Writing with Fields of Light

As the semester has progressed, I am becoming increasingly aware of the complexity of the world and the toll these various forms of oppression has made upon entire cultures, races and countries. I had always considered my self fairly knowledgeable on world events, especially with the various world wars and the American Civil War. I could recite dates and numbers and even, in some cases, units and individuals involved in the events.

I remember reading Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels when I was in my teens and feeling for the first time that I understood some of the psychological motivations and the cost of going to war for some of these men and their families. I remember also walking Little Round Top at Gettysburg and seeing the woods where the 20th Maine Volunteer Regiment led by Lt. Col. Joshua Chamberlain held off the 15th Confederate Regiment and 47th Alabama Regiment all day on July 2, 1863.

The Confederates were attempting to flank the Union line at Gettysburg, and some historians speculate that had the 20th Maine failed, the course of the war would have been altered, in addition to jeopardizing a victory at the sleepy Pennsylvania junction.

Not too many years later, the movie Gettysburg was released and the first half (one of only two movies I've seen in my life with an intermission due to length) ended with the battle at Little Round Top. The entire audience was silent when the screen went blank after the harrowing stand. There were tears in many of the viewer's eyes and the stillness was extraordinary. The feeling lasting more than a full minute before the effect seemed to lift enough that people went out to use restrooms or stretch their legs. Even then, the patrons were hushed and seemed in awe of this moment in history come alive.

This combination of reading personal accounts combined with factual knowledge and the visceral experience of a movie has stayed with me my entire life. This semester seems to consist, more and more, of marrying this dry knowledge of events with the personal account. History lives in the words of the memoirs we've been reading. The true value of the idea of being witness is that humans seem to need a way to connect and understand the actual impact of these horrible events. The terror of one family is felt and can be wed to the data of the times.

That being said, the darkness of the 20th Century and it's toll on humanity is still almost incomprehensible. I think it would be easy to continue with memoir after memoir and find oneself almost overwhelmed with these stories. That's why Fields of Light came almost as balm for the soul. Hurka's lyrical writing and undercurrent of optimism were sorely needed and welcome. His account of his and his family's journey to find some space for freedom and triumph and perseverance was beautiful and very human.

The way Hurka incorporated the perspectives of his family directly into the text as internalized movements was also very interesting from a writing perspective. The construction is something I'm looking forward to discussing this evening.