Post to the Host

Comments from the week of 03.12.23

Dear Garrison, 

I have to say — to quote Captain Renault from the film Casablanca — I’m shocked, shocked! to learn that you have never read anything by Charles Dickens. An English major and professional writer/performer (especially a humorous one) not having read Dickens is like a Theoretical Physicist not having read Einstein. Dickens was not just a writer, but a performer as well — touring around the world performing dramatic readings of his works, as well as acting in plays (generally written or co-written by him) with an amateur theater company. He also was fond of singing comic songs — much like yourself. I remember when I was about 15, we rode our bikes to a great used-book store in Plainville, Connecticut, called The Book Exchange, which was in a very old Dutch Colonial house, across the street from a drive-in movie theater and a stock car racetrack (all of them gone now and replaced by a big plaza anchored by a Lowe’s Home Improvement Store).

The bookstore not only sold (and bought) used books, but also used records and tapes, as well as wood stoves, and what at the time was known as “head gear.” We actually went to get some head gear — mostly rolling papers and pipe screens — in preparation for attending an upcoming NRBQ concert. I liked to read, and walked around through a sort of maze of rooms all stuffed with books, and thought at the time that I really should start trying to broaden my mind by reading some classics — so I looked through the literature section for books that I had heard of, and I bought four for about 50 cents each: Ivanhoe, The Last of The Mohicans, The Great Gatsby, and Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens. For no particular reason, I chose to read Great Expectations first and it was like nothing I had ever read before, and I was so amazed by it that as soon as I finished, I went back to The Book Exchange and bought whatever Dickens books they had. I’ve read everything by him many times, and while his melodramatic scenes are pretty often over the top, he makes up for it with everything else. I’ve read everything by Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, and F. Scott Fitzgerald since then as well, and I think they are great writers, but Dickens, for whatever reason, seems to be on another level altogether. If you plan to read a Dickens book, a great one to begin with is Great Expectations — it is a bit shorter and more compact and also has very little of the over-the-top melodrama and sentimentality of some of his other books. 

P.S. I know you have mentioned having a house in Southeastern Connecticut. If you were interested in visiting one of the few old-style used-book stores still in existence, you should check out The Book Barn at 41 West Main Street (Rte. 156) in Niantic. It’s a great store with several buildings, plus some farm animals. I’ve bought many of your books there over the years (at very reasonable prices). 

It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done
If the law supposes that then the law is a ass — and God bless us, every one! 

Keep on reading and writing (and truckin’),

Thomas Hull 

It is embarrassing, I agree, and I would add that in college I was required to read Hard Times and that put me off, but still it’s a shame, and my wife promises to buy me an iPad so I can resume reading, and I’ll put Great Expectations on my list and also the Pickwick Papers. I remember those old used-book stores fondly from back in undergraduate days, all of them gone now. I’m afraid my book-reading got overwhelmed by writing and I’d argue that a struggling writer might avoid reading Dickens for fear of being discouraged by his supremacy. Anyway, thanks for the lecture. GK

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Sir:

I’ve never before written to a public figure, but I’m motivated to write to you, Mr. Keillor, to let you know how much I enjoy your columns. My life at present is dominated by some stressful circumstances. I’m not complaining about them, you take what life throws at you, and do your best.

My stresses are alleviated by simple pleasures, including time with my wife and adult daughter, a few close and delightful friends, and reading. Especially reading your columns.

Your gentle good humour, insight and humanity are greatly appreciated. As a longtime special education teacher here in Australia, your column in which you wrote of your delight at the involvement and warm acceptance of a severely disabled child in a wedding you attended was very much appreciated. Now that COVID is nearly behind us and my retirement draws closer, I hope to visit America once again and if the opportunity arises, attend one of your shows.

With warm regards and heartfelt thanks,

Chris Neave

Good to hear from Australia. The internet is pulling the world together and if I were starting Prairie Home now I’d just stream it on the internet and make our own network. Hey, did I just have a brilliant idea or what? Why does a good show need to end? I’m only 80. Let’s think young. GK

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In your post of 3/13/23, you mentioned your daughter. How many children did you have, and did you steer them toward your profession? Are you heading to the Philadelphian area soon?

Bob Arndt

Audubon, Pennsylvania

I have a son, a daughter, and a stepdaughter, and I did my best to steer them away from my obsessions, what you call a “profession,” and they’re all engaged in their own lives and I hear from them from time to time. GK

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Dearest GK,

This partial sentence is from your February 15th essay:

. . . when Martin Luther launched the Reformation, he substituted congregational singing for Latin liturgy and clerical costumery.

First of all, Luther did not replace Latin in the Mass, and he strongly disagreed with the zealous Protestants who wished to. He said, “In no wise would I want to discontinue the service in the Latin language,” and he even wrote his own Latin Mass.

Secondly, each item of the “clerical costumery” of which you are so disdainful has beautiful meaning. The priest’s amice is his helmet of salvation, his alb is for purity of heart, his cincture is for self-mastery, his maniple is for the toils of the priesthood, his stole is for the authority of his office, and his chasuble is for the yoke of Jesus, sweet and light. Today’s RC priest still vests in all of those items and says a short prayer as he dons each vestment.

I love you, but I wish you’d put “Overcome Anti-Catholicism” on your bucket list. I understand that you cut your teeth on it, but for your Catholic fans, it’s unseemly from you every few weeks, and I don’t want to keep scolding you. 

Maria

DeKalb, Illinois 

Maria, thank you for scolding me. I sometimes hear from my Catholic friends how they envy the congregational singing they recognize Methodists and Lutherans and Mennonites for (and other Prot outfits) for, and I needn’t tell you about the number of good people who’ve fled the legalism of the Roman Church. I’m an Episcopalian and our priests come in full clerical garb and there is liturgy but our priests are women, Mother Kate and Mother Julie, and the resistance to ordaining women is a river Catholics need to cross. Don’t you agree? I’m not anti-Catholic, but I’ve seen the discouragement of my Catholic friends. GK

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Stop me if I told you this already …

A friend of my dad’s, I think his name was Dave Kaplan, used to amuse himself in class writing bits of verse. Four lines, AABB, a dialogue between two famous people. The only one that has come down to me is:

Said Henry James to D.H. Lawrence,
“I look on sex with great abhorrence.”
Said D.H. Lawrence to Henry James,
“I’ll introduce you to some dames.”

In the unlikely event that you get tired of writing limericks, you could try this.

Elizabeth Block

Toronto, Canada

Said Mr. Keillor to Ms. Block,
“Let us two go for a walk.”
Said Ms. Block to Mr. Keillor,
“Let us walk to the nearest car dealer.”    GK

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Tut-tut, Mr. Keillor.

In your column of 15 March, you wrote as follows:

“Lutherans have been white for centuries, coming as they did from Scandinavia and Germany, countries that were never great colonial powers and didn’t grab big chunks of Africa and Lutheranize the indigenous people.”

Maybe history was not your favourite subject at school, but pre-World War I, Germany was most certainly regarded as a colonial empire, especially in my neck of the woods, the Pacific islands north of Australia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_former_German_colonies

I lived and worked in the former German New Guinea for 20 years both when Australia administered that territory as a UN Trust Territory and after it became the independent state of Papua New Guinea in 1975. A most spectacular group of islands with mountain peaks to 11,000 feet, magnificent coral islands, and vast tracts of sago palm swampland along the mighty Sepik River. 

The Germans ruled the indigenous people with an iron fist, appropriated native lands to establish coconut plantations along the coastal strips and introduced Christianity with dozens of Lutheran mission stations. These missionaries did great work in providing education and health services to the people, in some ways alleviating the harsh, sometimes brutal treatment by government administrators. 

Regards,

Will Muskens

You’re right, of course, but as a colonial power, Germany was puny compared to Britain. Denmark had some islands in the Caribbean and Greenland, and I’m not aware of Norway and Sweden’s ventures. Thanks for the information about Papua. GK

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GK,

I’ve enjoyed reading your columns and Post to the Host. I also watched one of your livestreamed APHC Revival shows, which was very enjoyable and took me back to the good old days. This made me wonder whether you’d ever consider hosting an online event for those of us who would be willing to buy tickets to talk directly with you and maybe hear you read some of your writing. We’ve been fans for years and would jump at the chance to have an hour where we could chat with you personally. Thanks for considering!

Melanie L.

Lansing, Michigan

An interesting idea, Melanie, and let me ponder it. I don’t do readings anymore but I do like to talk to people. I don’t need to talk about myself — after fifty years, I’ve covered that subject — but I could imagine interviewing listeners and getting them to talk. And I’d be all in favor of a show in which people like Maria (see above) and Will Muskens lecture me about things of which I’m ignorant. That would be fun! GK

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Garrison Keillor Tonight in Colorado - March 28, 30, 31 - CLICK HERE