she had undergone a unfortunate marriage relationship which probably augmented that which was happening all along.
Annie Dillard was looking at New England - close-up..
Now, a twist.
What does a person do to make upon for such a deficiency in his or her life? It could not be done a decade or so ago, but now-a-days we simply turn to a good search engine. I did that and after just a few seconds with google.com, I met with a wide and wonderful world of a totally new Annie Dillard! I now have some pleasant work ahead of me trying to catch up on all I have missed! She is now an adjunct Professor of English and Writer- in-Residence at Wesleyan University in CT...still writing and with a wide following in many fields of special interests.
Think about doing the same thing in your life. If there a void ...some person or some thing which has become obscure in your life, conside s “search”. You may be pleasantly surprised.
A.L.M. May 1, 2003 [c689wds]
