Western American Literature

B o o k R e v i e w s 3 1 9 Later in the text Hugo shares some of her own tragedies as a woman: of los­ ing her husband and son within nearly a year of each other. Here, she inter­ rupts her own narrative and explains the relevance of this fact by sharing, again, her disappointment in her mother’s reaction to earlier tragedies. Writing for Her Life is Ripley Hugo’s love story, in which loving means hurting, staying the course, honoring, trying to see clearly. For readers and stu­ dents who wish to learn more about Mildred Walker’s life, Writingfor Her Life should be read. For writers who seek a text sympathetic to the compromises that a writing life requires, this is a helpful book. For individuals who want to read a real love story, this book is a must. Natives, Newcomers, Exiles, Fugitives: Northern California Writers and Their Work. By Jonah Raskin. H ealdsburg, C alif.: R unning W olf Press, 2003. 170 pages, $15.00. Reviewed by Gerald Haslam Fromm Institute, University of San Francisco Unlike many transplants, Jonah Raskin has come to understand that California’s regions are distinct and many. The area he covers in this series of literary essays lies north of San Francisco— which is actually a Central California city— and extends to the Oregon border, mostly along the coast. No other book does this as comprehensively or as well as this one. Raskin, chair of the Communication Studies Department at Sonoma State University, is an established writer (Out of the Whale, For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman, etc.) and scholar who relocated to the Santa Rosa area from New York in 1975. Instead of gazing eastward with yearning eyes, he opened himself to his new locale and discovered, as he explains in his introduction, that “there are hundreds of writers in north­ ern California and each one of them is unique. Still, they have all been shaped in one way or another by the region ... and in return they have all helped to shape and define the region” (3). This book ably proves his point. In his introduction, Raskin also takes on the odd contention of N.E.A. Chair Dana Goioa, a northern C al’ poet by the way, that there is no cul­ tural center in the region and are no significant literary publications. “I do believe that there are many innovative and creative writers at work today in this region,” Raskin asserts, “and that there are high standards of literary journalism and cultural criticism” (3). His section on “Women Warriors” alone includes material on Dorothy Allison, Gina Berriault, Molly Giles, Mavis Jukes, Annie Lamott, and Alice Walker, a formidable cast indeed— and all local residents. This readable book is truly a more affectionate revelation than formal criticism, a leisurely stroll with books and authors Raskin (mostly) admires. 3 2 0 WAL 3 8 . 3 F a l l 2 0 0 3 Each chapter is a brief essay on a single work, complemented by an infor­ mal interview with its author. The latter sections are especially interesting as they allow readers to develop a feel for the person behind the words. Novelist Dorothy Allison (Bastard Out of Carolina), for instance, admits, “1don’t write at the same pitch of anger that I did when I was writ­ ing Trash. ... I’m a mother now. ... I’m slowing down as fast as I can” (133). Short-story writer Gina Berriault (Women in Their Beds) admits, “When I’m writing I work against the odds. ... I’m so critical of myself. All the time there’s the feeling that it’s not worthwhile, that it’s nothing” (137). Another novelist, Jim Dodge (Fup), says of his pal Gary Snyder, “A lot of people per­ ceive him as an overgrown hippie, but I see him as a hard-assed scholar, a subtle teacher, and, of course, a poet” (25). In writing about everyone from self-published authors to the Poet Laureate of Sonoma County to Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award win­ ners, Raskin persuasively presents the tapestry of...