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About What's happening. (Eugene, OR) 1982-1993 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1985)
BOOKS._ This novel is by a very talented Southern author I I i i i I The Annunciation By Ellen Gilchrist. Published by Little, Brown & Company, 1983. In an excellent opening chapter, writer (and NPR commentator) Ellen Gilchrist introduces Aman da, a delightful, spunky four year-old madly in love with her eight-year-old cousin Guy. The children live at Esperanza, a remote plantation in the delta; the time is the 1940s. "Amanda and Guy. Amanda and Guy. The only white children for ten miles down either road. The only white children with two pairs of shoes and shampoo. Amanda and Guy and the love that passed between them like a field of light. Everyone at Es peranza watched it, but only the black people knew what they were watching. Only the black people knew what it meant." As Amanda grows to be the prettiest girl in the county and Guy develops into an all-star foot ball player, their love deepens and blossoms. In the short span of the first chapter, Gilchrist captures the first ten years of their love with tenderness, humor, and a compelling authenticity. The story of The Annunciation is Amanda's story: lovable Aman da, feisty to the core, unconven tional, and totally true to herself. She gives birth to a daughter when she is fourteen, but has no say when the baby is given over to the nuns for adoption. Both Guy and Amanda are haunted by the child as they go separate ways: Aman da to school, marriage, and a self destructive New Orleans social life. Much later, she breaks a hard-drinking pattern and moves (alone) to the hill country of Ar kansas to find herself and to trans late the lost poems of a French girl. It is in Fayetteville (where author Gilchrist actually lives) that Amanda emerges from her depression. At mid-life, the spark ling clear-eyed child within comes forth again. She falls in love with Will, a younger man, on the same day she gets a Chinese fortune cookie that says: "Your most se cret desire is about to come true." Amanda and Will's unconven tional relationship brings about what Amanda describes as: "an outrageous pregnancy. . . . She would wake from sleep and be fill ed with a terrible joy, a holy and beautiful wonder." B THEATRE. Sagebrush Cinderella Just where is Sagebrush, Ore gon? Don't feel bad if you don't know, because it's the fictional setting for the Neighborhood Players-River Road Parks' latest production entitled Sagebrush Cinderella. The non-existent Sagebrush Hotel sets the scene for this family Western that boasts a Duchess, an ex-pirate, a clogging clan, a miss iing shoe, an a tour knee at law ((that's Western for lawyer) and of our Cinderella style course heroine. Writer/Director Janet Steiger Carr has blended the talents of her 19 member cast, who range in age from 9 to 14, into a hootin' and hollerin' western melodrama that will delight the young and young at heart. The production will open Thursday, August 22nd, in the Kelly Middle School Theatre, at 850 Howard. Additional perform ances will be Friday, August 23 and Saturday and Sunday, Au gust 24 and 25. The Thursday and Friday shows will be at 7:00, Saturday and Sunday at 2:00. General admission is $2.00. The family rate is $6.00 for up to six people. There will also be a special 50c preview show on Wednesday, August 21, at 7:00. Proceeds from this show will go to benefit Lane Co. kids with kidney disease. For more information or tickets call 688-4052. 122 E. BROADWAY. EUGENE, OR 97401 HUNDERTWASSER SUMMER OF ’85 JULY STH - SEPTEMBER 15TH EXHIBIT OF IMPORTANT WORKS • "REGENTAG PORTFOLIO” (10 PIECES) • “MIDORI NO NAMIDA" (5 PIECES) • “GREEN POWER" - "MEADOWMAN" 35 DIFFERENT IMAGES - BOOKS - POSTERS HOURS: TUES-SAT 11 -5:30 (503) 344-5580 SPECIAL HOURS BY APPOINTMENT Underlying Amanda's story is the story of the poet whose lost work she is translating. Helene also had an illicit love affair at an early age and was locked up by the nuns. After her baby was taken away, the girl killed herself; her maid hid the poems, which were lost for centuries. The child poet's dark view of religion ac cords perfectly with Amanda's. The brilliant irreverent poems are the backbone of the novel, point ing clearly to Amanda's spiritual conflict: Sing a song of Jesus, so powerless he allowed his own subjects to torture him to death. Sing Jacob, ready to hack his own kid and blame the blood on God. Sing Joseph, sweet faceless cuckold of history. All on their way with Sister Clara to the land the meek inherit, the ones whose shadows tremble in the sun. Ellen Gilchrist is some fine story teller. If you loved her collection of short stories, Victory Over Japan, as I did, you will also enjoy this earlier 1983 first novel. Gilchrist is an original voice, a very talented Southerner whose sense of place ranks her with the best of the new regional writers. —Lois Wadsworth o plocefr, evexyone/ PERALANDRA BOOKS & MUSIC FOR THE MIND & SPIRIT OPEN MON. SAT., 10-6 790 EAST 11th (AT ALDER) 485-4848 I Inside a Summer Morning by Loren Swift I came outside and sat in the morning. Inside the morning. The world, enveloped in a soft lemon-yellow light, engulfed every strand of grass and feathery, beaded head of grass. ... inside the light washing diagonally through the fruit trees ... inside the unceasing drone, mantra-like, of thousands upon thousands of in sects seen and unseen, already busy. ... inside the trills, songs and chatterings close and distant of unseen birds circumscribing the interior of the sky and interstices of trees. ... inside the beginning of the day—pre-heat, already plenty warm enough so that earth smells rise into the fresh light and no dew remains. The cats lie sprawled in the mottled shade as if on a baked, burnt-orange African plain ... all forewarning of a great, latent summer scorcher by mid-afternoon. The morning is engulfing. Southern comfort at Folkways Hammocks, straw hats, natural fibre clothing, jewelry and folk art from around the world! Fifth St. Public Market downstairs 683-2204 762 E. 13th Ave. next to the Excelsior 343-8667 FOLKWAYS IMPORTS FUTONS & FRAMES Bed Frames and Couch Frames starting at $95 _Futons starting at $85_ May be seen at Saturday Market or Michael’s Custom Woodworking 89703 Demming Rd. in Elmira For more information call 935-2443 VISA MasterCard Deliveries available MAINSTAGE THEATRE COMPANY presents Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I THEATER-ON- THEM ALL (Will Move to Soreng Theatre in Case of Rain) Final 3 Performances August 1st, 2nd & 3rd Tickets: $5.00 Regular and $4.00 Discount Biscount prices les Seniero ano chdres 13-po oi M« undo CALL 683*4368 EUGENE'S BEST THEATER BARGAIN Tickets Available at: The Bon, Fletcher’s for Children, Backstage Dancewear, Postal Instant Press and at 975 Overpark Arcade.
