Remembering: A Novel by Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry. Remembering: A Novel. North Point Press, San Francisco, 1988. 

Andy Catlett is one of the regular members of the Port William membership. He appears numerous times in Berry's fiction.  

As an adult Andy Catlett lost his right hand in a farming accident.  He is right handed.  He grieves the loss of his hand as well as the fact that others have to do his farm work for him.  And, he has the indignity of having to learn to write and do everything else with his left hand.  It is a slow, agonizing, re-training process.  

During his recuperation, Andy is angry with himself and everyone else.  He is angry for his accident that ruined his ability to work as he once did. And, he takes his anger out on those closest to him.  

When this story starts Andy is far from KY because he was invited to speak at an agricultural conference in San Francisco.  He is the lone presenter who is not convinced that big is better and that modern agriculture's use of chemicals and big equipment is good for everyone.  His anger at his life situation gets the better of him as he tries to defend his community's way of farming.  During his presentation he tells a powerful story about the injustice of contemporary agriculture. 

Afterwards, Andy is so upset that he can't sleep and in the early morning hours he walks about San Francisco. All through his wandering in the city and along the ocean front, he continues to remember bits and pieces of his life. How he met his wife, how he was raised as a boy on a farm, how he came to understand that the big agricultural way of food production was ruining the land and everyone's future.  His remembrances continue on his journey home.

Wendell Berry's critique of agriculture and the disconnection of modern life comes through loud and clear in Andy's thinking and conversations.  I think these should be listened to. However, I think the most powerful moments in the novel are when he remembers who he truly is.  He is a valuable part of a community. He is known and loved.  Berry's description of Andy's  community is a secular version of the communion of saints.  I was nearly moved to tears several times.  

Andy's dear wife told him during one of their arguments that he had to forgive himself.  Eventually, he did forgive himself because of the example and the love of his community, present and remembered.  They gave him strength to move forward.  

A touching and beautiful story. 

I read this book because I saw the article by Joseph Wiebe on https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2022/11/remembering-revisited/ 

Wiebe is in San Francisco and retraces  Andy's fictional wandering through San Francisco.  That's a good article too.