ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 1, 1996 TAG: 9612030126
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
Adams' early photographs best in life
Reviewed by DONLAN PIEDMONT
ANSEL ADAMS: A Biography. By Mary Street Alinder. Henry Holt. $30.
Mary Street Alinder worked with Ansel Adams as his assistant for the last 13 years of his life. Co-author of his autobiography, she has now written this new biography of the man many claim to be the country's finest photographer ever. Certainly the millions who have seen his luminous, haunting "Moonrise" and his crystalline photographs of the American West's natural splendors would agree.
Adams seems to have been with us always, yet by the time he and the century reached their respective midpoints, he was burned out. "After 1949," writes Alinder, "he made few images of consequence, nothing like the abundance of masterpieces he produced before that time." He lived long enough, however, to see prints he sold for $150 in the 1970s fetch thousands in the marketplace.
From then until his death in 1984 at 82, though still frenetically active in the darkroom, Adams became a merchandising machine, producing a huge volume of prints (all of which he made himself), writing, lecturing on his art, tirelessly carrying the environmental banner with the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club (until he resigned in a dispute with its president).
He was an indefatigable flirt, though apparently a relatively innocent one; he was an indifferent husband to such a point that his wife filed for a divorce in the summer of 1941. Alinder writes that Adams persuaded his wife to withdraw her divorce petition, but how he managed to do that she does not say; it was probably through the exercise of his considerable personal charm.
Such an omission is not the book's only flaw. It is sometimes chaotic; the writing is filled with words that ought not be there: "chow," "vittles," "a panoply of magazines," "a bounty of rain," "piles of flack," "Ouch!" "Victory!" and "Time to party!" There is also "potentiated," the meaning of which is not clear.
In addition to helping Adams write his autobiography, Alinder edited a collection of his letters and, from time to time, as needed, reverted to her original occupation as a registered nurse.
She knew Adams and his family and friends well, and her account of those last years are revealing of them all, including herself.
The result, however, is ultimately a disappointing book. Adams, who captured for future generations his vision of nature and the American West in unforgettable and stunning photographs, deserves better.
Donlan Piedmont is author of "Peanut Soup & Spoonbread: An Informal History of Hotel Roanoke."
Guide's fly-fishing tales lend perspective to life
Reviewed by JUSTIN ASKINS
CAST AGAIN: Tales of a Fly-Fishing Guide. By Jennifer Olsson. Lyons & Burford. $19.95.
I would very much like to fish with Jennifer Olsson. After reading the 12 tales in "Cast Again," her first volume, I came away delighted that someone could so intensely enjoy fly fishing without losing track of its relative unimportance.
Olsson does not mythologize the sport like Norman Maclean or David James Duncan, nor does she show the pretense of Ernest Schwiebert. No, here is a fine fishing guide who keeps a balance between the desire to catch a fish and other concerns.
Perhaps the most powerful story is about her introduction to fly fishing.
For most of us, fly fishing grew out of dunking worms and casting spinning lures. Olsson's initiation was as a 13-year-old on the legendary Madison a month after her mother had died from breast cancer.
After fishing hard, Olsson finally landed a trout: "I have had this communication with water ever since. Rivers have become my consolation. Places where I go to practice asking questions. The fish seem to listen. I pull up fish after fish as if I am looking for something. Each one is a pleasure and a disappointment at the same time. Like a spoiled person, I put them back and look for more. I never seem satisfied, and yet, the plucking of fish from rivers and oceans satisfies me. I feel that I am solving a mystery. My mystery."
The hype about fly fishing would lead one to think that it can do much more, but Olsson knows better. It gives us a respite from our responsibilities, a brief time to forget the pressures and think a little about ourselves. That is reason enough to pursue it.
In another tale we learn about Olsson's divorce, which came about because "habit had taken the place of heart." And another tells of a middle-aged man who "the doctors didn't think ... was going to make it," and of his immense pleasure in his first fly-rod trout, "a sparkling, eight-inch wild rainbow." One more speaks of a particularly nasty client who, even after finally catching "a decent rainbow," remains scathingly critical.
At moments like that, Olsson relates: "I will wade out of the water, sit down on the bank, and take off my hat to the river that runs without emotions or expectations, and watch the trout rise undisturbed and free."
In "Cast Again," Olsson shows us that life is normally much bigger than any fly-fishing expedition, but that at those moments when we are on the Gallatin or the Madison or the Yellowstone and a powerful fish rises to a well-placed caddisfly, there is joy and excitement and connection. And who needs, at least for a few hours, much more?
Justin Askins teaches English at Radford University.
Undersea adventure
Reviewed by KEN KING
THE SEA HUNTERS: True Adventures with Famous Shipwrecks. By Clive Cussler. Simon & Schuster. $24.
Twenty years ago Cussler's "Raise the Titanic!" ascended rapidly on the New York Times Best Seller list. During the next two decades and through 13 novels, his books starring fictional devil-may-care hero, Dirk Pitt, have sold 70 million copies, funding Cussler's avid interest in solving true mysteries. His nonprofit National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) discovers and preserves historic shipwrecks whose artifacts are donated to museums across the country.
"The Sea Hunters" chronicles Cussler's seaborne quest with accounts of more than a dozen ships. Part-by-part the book dramatizes the mystery, high adventure, tragedy and historic drama that form the circumstances of a major wreck. With skillful prose Cussler brings the story into the present by describing the immense research and careful preparation necessary for finding lost trove. His fans will find him to be as heroic an adventurer as his character.
Cussler's book spans misadventures and wrecks over 156 years, from coast to coast and in the Atlantic Ocean up to the North Sea. It will appeal to railroad enthusiasts; his land-based escapades include the mystery of how, in 1878, the Kansas Pacific Railroad lost Engine No.51, a Baldwin 4-6-0 and the rest of Train No.8.
Virginia readers will enjoy the Tidewater story of the USS Cumberland, sunk by the first Confederate ironclad, the Virginia (formerly the Merrimack, a Union frigate salvaged, converted and renamed by the Confederates), at Newport News in 1862, where also the CSS Florida, a famous Confederate raider, was scuttled by a Union spy ship in 1864.
Cussler's disposable, book-royalty income has been well spent on his avocation. His current missive and first nonfiction offering benefits from his quest, his insatiable curiosity and his likable prose. It is an engaging adventure read.
Ken King is a Roanoke lawyer.
BOOKMARKS
Novel set in the Star City
Reviewed by LYNN ECKMAN
BRIGHT WINGS BROKEN. By Liz Jones. Commonwealth Publications. $4.95.
"Bright Wings Broken" is a first novel of rare strength and beauty by former Roanoker Liz Jones. In the entire book there is not an ungraceful sentence, and there are many of singular power. With the expertise that usually comes from long experience, Jones writes the way Pavarotti sings ... exquisitely.
The setting, our own Star City in the 1980s, will add to the appeal of this lyrical tale for locals. Even though some place names have been changed, identification proves easy as Emma Hunter returns to Roanoke, after an absence of three years, to seek the truth about the suicide of a former student, to find peace and to "repair" herself.
As troubled as she was talented, Sage Herndon had attached herself to Emma for emotional sustenance, demanding much attention unrelated to her English class. Emma found Sage's needs irresistible and had no choice but to try to help her, yet Sage's death generates guilt as well as sadness. Rich in characters, occult practices, thought-provoking ideas and much more, this novel will touch parents, teachers and everyone wishing happiness for young people, as well as all who admire literary excellence.
Like the star on Mill Mountain, the City Market, El Rodeo, Brandon Avenue, Floyd County, etc., "Bright Wings Broken" belongs to us, yet we want to share it with others. What a joy it is to find such brilliance in our own hometown.
Lynn Eckman teaches English as a volunteer for the Office of Refugee and Immigration Services.
Liz Jones will be signing copies of her book at Ram's Head Book Shop in Towers Shopping Center on Friday, from 1 to 3 p.m.
BRIEFS
Galileo's story told in art
STARRY MESSENGER.
By Peter Sis. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. $16.
A biography, philosophy and art lesson all in one book? That's what Peter Sis, author and illustrator, gives us in his latest intricate and beautiful picture book on the life of Galileo Galilei, the genius who was convicted of heresy for believing the Earth moved around the Sun.
The story reads like a fairy tale, the ideas presented give rise to deep thoughts and the beauty of the illustrations demands close attention. Using very fine print (which is hard to read), Sis has imposed Galileo's words into designs, curves, arcs and circles above the more legible story. Details are woven into page borders, and facts are disguised as decorations.
This is not a book for frivolous readers, but it is suited for old and young alike. Anyone interested in astronomy, history or the Catholic church will gain insight about these subjects as well as about the life of Galileo.
Sis has given children's literature other books of magical sights and thoughts in "Follow the Dream," "A Small Tall Tale from the Far Far North" and "Three Golden Keys," all of which reflect his constant interest in those who dream about and create the future.
- MARY SUTTON SKUTT
FIRE AND FOG.
By Dianne Day. Doubleday. $21.
I never thought I'd start a review by calling a book "cute." But that's what this novel is, and I was totally captivated by it.
"Fire and Fog" is a Fremont Jones period mystery set in San Francisco in 1906 during and after the great earthquake. Its central character, Fremont Jones, is a feminist, an amateur sleuth and a thoroughly delightful young lady. In character, she's sort of midway between Nancy Drew and Jessica Fletcher.
Dianne Day is a pseudonym for the author of eight novels of romantic suspense and two (what I'd guess are more weighty novels) under her own name, although I don't know what that is. "Fire and Fog" is the second of the Fremont Jones series, and the elusive Day is at work on the fourth. I hope she hurries.
- JUDY KWELLER
Mary Sutton Skutt is a retired teacher who writes for children and lives in Rockbridge County.
Judy Kweller is a free-lance writer and special events coordinator.
LENGTH: Long : 208 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Adams photographed "Winter, Yosemite Valley" in 1936.by CNB2. Cover of "Starry Messenger."