Monday, December 24, 2012

Ford on Wandering



Here's an excerpt from Richard Ford's Canada I could really relate to, told from the perspective of a 15 year old boy who has been kidnapped and shuttled into Saskatchewan to start a new life after his parents are jailed in Montana for robbing a bank:

"On days I stayed in town, whiling hours until I'd get to eat again -- following which I'd pedal back tired to Partreau before the dark highway turned treacherous with grain trucks and farm boys beered up for the evening -- I often walked about the town of Fort Royal, taking a look at what it contained.  I did this both because it was new for me to be alone and not looked after; and also because the little that was there made what I saw more striking, and I'd decided the way not to be forlorn and plagued by morbid thoughts was to investigate and take an interest in things the way someone would whose job was to write about it for the World Book.  But, too -- I took my tours because there was nothing else to do, and choosing to be an investigator conferred a small freedom I'd never known up to then, having lived only with my sister and my parents.  And finally, I did it because it was Canada where I was, and I knew nothing about that -- how it was different from America, and how it was alike.  Both things I wanted to know."

Here's a Richard Ford video as a follow up:

No comments:

Post a Comment