I'm sure most of us are at least vaguely familiar with Laura Ingalls Wilder and her literary works about her childhood that the TV series "Little House on the Prairie" was loosely taken from.
Although most of her books seemed as though she wore rose colored glasses, that was apparently just to get the books published. Life was a little more brutish than Wilder hinted at in her earlier works. She had penned a "tell-all" no-holds-barred autobiography that never made it to press. One story concerns the father and husband of a family, for which she was baby-sitting, attempting to force himself upon young Laura. Definitely not the "Little House" we all watched on TV. Read on:
"Laura Ingalls Wilder's autobiography, 'Pioneer Girl' details her life in the country, but the picture is less than perfect. With accounts of domestic abuse, messy love triangles, and even a drunk man who lit himself on fire, Wilder's time on the prairie seems to match her name more than the stories we saw in her books.
Wilder and her daughter previously tried publishing the autobiography in the early 1930s, but failed. After the author's passing in 1957, the original draft was saved at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri. Last November, the South Dakota State Historical Society was finally able to publish the tell-all book."
Both my maternal and paternal grandparents were born elsewhere and came to the Oklahoma and Indian Territories as children around the same time as the Ingalls. Homesteading was something that not everyone actually succeeded in, or even survived for that matter.
I've read a few of Wilder's "Little House" series books over the years and enjoyed them. But compared to the stories my grandparents had told it is apparent Wilder's accounts had been sanitized. Nothing wrong with that I don't guess. Literary license is a wonderful paint brush. I don't think my accounts of the Cash boys' childhood escapades would have their humorous patina if I mentioned that Pops Cash was a raging alcoholic and regularly beat us all bloody.
Anyway, I'm glad her autobiography made it to print and look forward to reading it. Although not on the same shelf as Heinlein, Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, I'm sure it will be an enjoyable read. B-)
Thanks Cashster. See, not everything you learn here as a legger has to do with boring old surveying.
Somehow I doubt that pops cash did that raging oddball stuff, but do like the reference to the paint brush of literary license. Speaks volumes.
I'm one of those who got burned out in college reading, studying, writing, and just making it through to get ready for the next course so I could do it all again. I may take up reading books again, and a few suggestions here are well noted.
Another old manuscript being published
News item:
The literary world is excited to hear that Harper Lee’s first novel, Go Set a Watchman, which has been tucked away for almost 60 years, will be published for the first time. It was written before To Kill a Mockingbird, but did not interest editors at the time. It’s guaranteed to sell well, but will critics like it?
Another old manuscript being published
So...a blind 88 years old writer in an assisted living facility since suffering a stroke suddenly decides to publish a manuscript that's been sitting around for decades. This decision just happens to coincide with the death of the writer's sister, who was her lawyer and literary executor. Count me as cynical.
“I don't think my accounts of the Cash boys' childhood escapades would have their humorous patina if I mentioned that Pops Cash was a raging alcoholic and......”
Of course they wouldn’t. It’s the occurrence(s) whatever they may be, set in memory that contributes to humor associated with the “Cash Tales”. Especially now that one can literally reminisce sans a whoop’in.
Some details are better left suppressed. 😉
B-)
Another old manuscript being published
Me too! :'(
Another old manuscript being published
It's been done before. Write a novel, and in the process learn a little something, or a big something, about how it's done. Finished product no better than you might expect. Write another one. Do well with it. The first one becomes saleable, after 1, 5, or 50 years, but unlike some liquids, it doesn't improve just by sitting untouched in the dark. But it can be an Event, unfortunately. Shelby Foote liked to say that you write one or two or three novels to learn the craft, destroy them, and get down to real work.
Cheers,
Henry
Little House Books...
I always wondered if there was a dark DARK side to the story...now I don't have to wonder anymore. I'll have to read it as well. Thanks for sharing that info, Paden. B-)
