Tuesday, 08 March 2011
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Friendship: Norton's Anthology
Flowers are lovely; Love is flower-like; Friendship is a sheltering tree.*
Pulitzer-prize winning Southern author, Eudora Welty, teamed up with Kenyon College English Professor Ronald Sharp (who came to know each other through a mutual friend) to produce a fine anthology extolling the merits of friendship, a concept lacking in our post modern society.
From antiquity to the end of the nineteenth century, friendship was one of the enduring literary subjects. By the mid-twentieth century, however, it had been relegated to the cultural attic. In the rare moments when it has been brought downstairs, it appears to have fallen into the hands of pop psychologists and self-help enthusiasts. More recently, the world has turned again - there has been a resurgence of interest in the bond epitomized by one of the finest words in the English language:
friend.
Published in 1991, this volume qualifies not only as resourceful reference book for my library but also as veritable tonic, quickly picking up my spirits after drinking only a few sips.
I was prompted to remember this collection after reading a chapter in Anthony Esolen's book Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child in which the professor reminds us of the value of cultivating these special people in our lives.
While laboring over thousands of selections, the two editors became fast friends despite the 40-year age difference. Each penned a short introduction to the anthology shedding light on the topic as well as offering a glimpse into their own personal lives.
*Samuel Taylor Coleridge's verse on friendship compliments this subject and one of my favorite paintings which just so happens to be a beautiful illustration of two girls being friends: W. A. Bouguereau's Nut Gatherers which you can see above and at The Detroit Institute of Arts.
Does the scene make you think of a good friend?
Someone with whom you could share a good read?
Consider Norton's Anthology of Friendship.
It's introducing me to some new friends and helping me become reacquainted with old ones.
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Norton Book of Friendship
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Comments (3)
I'm in the middle of Russell Kirk's autobiography written in the third person. Very interesting!
@magistramater - The internet made it easy to learn about Prof Sharp, but Miss Welty needed no introduction. I'm hoping to get to an exhibit of her depression-era photography that is at The Atlanta History Center until early May. As the topic relates to my book club author, Anthony Esolen, he has written about friendship for over five years, but I havent readily found articles by Sharp. April's poetry may center around friendship.... we'll see.