I have quite a story for you about Tillie Olsen, and her beautiful voice. Few years ago, I started working with her daughters to record her stories, which had never been in audio! They said, “We just won’t feel right unless it’s Tillie’s voice, not another actor.” They said she had once recorded “Tell Me a Riddle” for the LIbrary of Congress, but didn’t know more. Well, I worked for Audible, but I said, I’m just going to write the LOC and see if they will help us, with the Estate’s permission. I ended up working with the *best* librarian, who truly understood the significance, and helped me get through all the hoops. FINALLY, I got the digital files.
And guess what.
She was reading away, and smoking, and chatting with the engineer occasionally, it was as great as anyone would remember her, live on stage. Then, right in the middle of a sentence, the tape stopped. Was there more? It was clear she was doing the whole book for posterity. What happened. The librarian said, “This is all there is.”
Just when I was about to give up, I noticed the DATE of the recording. The day she was recording in DC, in the LOC’s basement studio. Timestamped: “November 22, 1963.”
My god. They had been interrupted by the news of JFK’s assassination. Imagine . . .
To say this work was sentimental is naive; it’s layered, complex and reflective of too many mothers’ experiences raising children in poverty. The guilt alone can paralyze.
Thanks, Alice......do you know Dorothy Allison's novel Bastard Out of Carolina? It's a wonderful piece of work, wonderful in a similar way to Olsen's.....by which I mean, it's almost too intense and honest to endure....it's stunning, it's blinding..... but Dorothy died yesterday, so, for me, today is a day of mourning. Dorothy Allison was an incredibly kind friend to me and to so many other writers. I don't think I would have won the Lambda Award in 1989 without her support. And she wrote an Introduction to The Redneck Way of Knowledge when it was rereleased by Vintage in the 90s. Today I am honoring Dorothy. Her work is up there in the ether where real art keeps turning and turning and turning.
I have quite a story for you about Tillie Olsen, and her beautiful voice. Few years ago, I started working with her daughters to record her stories, which had never been in audio! They said, “We just won’t feel right unless it’s Tillie’s voice, not another actor.” They said she had once recorded “Tell Me a Riddle” for the LIbrary of Congress, but didn’t know more. Well, I worked for Audible, but I said, I’m just going to write the LOC and see if they will help us, with the Estate’s permission. I ended up working with the *best* librarian, who truly understood the significance, and helped me get through all the hoops. FINALLY, I got the digital files.
And guess what.
She was reading away, and smoking, and chatting with the engineer occasionally, it was as great as anyone would remember her, live on stage. Then, right in the middle of a sentence, the tape stopped. Was there more? It was clear she was doing the whole book for posterity. What happened. The librarian said, “This is all there is.”
Just when I was about to give up, I noticed the DATE of the recording. The day she was recording in DC, in the LOC’s basement studio. Timestamped: “November 22, 1963.”
My god. They had been interrupted by the news of JFK’s assassination. Imagine . . .
She never came back to finish it.
And . . . Here’s what I ended up doing, producing it. We found a wonderful actor, Isabel Keating, who read all the Work. And then I introduced a special feature at the end, Tillie’s own voice, and we shared the existing archival work, word for word. https://www.audible.com/pd/Tell-Me-a-Riddle-Requa-I-and-Other-Works-Audiobook/B09XFBLCPQ.
just bought it .....can't wait.....
!!!!
To say this work was sentimental is naive; it’s layered, complex and reflective of too many mothers’ experiences raising children in poverty. The guilt alone can paralyze.
Such an incredible story.
I'm with you, Blanche. I can't even think about the last sentence in that story without crying. It's not sentimental; the emotion is well-earned.
Thanks, Alice......do you know Dorothy Allison's novel Bastard Out of Carolina? It's a wonderful piece of work, wonderful in a similar way to Olsen's.....by which I mean, it's almost too intense and honest to endure....it's stunning, it's blinding..... but Dorothy died yesterday, so, for me, today is a day of mourning. Dorothy Allison was an incredibly kind friend to me and to so many other writers. I don't think I would have won the Lambda Award in 1989 without her support. And she wrote an Introduction to The Redneck Way of Knowledge when it was rereleased by Vintage in the 90s. Today I am honoring Dorothy. Her work is up there in the ether where real art keeps turning and turning and turning.
Yes, I know and admire her work, and will miss her presence in the world. What a writer and what a human being!