The Power of Personalization

While Little Chapel on the River and World's End are wildly different books - one a non-fiction account of a journalist's transplant from post 9-11 Manhattan to small-town Garrison, the other an epic of historical fiction spanning 300 years in the Hudson valley - both Gwendolyn Bounds and T.C. Boyle add the critical element of the personal to their works. Without discounting Bernstein's extensive research in Wedding of the Waters, Bernstein severed himself entirely from his subject to give an objective, informative, and, in my opinion, dry history of the Erie Canal. Comparatively, Shorto's Island in the Center of the World was much more than a chronicle of the early Hudson settlers, as Shorto clarifies in his introduction. His fascination with the origins of Manhattan stemmed from a personal curiosity, and his lively writing reflected the enthusiasm of his research.
Likewise, Boyle and Bounds both have personal ties to the Hudson area. Boyle was raised in Peekskill, which he fictionalizes as Peterskill in World's End. Bounds' investment in Garrison is the basis and bulk of Little Chapel. In World's End, Boyle expands his available audience by fictionalizing history - whether the account of the van Brunts, van Warts, and Crane family is historically true, or even accurate, is beside the point. Personally, I felt Boyle's story was far more educational than any article, text book, or primary source could be. By personalizing the patroons and natives of the Hudson Valley, Boyle manages to simultaneously entertain and educate - without quoting Rousseau directly, he still echoes the inherent evil of private property, as later advocated by Marx. Likewise, without detailing the specifics of the governmental processes of the time, he criticizes their irrationality. Boyle's use of parallel timeframes is not only the mark of masterful story-telling (he received his MFA from the Iowa Workshop, the most prestigious Creative Writing program in America - more bluntly, he definitely deserves all his accolades, and I'm pretty jealous of his literary success), but allows subtle allusions about the inherent traits of Hudson Valley inhabitant, and of people themselves. Walter's death is a direct echo of Harmanus's, perhaps suggesting the inescapable trait of greed in humans. Walter's promiscuity also shadows Joanna's and Mardi's - regardless of their class, race, etc, these characters suffer the same need to be unfaithful. I wonder if Truman Van Brunt can be read as a self-portrait of Boyle himself, solely through the mutual mark of obsession - Truman's magnum opus as the impetus for his abandoning Walter seems anti-climactic, or at least Walter thinks so, but I wonder if Truman is perfectly rational to Boyle, since his own magnum opus probably required as much effort. Whether it had similar repercussions, I don't know.
Boyle subtly personalizes history; Bounds' personal account in Chapel overwhelms the economics she may have been trying to address. There were a few dozen instances in Little Chapel on the River where I wondered what Bounds was aiming for - the inclusion of the "bonus puppy" still seems like unnecessary sentimental detail - and, ironically, I found the organization in Bounds' book much more aggravating and confusing than World's End. Though the book has been touted for its "charm," I felt the overall message of the book could have been a little more assertive. Though I have scant knowledge of economics, Chapel seemed like it could have been a good case study of the dying mom-and-pop establishments of small-town America and the need to preserve them. The book is its own message, though - Chapel serves as the best form of publicity for Guinan's, and I'm sure the bar has tripled its business since publication. (According to gwendolynbounds.com, the only recent piece of news concerning Guinan's is the death of LouLou the dog, so presumably the business hasn't drowned yet.) The italicized portions at the end of the chapters added little to the book, and I suspect the publisher, or Bounds herself, was rushed to print the book (though it came out in 2005) to capitalize on the "post 9-11" label. I found Bounds' details of September 11th to be the strongest part of the book. Though the book is enjoyable, the cynic in me wonders what her real mission was in writing.