A posthumous publishing honor for beloved Yellow Springs writer
“Virginia Hamilton - Five Novels” edited by Julie K. Rubini (The Library of America, 898 pages, $35)
Virginia Hamilton (19342002) was the author of 41 books. She was the first childrens’ book author to be awarded a MacArthur “Genius” grant. She was also the first Black writer to be honored with the greatest honor a childrens’ writer can get, the Newbery Medal. A native of Yellow Springs, Hamilton resided there when she died in 2002.
Hamilton’s legacy is being celebrated now with one of the most impressive posthumous honors that an American writer can obtain as five of her most notable works have been reissued together in a gorgeous new edition published by the non-profit Library of America.
“Five Novels” combines some groundbreaking fiction titles. In this collection readers can discover or rediscover Hamilton’s “Zeely” (1967), “House of Dies Drear” (1968), “The Planet of Junior Brown” (1971), “M.C. Higgins the Great” (1974) and “Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush” (1982).
Here’s a quote from the publisher’s mission statement: “The Library of America fosters appreciation of America’s literary heritage by publishing and keeping permanently in print, authoritative editions of America’s best and most significant writing.” So far the LOA has issued over 300 volumes.
Hamilton is being enshrined in a pantheon which includes names like Twain, Poe, Faulkner, Steinbeck. Alcott, Wharton, Thoreau and Le Guin. Until recent years the LOA had a policy that resembled that of the US Postal Service. No living persons are honored on US postage stamps. Finally breaking with that practice, the LOA has occasionally issued work by living authors, i.e. Philip Roth, Joan Didion, but those are rare occurrences.
When Hamilton was still with us she made some appearances on my radio program. In 1999 I interviewed her for the 25th anniversary edition of “M.C. Higgins the Great” which had just been released. During that conversation we discussed her writing style for that story. She said her techniques had changed a lot since she wrote that book.
This collection contains some extraordinary bonus content that is well worth having, essays Virginia wrote, as well as the texts of some acceptance speeches she gave when she was getting awards. This material is strewn with nuggets of her wisdom. They run from edifying to amusing to pure nostalgia.
In her essay “Literature, Creativity, and Imagination” she explained “when I write a book, I don’t often ask myself about the kind of technique I am using, or who or what motivates the characters. For a time, I simply write it out, carried along by a strong sense of story unfolding with no limits on what a story can or cannot be.”
She went on: “I never worry about why the story occurred to me at a particular time or why such a character came into existence. It is enough to know something of the plot in order to continue.” She was able to allow things to develop and as her writing style changed she just kept following her instincts.
Virginia and her husband, the late Arnold Adoff, would be so pleased about this latest honor.