Wednesday, June 22, 2022

"that untouchable foglike center..."

 22 June 2022: “The spell of Jewett’s words tantalizes and draws us on to read, but it never directly names. There is always that kernel of mystery, that untouchable foglike center that pulls us onward into that world beyond the ice, the imagination” (Hobbs 33).

Diving deep into Jewett now, working on my entry on Country of the Pointed Firs. Really love this take by Michael Hobbs, who is arguing that Captain Littlepage's story replicates, "in ironic miniature, a unifying narrative structure for Jewett’s work" (27). Hobbs does some really lovely gesturing towards Jewett's larger achievement--much appreciated by me as I remember again and again how much I love this text.

Work Cited

Hobbs, Michael. “World beyond the Ice: Narrative Structure in The Country of the Pointed Firs.” Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 29, no. 1, 1992, pp. 27–34. EBSCOhost.

No comments: