![]() There he was, paddling close to shore in his beloved Old Town canoe, wearing a porkpie hat and aviator sunglasses, his long-sleeved oxford shirt unbuttoned, revealing his bare, aged torso. On a wall near a taxidermied moose head (the closest I've come to seeing this animal in my more than 20 years of travels to Maine), I came across another elusive species: an unmarked photograph of E.B. The front door led to the dining room, and I tried not to interrupt diners who were finishing dessert, cranberry gingerbread buckle. The multigabled, low-slung farmhouse was splashed white with red roof and shutters. Traditional Maine camps were uninsulated, bare-bones affairs with one or two bedrooms. I pulled up to the main house at Bear Spring Camps, which sits on a sloping ridge, overseeing North Bay and the camps. White: I didn't just want to find the snapshots of landmarks and landscape that inspired White's artistic vision. This was what I was after in searching for E.B. For decades, this photograph of White at work, oxford shirt sleeves rolled up, has served as a consecrated reminder to me of the holy trinity required for good writing and good living: bare forearms, bare floors, simple truth. In characteristic fashion, he sidesteps the limelight, ceding the camera's focal point to a large, open window, filled with pine trees and salt water - the essence of what White considered real artistry. He writes at a sharp-edged, wooden table while sitting on an equally stiff, angular bench (which looks more like a pew, really). ![]() The image shows White, in his clean, spartan boathouse overlooking Blue Hill Bay's Allen Cove, pecking away at his Underwood typewriter. "What's up with the picsha on your seat?" he asked in his clipped Maine accent. As I was getting out of my car, the guy parked next to me peered in my passenger window. On the way I stopped at a convenience store that looked like an old garage.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |