tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post7747727618623275035..comments2024-03-09T00:19:36.011-08:00Comments on Reading the Short Story: Puzzle the Prof: Rick Bass's "The Hermit's Story"Charles E. Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11642048806407593585noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-38825797996353468842019-03-10T17:45:56.656-07:002019-03-10T17:45:56.656-07:00Can you tell me if they were underneath the ground...Can you tell me if they were underneath the ground how did they get back in the surface? S. Gonzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01643118708038630416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-47224137389179039722018-12-13T07:47:58.845-08:002018-12-13T07:47:58.845-08:00Thanks for all your insight. How wonderful readin...Thanks for all your insight. How wonderful reading this blog and your books is for us here. This collection of Rick bass stories is, right now, a free kindle unlimited download.Richard L. Pangburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10717563750065476750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-13206372170370707112018-11-14T10:35:16.012-08:002018-11-14T10:35:16.012-08:00I am not sure why Roger cannot read, but I will ha...I am not sure why Roger cannot read, but I will hazard a guess based on my understanding of the kind of story this is. I think what Bass is trying to create is the world of oral storytelling, which depends on the storyteller creating a rhythm of reality that transcends language. One hears the words, but it is like music that one does not "read" unless one knows the language. Ann is a classic oral storyteller, so it seems appropriate that she lives with a man who does not read but rather listens.Charles E. Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11642048806407593585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-64205325254975753832018-11-10T15:52:47.916-08:002018-11-10T15:52:47.916-08:00Can you explain the paragraph about "Roger,&q...Can you explain the paragraph about "Roger," who cannot read? One assumes Roger is Ann's husband, but why would he be unable to read (although the narrator is confident hell be able to one day)? As Bass leaves it, its very obscure.jgc3hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06716405930695206661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-12396603955040814072015-11-20T08:32:57.620-08:002015-11-20T08:32:57.620-08:00Click the citation icon and you will see where the...Click the citation icon and you will see where they got the piece I originally wrote. I am offended that you would think I would ever plagiarize anything.Charles E. Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11642048806407593585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-13286298780542109172015-11-20T08:29:17.303-08:002015-11-20T08:29:17.303-08:00Check again, anonymous. Endnotes published my ori...Check again, anonymous. Endnotes published my original review, so they copied from me.<br />Charles E. Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11642048806407593585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-28371147323501460672015-11-18T13:56:33.198-08:002015-11-18T13:56:33.198-08:00You've copied almost the entire commentary fro...You've copied almost the entire commentary from Enotes.com<br />I can't believe you'd do this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-47209603383753262982014-02-05T13:20:16.436-08:002014-02-05T13:20:16.436-08:00The answer to the question, why is Rick Bass's...The answer to the question, why is Rick Bass's story called "The Hermit's Story" might be found in the conclusion when the narrator says that Ann has dreams about being beneath the ice, about living beneath the ice, for it seemed to her as if she were down there for years. <br /><br />The narrator says he suspects that being under the ice gave her a "model" for what the world must be like for her dogs when they go into a trance on the hunt, that blue zone, which the narrator describes at the opening of the story. It is a zone where the mere appearance or surface of things disappears and their essences are revealed.<br /><br />It may very well be that all story tellers are "hermits" who cut them off from the mere appearance of things and enter into a realm of meaning and significance.<br /> <br />It is a happy coincidence that today I was reading an interview with Alice Munro, who said that when she is in that zone, mere physical things seem to mean something way beyond themselves. She says that sometimes this leaves her and physical objects begin to look as if they are just constructed out of material. "They don't mean anything but what they seem to mean. When she cannot see things with a sort of rim of significance around them, she becomes depressed. <br /><br />However, she says she usually does see things as being significant and meaningful, and it has nothing to do with things being ugly or beautiful. "There's a difference between the person and the writer." The example she gives is that being the person she is, living across from a beautiful wood, she would get upset if bulldozers came and knocked the trees down and put up a Texaco station. But the writer in her would not get upset. The writer would start watching what was going on at the Texaco station. <br /><br />So, maybe when one tells a story about something mysterious that one intuits has meaning and significance and is trying to see into the essence of that thing or story, maybe inevitably the storyteller becomes a hermit in a sort of spiritual retreat. Thus, Ann is a hermit and so is Rick Bass--that is, when they are not being merely people but are being writers or storytellers.<br />Charles E. Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11642048806407593585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-20629301837935168872014-02-05T11:42:33.338-08:002014-02-05T11:42:33.338-08:00Dumb me. A hermit is someone who lives in seclusi...Dumb me. A hermit is someone who lives in seclusion from society...clearly Ann does this...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-15574888941023963432014-02-05T11:32:51.144-08:002014-02-05T11:32:51.144-08:00My question too. Why is it called The Hermit'...My question too. Why is it called The Hermit's Story?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-35423177754653864702014-01-16T20:23:10.313-08:002014-01-16T20:23:10.313-08:00I heard this story for the first time this evening...I heard this story for the first time this evening. It was read aloud at a monthly event we hold in this little Rust Belt village in Upstate NY, "Story Time for Grownups." Our reader was a local college professor. The audience was small. We were in a bakery cafe, a genial setting (and a little financial windfall for the proprietor, considering there wouldn't normally be customers on such a cold night, midweek).<br /><br />The description of the world under the lake struck me the most. Peering through the ice at the moon outside and so far away. The cattail torches and occasional methane flares. The "strange smell of the air." <br /><br />I looked around the room in those moments and everyone was in a dream, envisioning, sniffing, touching, listening.<br /><br />Back home, I decided to google the story so I could share it with others who were not able to attend tonight's event. Which is how I found your blog.<br /><br />Riddle me this, though: why is it called "The Hermit's Story," do you suppose? Neither narrator is a hermit. <br /><br />The double layer of narration reminded me a bit of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner.<br /><br />Haunting piece of writing. What dreams I may have tonight...<br /><br />Teri Chacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11785279464172847443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3161136885462262525.post-30880773793342367022013-05-30T16:40:03.656-07:002013-05-30T16:40:03.656-07:00Thanks, Professor. Your interpretation enhances m...Thanks, Professor. Your interpretation enhances my appreciation of the story.Richard L. Pangburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10717563750065476750noreply@blogger.com