This is my first novel by Wallace Stegner , and
certainly not the last .What does
crossing to safety mean? We have life- long friendships and
relationships which keep changing over time .Then a
stage comes when we get reconciled and achieve our
safety in those friendships and
relationships , accepting and loving our
friends , spouses as also accepting ourselves. This stage one has to cross into
through much soul searching .This novel , published in 1987 ,was written
by Wallace Stegner when he was 78 year old. He has also described in it the insecurities of old age , increasing
fragility of body as also the
enduring love in marriage. “We all hoped in whatever way our capacities
permitted . .. . . to leave a mark on
the world..Instead , the world has
left marks on us. We got older.Life
chastened us so that now we lie
waiting to die”. But Stegner
makes survival a grace , rather than a necessity.
Stegner emphasises
the role of luck in life: ’’Talent lies around us like kindling waiting for a match, but some
people , just as gifted as others , are less lucky. Fate never drops a match on
them”. And the role of plans in our life: ’’You can plan all you want to .You
can lie in your morning bed and
fill whole note books with schemes and
intentions .But within a single afternoon,
within hours or minutes, every thing you plan and everything you fought to make yourself,
can be undone as a slug is undone when
salt is poured on him. And right up to the moment when you find yourself
dissolving into foam, you can still believe you are doing fine”. So, you need
not set specific goals in life.
The novel has four
characters -Larry , his wife Sally , Sid and his wife Charity. The story is
narrated by Larry Morgan .Charity starts the friendship between families , which grows into life long relationship among the
two couples. The couples meet during the Depression years in Madison ,
Wisconsin.They have differences in their upbringing , social and financial
condition but their friendship survives
all these differences.Over the time , Larry becomes successful writer. Sally gets afflicted by Polio. Sid Lang is fired from the post at Madison , with the result that he and Charity are forced to stay , along with children at
their family’s estate at Vermount.
Charity has a nature of controlling her husband Sid
as also every one around her. At times , this takes a dangerous and darkening aspect. She often
bullies Sid aggressively. Charity is
novel’s fulcrum and creates strain in the friendship also. She knows that she
is dying of cancer , but still , she tries to controls the condition of her
death.
Cossing to Safety
seeps into you slowly , as you keep reading .The language is superb and the
book is full of insights. Long after you have read the novel , its story reverberates in your mind.I
recommend you to read this book.
