Re: Smith as a regional writer
Posted by:
NightHalo (IP Logged)
Date: 21 January, 2010 09:59PM
I cannot speak for his short-stories, but at least in the poetry, the place where I find the most recognizably Californian settings are in his haikus. For instance, in "Aftermath of Mining Days" he says:
Monotonously rolled
On the hills the broom
Spreads its many-acred gold.
This could be anywhere granted— but with the title, I know precisely what he is talking about. The yellow fields leading up to Auburn in the summer are just as he captures and lines like the above immediately remind me of my memories there. Likewise, haikus like "Slaughter-House Pasture" capture the ruggedness of the area. I remember finding bones just like he describes in a nearby area of the foothills when I was a child. Moreover, in some of his pastorals like "The Old Water Wheel" and also his "Hills of Dionysus" there are certainly places that seem familiar.
However, I do not think he embodies the region so to speak. I love CAS but I also know that he had a much richer vision than even the landscape could offer. I do wish, in my own way, that he would have written more about the area because there is a distinctive "haunted" and "sleepy" feeling to Auburn and the surrounding hills which would have been wonderful to read about from someone with his verbal capacity. Though I am probably a little biased since I do more research on his mentor, George Sterling, I do think that the latter did more for his "region" than CAS did. There is just not a great deal of historical connectedness between CAS and the landscape (that is, there are not that many poems with place-names or local historical figures); In some sense, I think CAS tried to transcend the overtly historical or locally mundane world and in that, I find him to be quite successful.
To be clear, I am NOT saying CAS is not a distinctively Californian poet. In my opinion, he does have a place in California's literary history for the way he writes and the subjects he treats; however, I just do not find them to be distinctively "regional" in the sense of connections to his literal landscape (with the exception of the haikus).
I look forward to seeing what others say about the stories. I haven't read enough of them yet to comment on it. But concerning the poetry, these are my opinions.