Book Review: Florida by Lauren Groff

Florida

Author: Lauren Groff

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Date of Publication: June 5, 2018

Pages: 288 (Hardcover Edition)

    This is the second collection of short stories for this author (she published Delicate Edible Birds in 2009).  She also has published three novels.  This outstanding collection was published in 2018 and won the Story Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award, Kirkus Prized and Southern Book Prize.  The author now lives in Gainesville and Florida paints a vivid and somewhat unflattering picture of her home state.  This is a "warts and all" view of the Sunshine State.

     There are eleven gripping stories here, all dealing with aspects of contemporary life.  There are treatments of homelessness, caring for aging parents, strained marriages, work-life imbalance and single parenting.  There is also an undercurrent in several stories of overpopulation and encroachment of development on natural territories   All of the stories are told with an economy of words but with striking description.

In Ghosts and Empties a young mother walks nightly in her new neighborhood after putting her children to bed:  "On my nighttime walks, the neighbors' lives reveal themselves, the lit windows domestic aquariums."

In "Flower Hunters" a woman on vacation in a remote cabin with two small children (while her husband is at home working) endures a violent summer storm: "The rain knocks at the metal roof, and she imagines it licking away at the limestone under her house, the way her children lick away at Everlasting Gobstoppers, which they are not allowed, but which she still somehow finds in sticky rainbow pools in their sock drawers."

In "Yport" the author describes the climate in her home state: "Florida in the summer is a slow hot drowning."  Later, the main character who is doing research on a book about Guy de Maupassant describes the town of Yport, France : "Look!  she tells them, gesturing up the harbor at a little cluster of nineteenth-century houses on the other side of the channel, which huddle together, distrustful of the twenty-first century industry around them."

   In summary, this is an outstanding collection of stories, exquisitely written with evocative descriptions.  Florida features many contemporary social issues woven into the fabric of entertaining and gripping stories.

The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida

The Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida

     The Dali Museum was opened in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1982.  The museum houses the collection donated by A. Reynolds and Eleanor R. Morse.  The Morses were from Cleveland and began collecting Dali in the 1940s.   They became good friends with the artist over the years and their home was filled with 96 of his works.  How this collection came to be donated to the people of Florida is an interesting story in and of its self. The original museum was an old warehouse and was replaced by the current magnificent structure on the waterfront in St. Petersburg in January, 2011.  The building, featuring a central tall, thin spiral staircase, was designed by architect Yann Weymouth and incorporates many of the artist’s themes.  The entrance fee to the museum includes a self-guided tour with an MP3 player and headphones and there are docent-led guided tours once an hour.  Both of these resources add greatly to the experience of the art.

     The paintings in the collection represent all periods of Dali’s long and varied career, including some from his early teen years.   You walk through the galleries in sequence.  First, there is an entrance gallery displaying the Morse’s first in their collection:  “Daddy Longlegs of the Evening –Hope!” which was painted in 1940.  Leaving the Entrance Gallery, you move through the Early Works including an eerie self-portrait from 1921 and many depictions of Cadaques, Spain which was a favorite boyhood spot.  His odd relations with his family become themes in many of his works.  He had an older brother (also named Salvador) who died in infancy and the artist’s own identity was interwoven with that of his deceased brother.  The painting “Portrait of My Dead Brother” was painted in 1964 and is a blend of pink and red dots which form a male image – an amalgamation of his own and his brother’s visage.  This painting is included in the gallery of what Dali called “anti-art” and showed his interest in and knowledge of pixels and how the human eye interprets what it sees.  One of the most amazing paintings in this section is “Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea” which on close viewing is a detailed portrait of his nude wife gazing out of a window.  When the viewer stands back greater than twenty meters, the painting becomes a portrait of Abraham Lincoln!

(Prints in the Gift Shop - photos were not allowed in the Gallery)

     Dali was also very interested in science and physics and incorporated dimensions of science and mathematics into his paintings.  One painting of many objects in motion reflected his understanding of time and relativity.

     The surrealist gallery contains the paintings for which Dali is most remembered and recognized.  Interestingly, although he lived from 1904 through 1989, he painted in this style only during the 1930s.  Many of the paintings in this section could hold your attention for hours: “Enchanted Beach with Three Fluid Graces” and “Archeological Reminiscence of Millet’s ‘Angelus’” to name two.  In the latter, there is a miniature depiction of young Salvador and his father holding hands, representing when the two got along.  Dali’s father apparently never approved of his career or work and this paternal disapproval is another theme which recurs in Dali’s work.

     Finally, you enter the Mature Works section which contains several of his Grand Masterpieces – works of gigantic scale and detail which also contain rich symbolism and optical illusions.  “The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus” includes yet another portrait of his wife Gala and also a self-portrait.  This painting also represents Dali’s own discovery of America, where he lived during the second world  war.

“The Ecumenical Council” is another huge and detailed work created to celebrate the coronation of Pope John XXIII.  Here he depicts the Holy Trinity and sees the event as occurring somewhere between heaven and earth.  It is in this painting that Dali used an octopus to spread paint in one area and then painted in details to finish his vision.

     This art collection is incredible and makes one appreciate the artist for the genius he was rather than just an eccentric as he has been portrayed.  He was indeed a bit odd, but his knowledge and understanding of science, psychology (he was also a student of Freud, many of whose ideas show up in his paintings as well), mathematics and physics are all incorporated into his works.

     The building itself is magnificent and worthy of the collection it holds.  The central spiral staircase is a marvel and the giant domes on one end enable the visitor to view the St. Petersburg waterfront in a totally different perspective.  The outdoor gardens, including a labyrinth further illustrate Dali’s understanding of mathematics and physics in nature.

     

     This is an outstanding exhibit in a fantastic building.  I would recommend visiting to anyone who may be in the Tampa-St.Petersburg area.

It's a Long, Long Way to Tallahassee

  We planned this trip to Tallahassee about six weeks ago to see our son and daughter-in-law's new home.  We were surprised at the great flight connections from Lynchburg through Charlotte on USAir.  Leave Lynchburg at 2, arrive in Florida by 7.  Not bad.  We'd probably get there in time for a late dinner.

  The flight from Lynchburg was uneventful - it even left on time.  We arrived in Charlotte with a planned two hour layover.  We found our gate and then went and had some delicious fish and chips (note sarcasm) and returned to our gate.  We apprehensively watched the clouds roll in as the clock approached our boarding time. We boarded the plane quickly and the plane moved out on to the tarmac.   The plane stopped and we realized that the wind had picked up and was gently rocking the plane.  The pilot came on and announced: "We're going to pull over for a few minutes and let this weather blow through.  It's a small storm and we should be moving again in a few minutes."  Okay, not so bad.  Then the pilot came back on and said to conserve fuel they were going to shut down the engines.  Hmmm.   As the engines shut down we heard a loud "Clunk".  Funny sound for engines to make.  After a few minutes, some emergency vehicles approached our plane:

   The pilot then announced that a truck had struck our airplane!  They were going to have to take the plane back to the gate and assess the damage.  Swell.  He then came out of the cockpit, opened the plane door (isn't that illegal?) and looked towards the wing.  He retreated to the cockpit and announced "A truck has hit the wing and the damage is significant.  We will have to evacuate the plane since we can't move it."  Super fantastic.  The "small weather event" then turned into a full fledged rockin'-sockin' thunderstorm and they couldn't evacuate the plane for safety reasons.  The steward, a gregarious fellow, told us there was so much Rebar in the tarmac that lightning strikes on the tarmac are problematic.  Even better!!
   They finally let us off the plane:

  Here's what actually happened:  An unsecured luggage cart was blown down the tarmac by the wind and it struck our plane where the left wing attaches to the fuselage of the plane.  I need my second son, the statistician, to figure out the odds of that happening.

   They returned us to the terminal by bus, found another plane and we finally departed Charlotte at about 10 PM.  We arrived safely but exhausted, found our Springhill Suites and collapsed.  This morning we were telling the story at the breakfast area in the hotel and people came over, shaking their heads and asking "What did you say happened?"

    So there you have it, the story of The Rogue Luggage Cart.  Stay tuned for more adventures from Tallahassee