Marilynne Robinson…If you haven’t read her, you should.

When I lived in Des Moines, the capitol of Iowa, I met some amazing people. Living in a small big town allowed contacts I would never have had in my hometown of Chicago. I shook hands and talked with Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, Gov. Tom Vilsack, and Sen. Tom Harkin to name a few. I also joined a series of talks where celebrated women shared their lives: Anne Lamott, Julie Andrews, Jane Fonda, Mia Farrow, Ann Richards…and at the Des Moines Symphony I heard the amazing Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman. And finally, when he was running for POTUS, I shook hands with Barack Obama.

But I never met Marilynne Robinson, a writer I admire, someone I would feel honored to sit and talk to. Robinson was a professor with the Iowa Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. If you lived in Iowa City or attended classes at the University, you surely would go to Prairie Lights book store to hear Robinson read. And I hope some of you have read her novels.

ROBINSON’S WORK

Her first best-selling novel, HOUSEKEEPING was published in 1980 and nominated for a Pulitzer. She didn’t publish another novel until GILEAD, in 2005, which also became a Pulitzer winner. Then, to our good fortune, Robinson fell in love with her creation, the Boughton family from GILEAD, and proceeded to write two sequels, HOME and LILA, published in 2008 and 2014, respectfully. But in 2020, Robinson still had something to say about these amazing characters, and thus she gave us JACK. Readers like me were thrilled.

I will never forget driving back to Des Moines after visiting my mother in Chicago. She was dying, slowly leaving us, living in a senior home. While listening to an audio version of Robinson’s HOME, I started to cry…the Minister and widower Robert Boughton is also dying, wants his son Jack to stay in Gilead.

“I can’t enjoy the thought of heaven like I should, leaving so much unattended to here. I was hoping I would be able to tell your mother that you had come home.” Jack sat pondering his father…finally he whispered, “I hope you will give her my love.”

BARACK OBAMA SITS DOWN WITH ROBINSON TO CHAT ABOUT DEMOCRACY  (at the time he was POTUS. I have changed those references for this reposting,)

Marilynne Robinson’s works touch on the deep religious roots of our culture, and like me, President Barack Obama had read all of her novels, asked to speak to her about the broader cultural forces shaping and affecting our democracy. Robinson and POTUS met in an Iowa architectural jewel, the legal library in the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines. After listening to their hour podcast, I attempted to capsule  the main points they covered.

Both concurred that the basis of democracy is that people assume well of other people. That allows us to work together, while fear and conspiracy theories fight the function of democracy. Democracy (demos: Greek for people) indicates that WE ARE ALL FROM EVERYWHERE, and it is inappropriate to have an “in-group.” Obama and Robinson agreed that democracy is the consequence of humanism–being human, having a love of God is always implied in this. LOVE THY NEIGHBOR should be part of how we function…and deciding not to arm ourselves constantly against the “imagined other” should always be in the forefront.

THIS IS A CHALLENGE. IT IS DIFFICULT! 

In discussing Robinson’s work, whose books feature a small Iowa town, Robinson and Mr. Obama agreed about the importance of life on the local level…that interacting with our neighbors through Little League, Girl Scouts, and trips to the ER can instill social virtue. We are being good to each other, caring for each other. And that increases knowledge of each other and fights against FEAR.

ROBINSON: “People who don’t like government should go live where there is none–no roads, education, post office, electricity.” Suspicion of government can be paralyzing and so can someone building up fear of THE OTHER. An emphasis on CONFLICT creates a pessimism and drowns out the positive voices in our culture. (We have seen that recently!)

Mr. Obama : And that, too, is a running strain in our democracy. That’s sort of in our DNA. We’re suspicious of government as a tool of oppression. And that skepticism is healthy, but it can also be paralyzing when we’re trying to do big things together.

READING NOVELS/LISTENING TO MUSIC 

Mr. Obama asked Robinson if as a people we are still reading novels, still distilling ideas through the lives of characters who can offer some hope or analysis. They talked about Iowa small towns, how Mr. Obama felt comfortable in 2004 when he began his presidential campaign, spending  a great deal of time in Iowa with various families. 

I’d go into these towns and everybody felt really familiar to me, because they reminded me of my grandparents and my mom and that attitude that you talk about. You saw all through the state—and I actually see it everywhere across the country.

Robinson concurs, because she has traveled all through Iowa and set her novels in the state. She sees it as a symbol of America and its people and their struggles, and how religion and day to day living can bring people closer together…yet challenge their beliefs at the same time.

They discussed HAMILTON, the brilliant Broadway musical, seeing it as a symbol of the vibrancy of American democracy. The show and its song lyrics emphasize that our forefathers were smart, but also flawed. Just as they are today. Both agreed that HAMILTON is an excellent way to reach young people, teach them history.

Mr. Obama stated that in many ways America is ahistorical. He said: That’s one of our strengths—we forget things. You go to other countries, they’re still having arguments from four hundred years ago, and with serious consequences…They’re bloody arguments. In the Middle East right now, you’ve got arguments dating back to the seventh century that are live today. And we tend to forget that stuff. We don’t sometimes even remember what happened two weeks ago!

EDUCATION AND QUARTERLY EARNINGS  

The two discussed the importance of education, agreeing that all of society needs to support education, though often does not. Unfortunately success is defined not by how much you read and learn, but by quarterly earnings. Robinson then hopes that folks will focus on what makes them feel optimistic. Often people will answer…a social gift that supports them. Robinson’s solution to getting there: … if we could all just turn off media for a week, I think we would come out the other side of it with a different anthropology in effect. I wish we could have a normal politics where I disagree with people, they present their case, we take a vote, and if I lose I say, yes, that’s democracy, I’m on the losing side of a meaningful vote. 

Which of course is the right answer, though we are living in a time when some people would not agree. THANKS FOR READING. 

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