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"A virtuosic display of wit, humor, and surreal beauty. Like the erasures of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Tree of Codes and Yedda Morrison’s Darkness, Emily Anderson’s partially masticated reimaginings of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series gets inside the logic of its source text. With uncanny insight, Little reveals what had always been simmering just beneath these novels’ familiar surfaces. (Mostly doughnuts and motherbutter.)" —Jesse Miller, Reviews Editor, Full StopThere’s an icloud casting shadows over Middle America but by now “the prairie's over.” Pa is the strapping advent of mono-crops, debt crisis and consumption. Ma is bone marrow and fresh eggs, embodied westward expansion. Laura is in the bank though “the bank had scalped her.” (In)dian is what is entered (in)to, “fair profit, fair skin.” Mary? Mary is “quite in.” And “there are so many ways of seeing things and so many ways of saying ‘Sioux.’”Apple cheeked readers who curled up with Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books as children and cheered the little family and their epic industriousness, please be forewarned. Anderson’s devilish re-writing exhumes and animates a series of haunting and sometimes disturbingly funny sub-narratives. Delving deep into the American psyche, Little will leave you wondering how you missed the “Certificate to Missouri” clutched in your complicit little hand. What else have you squandered? Who else have you “loved?”—Yedda Morrison (Author of Darkness, Crop, and Girl Scout Nation)"I can't remember the last time I read something so familiar and unsettling - like meeting someone you love after they come back from a long journey wearing differently-colored eyes. Like if H.P. Lovecraft had had a hand in writing The Book of Common Prayer. It's playful, and frightening, and truer, somehow, than the original."—Mallory Ortberg, Author of Text from Jane EyreCome for the Michael Landon Flip Book; stay for the richly rewoven story that excavates hidden moments in Little House on the Prairie and pays playful homage to fan favorites like prairie bitch Nellie Oleson. Little is a new classic, skillfully foraging Laura Ingalls Wilder's much-loved series to create an (ir)reverent rereading that pioneers the new frontier of Little House on the Prairie in the 21st-century.—Alison Fraser, Author of AnimaliaEmily Anderson’s writing has appeared recently in Harper’s, Conjunctions, and Fence. She often collaborates with visual artists; video work created with Jen Morris has been screened in Vermont, Philadelphia, and Spain. She holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently a PhD candidate in English at the University at Buffalo. Book Information:· Paperback: 158 pages · Binding: Perfect-Bound · Publisher: BlazeVOX [books]  · ISBN: 978-1-60964-132-0$16

Transcript of Little- Novels by Emily Anderson Book Preview

LITTLE:

NOVELS BY EMILY ANDERSON

B L A Z E V O X [ B O O K S ] Buffalo, New York
Little: Novels by Emily Anderson Copyright 2015 Published by BlazeVOX [books] All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the publishers written permission, except for brief quotations in reviews. Printed in the United States of America Interior design and typesetting by Geoffrey Gatza Cover Art by Abbey Scheckter First Edition ISBN: 978-1-60964-132-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015930368 BlazeVOX [books] 131 Euclid Ave Kenmore, NY 14217 [email protected]

publisher of weird little books BlazeVOX [ books ] blazevox.org

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Preface

These little novels have been extracted from Laura Ingalls Wilders Little House books. I erased paragraphs, sentences, words and (occasionally) individual letters from each of Wilders novels to create an alternate series. Here and there Ive added an s or an and, but I largely refrained from adding letters and words, with the exception of footnotes. The text appears in the order of the original books. Erasure (or writing the negative space of the story) reveals new aspects of a text and allows familiar narratives to resonate differently. Part parody, part homage, I see my process as parallel to that of Wilders pioneer characters: like Ma and Pa, I appropriate the resources I findin my case, words in a given order; in theirs, sod, trees, stones, waterto reshape a landscape. Writing this book allowed me to spend time reveling in the imaginative possibilities Wilders delightful and frequently troubling books propose. Geoffrey Gatza observed that Garth Williams iconic illustrations of Wilders novels merited a visual response. While I collaborated with Wilders text, I invited artists to work with Little House and/or my writing and contribute images. The diversity of their responses to these narratives helps me to see this projectand the books Ive loved since childhoodin new ways. Whether their contributions took the form of illustration or interruption, each artist approached
this project differently. Michael Robinson generously contributed a still from his extraordinary Hold Me Now (standard definition video, 2008), while Nathan Anderson, Brad Farwell, Brieanne Hauger, Adam Martin, Jen Morris, Abbey Scheckter, and Anne Straarup created new work. I especially want to thank Brieanne Hauger, whose literary and visual talents and ongoing support helped me ford this river.
List of Illustrations

Table of Contents . . . Found marginalia Little Woods . . . Found marginalia Little Woods Drawings . . . Nathan Anderson Farm . . . Adam Martin Our Air . . . Brieanne Hauger On Banks . . . Brad Farwell Silver . . . Anne Straarup Long . . . Brieanne Hauger Michael Landon Laughs . . . Brieanne Hauger Hold Me Now . . . Michael Robinson Years & Years . . . Jen Morris Cover . . . Abbey Scheckter
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LITTLE
Little Woods
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Chapter 1. Little Woods He sprinkled salt. Never interrupt. Chapter 2. Winter and Winter Up on its legs, her little cup. Chapter 3. Rifle Dark ravines, calling and looking.
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Chapter 4. Christmas The ravine was asleep beautifully under the blankets.

At the same momentbits of silk.
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Chapter 5. Sun The boys walked slowly, tanned.
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Chapter 6. Two Bears

(She wasnt afraid).
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Chapter 7. Snow The sap boils. The sap has boiled at last. Keep the sap boiling.

Chapter 8. Dance He blew his bugle & they braided snow.
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Chapter 9. Town Little leaf cups fastened across the rabbits. Chapter 10. Time The empty pail, jumping with excitement.

Chapter 11. Harvest. A shock. Yellow jackets?
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Chapter 12. Wonderful

Berries, purple-topped turnips and bubbles for supper.
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Chapter 13. Deer He sprinkled salt. He took his gun, her little chair. The sky climbed down out of the tree.