‘Ruining What Was Very Nearly Perfection’: Conrad Richter’s The Awakening Land

Please join us on September 5 at 1:00pm as Dr. Marianne Cotugno (ENG) solves the mystery of a reprint gone wrong!  

Conrad Richter's historical fiction trilogy The Awakening Land (our September book discussion on 9/11/19 features the first book, The Trees) was reissued by Ohio University Press in 1991, but something was "ruined" (in the opinion of an Amazon reviewer).  

Dr. Cotugno will explain that there was no error, and delve into larger questions about online reviews, authorial revision, and publication history.

We will meet in Room 110 of the Gardner-Harvey Library.  Light refreshments will be provided.

For more information, please read the review in question and the description offered below by Dr. Cotugno (spoiler-free!):

 “Being intimately familiar with the original publication of this trilogy, I can say with utmost disdain that whoever was responsible for taking the liberties of rewriting what was very nearly perfection must have a great fondness for soap operas and should stick with romance novels instead. Not only are there additional passages inserted that were never written by Conrad Richter, there are also altered meanings of existing passages that totally change the flavor and the original intent. There are so many instances in all three volumes that I don't even know where to begin with examples. This is by far the most appalling reprint of an award-winning piece of historical fiction I have ever witnessed. You would do better to find a used copy from the original publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.”[1]

Posted on January 14, 2011, under the title, “Overzealous publisher,” awarding two stars, this review by user “Zolasattic” appears under each of the novels in The Awakening Land trilogy published by Ohio University Press and sold through Amazon. Although the Ohio University Press editions appeared by special arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in 1991, Knopf first published the three novels, The Trees (1940), The Fields (1946), and The Town (1950) individually, and then collectively as The Awakening Land in 1966. The novels tell the story of Sayward Luckett and her family, who settle in the Ohio Valley in the late 18^th century, and focus on Sayward’s experiences as the family establishes itself in the wilderness and eventually becomes part of a modern town, Americus, in the mid 19^th century. The last novel in the trilogy won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1951. David McCullough asserts that the trilogy “ranks among the finest of all American works of historical fiction.”[2] What did Ohio University Press do to this monumental work?

This talk will answer that question - which took me down a rabbit hole that raises larger questions about online reviews, authorial revision, and publication history. 

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[1] Zolasattic. Review of The Fields, by Conrad Richter. Amazon, 27 June 2018, https://www.amazon.com/Fields-Rediscovered-Classics-Conrad-Richter/product-reviews/1613737424/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_viewpnt_rgt?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=critical&reviewerType=all_reviews&pageNumber=1#reviews-filter-bar .

[2] David McCullough, foreword to The Trees, by Conrad Richter (Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2017), i. 

"Book" by DeFerrol is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 

New books added to the Gardner-Harvey Library in July!

We are adding many new items to the collection each month, and making sure that you can see them on display! Take a look at our New Books shelves or skim down our new materials list of items we added to the collection in June! We added 116 books, e-books, DVDs, and other items during that time, thanks to your selections and suggestions. The list can be sorted by call number, area of our collection, or by title.

Here are eight titles from the list, to give you an idea of what we've been buying: 

• Archaeology from space : how the future shapes our past / Sarah Parcak
• They called us enemy / written by George Takei, Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott art by Harmony Becker
• Dapper Dan : made in Harlem : a memoir / Daniel R. Day with Mikael Awake
• Who should own natural resources? / Margaret Moore
• Issues and controversies in policing today / Johnny Nhan
• Small teaching online : applying learning science in online classes / Flower Darby, James M. Lang
• Because internet : understanding the new rules of language / Gretchen McCulloch
• The Nickel boys : a novel / Colson Whitehead

This tag will show you all of the prior lists of new materials, in reverse chronological order. We are eager to hear from you about individual items you would like us to buy, or types of items we should be on the look out for, or general subject areas we should build up in the collection.

We're starting off the 2019-2020 academic year right with these additions. Thank you for all of your suggestions and requests!  If you have a suggestion of something to order, please use our "Tell GHL to Buy It" form, email Amy Carmichael (carmicae@miamioh.edu), or drop by the library with your request. And pass your general suggestions or comments about the collection to us in those same ways.

Thanks again for keeping our collection vibrant and your information needs met!

September's Middletown book discussion title: The Trees

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The MUM Book Discussion group will next meet on Wednesday, September 11 to discuss Conrad Richter's The Trees.  We will meet at 12 pm in Room 124 in the Library.   

Here is a brief summary of the title, along with links to request the book from Miami, OhioLINK, and SearchOhio libraries (Just click "Request" and choose "Miami University" from the dropdown list.  Then enter your UniqueID and password, and the library from which you would like to retrieve the item):  

"The Trees is a moving novel of the beginning of the American trek to the west. Toward the close of the eighteenth century, the land west of the Alleghenies and north of the Ohio River was an unbroken sea of trees. Here the Lucketts, a wild, woods-faring family, lived their roaming life, pushing ever westward as the frontier advanced and as new settlements threatened their isolation. This novel gives an excellent feel for America's lost woods culture, which was created when most of the eastern midwest was a vast hardwood forest---virtually a jungle. The Trees conveys settler life, including conflicts with Native Americans, illness, hunting, family dynamics, and marriage."

Miami, OhioLINK, and SearchOhio

Read the book (or read something else interesting), then come along to our discussion to share what else you've been reading/watching/listening to/experiencing, and help us plan our future readings.  

Have an idea for a book to discuss?  Let us know and check out our page of past and future reads at http://www.mid.miamioh.edu/library/bookdiscussion.htm

"Log Cabin" by BugMan50 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0