Born in 1943, Marilynne Robinson is one of America’s greatest living writers. Her essays and novels distill the essence of rural America, religious faith and the nature of existence. Her first novel, Housekeeping, was published in 1980 to great acclaim, but it was another twenty-four years before her second novel appeared. She called it Gilead, the biblical name for a region in modern-day Jordan. The name was previously used by Canadian author Margaret Atwood in her dystopian book The Handmaid’s Tale (1985).
DIFFICULT QUESTIONS
Robinson’s novel is set in 1956 in the fictional town of Gilead in the central US state of Iowa, where the Reverend John Ames, a Congregationalist pastor, is nearing his death. He sets dow his family history for the benefit of his child. A book all about fathers and sons, Gilead is filled with love, wisdom and mischievous humour. As a pastor, Ames is used to difficult questions:
“I don’t know how many times people have asked me what death is like, sometimes when they were only an hour or two from finding out for themselves [...] I used to say it was like going home. We have no home in this world, I used to say, and then I’d walk back up the road to this old place and make myself a pot of coffee and a fried-egg sandwich and listen to the radio...”
“Non so quante volte la gente mi abbia chiesto com’è la morte, anche quando lo avrebbe scoperto da sé nel giro di un’ora o due. [...] Spiegavo sempre che era come tornare a casa. A questo mondo non abbiamo una casa, dicevo, e poi mi riavviavo lungo la strada verso questa vecchia villetta, mettevo su la caffettiera, mi preparavo un sandwich con l’uovo fritto e ascoltavo la radio [...]”
A MAN OF FAITH
Ames recalls travelling at the age of twelve with his father to find the grave of his grandfather. It is a biblical-style journey: despite the dust, poverty and hardship, he finds wonder and truth in everyday life that reaffirms that his future is as a man of faith:
“One great benefit of a religious vocation is that it helps you concentrate. It gives you a good basic sense of what is being asked of you and also what you might as well ignore. If I have any wisdom to offer, this is a fair part of it.”
“Un grande vantaggio della vocazione religiosa è che ti aiuta a concentrarti. Ti dà una buona capacità di base di riconoscere che cosa si pretende da te e anche che cosa puoi benissimo ignorare. Se ho un po’ di saggezza da offrire, è quasi tutta racchiusa in queste parole.”
WORDS OF WARNING
With a history of courage and conviction, the Ames family also has its conflicts. Everyone is shocked when John’s brother Edward returns from his studies in Europe as an atheist. And when Edward walks with John, he has words of warning for his brother:
“And on that walk he said to me, ‘John, you might as well know now what you’re sure to learn sometime. This is a backwater — you must be aware of that already. Leaving here is like waking from a trance.”
“E durante il tragitto lui mi disse: – John, tanto vale che ti dica adesso quello che sicuramente prima o poi scoprirai. Questo posto è una palude, devi già essertene reso conto. Andare via di qui è “come svegliarsi da una trance –.”
FALLING IN LOVE
But John Ames enjoys the trance-like state of small-town Gilead. One of his best friends here is the Reverend Robert Boughton, whose son, Jack, left town in disgrace but has recently returned. Should Ames worry about his wife’s friendship with Jack? As he battles his demons, Ames recalls meeting his wife:
“She began to come to the house when some of the other women did... And then she started coming by herself to tend the gardens. She made them very fine and prosperous. And one evening when I saw her there, out by the wonderful roses, I said, ‘How can I repay you for all this?’
And she said, ‘You ought to marry me.’ And I did.”
“Cominciò a venire a casa mia insieme ad alcune delle altre donne, per prendere le tende da lavare, o sbrinare la ghiacciaia. E poi cominciò a venire da sola per prendersi cura del giardino. Lo fece diventare bellissimo e rigoglioso. E una sera, quando la trovai là, vicino alle splendide rose, le chiesi: – Come potrò sdebitarmi di tutto questo?
E lei mi rispose: – Dovrebbe sposarmi –. E lo feci.”
OLD COURAGE
Gilead explores the full depth of American life: abolition and the Civil War, race, poverty, rural life and religion are considered with humility and humanity. As the book draws to a close, Ames writes to his son, “What can I leave you but the ruins of old courage”. Fortunately, some of Robinson’s characters reappear in subsequent novels: Home (2008), Lila (2014) and Jack (2020).