The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote
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What We're Reading:
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I went down the Gettysburg road with a
saddlebag full of Shelby Foote's Civil War Narrative, with the man
himself reading from his prose on a Watermark book-on-tape, and this was like
listening to the Bard. Foote, you might recall, appeared on that Ken Burns PBS
series about The Civil War, and he wrote the exquisite trilogy entitled, The
Civil War: A Narrative. The book-on-tape that you will find in the Watermark
rental section is called Gettysburg: Day Three, and it's excerpted from
the aforementioned narrative. Do not be concerned, however, that the reading
will seem somewhat out of context: this piece stands entirely on its own. I
might add that no map will be required because Foote writes lovely, vivid
sentences and the scene comes alive in your mind. You see the battlefield and
Pickett's doomed brigade marching across it; you see the smoke and hear the
cannon fire. What surprised me as much as anything were the moments of gallows
humor provided by "Old Peter" Longstreet and a Virginia infantryman retreating
across the field; these fellows survived the battle with their deadeye wit
intact. Finally, if James Joyce is the world champion of leitmotif as shown in
his long story, "The Dead," Shelby Foote makes a run at it here with his words
and themes echoing in your mind. The old bard got it right on this one.
Review by Todd Robins, August 23, 2006
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