"Next, sleep..."

7 November 2024: "Next, sleep. Healing sleep, soothing sleep, sleep to make the world go away, sleep like death. Her mama had told her that sleep was the best medicine God ever made." --Randall Kenan, "The Foundations of the Earth"

Completely crashed by 9:30 last night. I think I had barely slept three hours the past two nights, so when I crashed, I crashed hard. Slept like a rock. Woke up feeling stronger and more determined, and as I got ready for the day, this passage from Kenan's story kept running through my mind. 

"...she would have to begin again, to learn..."

 29 August 2020: So much pain and loss in the world, especially for the Black community, this past week. I've been thinking about Kenan all day, particularly the section above from "The Foundations of the Earth," which I've written about before. I first encountered his work when I was young--an M.A. student--but even then, I could sense writing that would make me learn, make me begin again, make me be a better person. 

We are sad to share the news that Randall Kenan, professor of English, died at his home this week. The College joins the Creative Writing Program, @uncecl and others in the Carolina community in mourning this great loss and extend condolences to his family. pic.twitter.com/QRrZjWOpEW

— UNC College (@unccollege) August 29, 2020

"The Foundations of the Earth"

24 November 2018: "How curious the world had become that she would be asking a white man to exonerate her in the eyes of her own grandson; how strange that at seventy, when she had all the laws and rules down pat, she would have to begin again, to learn." --Randall Kenan, "The Foundations of the Earth"

I am getting ready to teach this story in GWST on Tuesday. It's an extraordinary story on religion, aging, race, and sexuality, but above all, about a woman learning that she still has more to learn. Inspiring and important.

(Just checked and I already blogged about this story in March.)

"The Foundations of the Earth"

7 March 2018:

"Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" --Job 38:1-7

I taught Randall Kenan's "The Foundations of the Earth" today in my ENGL 360 class. It's a great story and I could write about so many different ideas, but I think I'll just stick to the part above, the excerpt from the book of Job that features prominently in the story and gives it its title. It is a powerful passage: beautifully written, moving, and frustrating. We talked about how Job (like Maggie in Kenan's story) doesn't get the answers he seeks from God, who just sort of shuts him down. Are God's words comforting for Job? Do they frustrate him into silence? We don't know. We can just imagine and imagine what we would do.

Let the Dead Bury Their Dead

5 June 2017: "I just don't understand what we're supposed to do with these...how they all fit together..." --a student in my ENGL 355 class today, opening up our last day of discussing Randall Kenan's Let the Dead Bury Their Dead.

Let the Dead Bury Their Dead might be the most difficult text we read in ENGL 355. It's dark and disturbing at times, full of different voices and styles. And these interconnected stories of the fictional town Kenan creates operate one way individually, but other ways in conversation with one another. But how they connect and what we are supposed to do with those connections...I always have a hard time articulating it. So I was glad that this student made explicit what is so difficult about this work. It led us to keep working on coming up with answers during class...I think we got somewhere, but even if we didn't, the attempts were fun and rewarding.