"The High Plains, the beginning of the desert West, often act as a crucible for those who inhabit them. Like Jacob's angel, the region requires that you
wrestle with it before it bestows a blessing." In a voice as authentic as the land she describes, poet Kathleen Norris transports us to the heart of the
country, America's empty quarter, a "spiritual" geography often devoid of human presence but rich in other life. A sublime physical landscape, for Norris
it is also a metaphor for the indomitable human spirit. Nearly twenty years ago, Kathleen Norris returned to the house built by her grandparents in an
isolated town on the border between North and South Dakota. The elemental landscape forced her to confront and reexamine her heritage, religion, language,
and the land itself. Living in a community "so small that the poets and ministers have to hang out together," Norris reveals to us the contradictions of
small town life on the Great Plains, where gracious hospitality blends with provincial wariness, local history is valued but writers are suspect, and truth
and myth collide. With rare poetic voice and unsentimental vision, Kathleen Norris weaves together the lives of farmers, townsfolk, Native Americans, and
a community of Benedictine monks whose home is on the Plains. This expansive portrait of the Dakotas introduces to the American literary scene the forceful,
mature voice of an important American writer. An award-winning poet and the author of two books of poetry, Falling Off (1971) and The Middle of the World
(1981), Kathleen Norris lives in Lemmon, South Dakota, where she has lived with her husband, the poet David Dwyer, for almost twenty years. (From the Publisher)
Library Journal:
The Dakotas, while thought to be God's country by some, are considered a forgotten land by others. With imagistic flair, poet Norris ( The Year of Common
Things , Wayland Pr., 1988) brings alive the history and spirit of the area and its inhabitants. She writes that residing in a small town like Lemmon,
North Dakota, can be both a burden and a blessing, giving us insight into her life there by sharing recollections and observations. Norris effectively
transports readers into this world by describing her journey of self-discovery and spirituality. Hers is a very personal story, yet it is both philosophical
and entertaining. Norris reminds us that beauty and a sense of belonging are only limited by an individual's perception.
