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First Edition (April 1987)
6" x 9"
208 pages
Photos by Jan Boles
Published by OSU Press

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$25.00 (+ $5 s/h)
HARDBACK
ISBN: 0-87071-352-3

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$16.00 (+ $3 s/h)
PAPERBACK
ISBN: 0-87071-353-1

MARKING THE MAGIC CIRCLE:
An Intimate Geography
Poetry, Fiction, Essays, and Photographs

1988 Oregon Book Award
Best 100 Oregon Books 1800-2000

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George Venn, in this collection of poetry, fiction, Chinese translations, and essays both personal and literary, challenges his readers to root themselves in the strength of home, rather than looking for direction to far away intellectual and political centers. His writing resonates with the reality of life in the Northwest -- the spiritual richness of a life lived in harmony with the requirements of place, and the problems of unemployment and poverty faced by so many in the region. In his literary essays Venn explores the rich variety of the Northwest’s literary heritage, and undertakes to convince those who live in the region of the value and authenticity of this heritage. Venn’s blend of creativity and scholarship is unique in the Northwest, enriching both his scholarship with a poet’s vision and his poetry and fiction with a deep understanding of their context and roots in the region’s literature.

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PRE-PUBLICATION REVIEWS

A "declaration of identity and territory as personal as a journal….
It is rich, various…striking."
          —Wallace Stegner

• • •

"This book speaks with an authentic voice, a placed voice…
which makes it rare and useful."
          —Thomas J. Lyon, Editor, Western American Literature

• • •

"George Venn engages his native region with passion and clarity…"
          —William Kittredge, University of Montana

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

A Note To the Reader     viiii
Acknowledgments     x

I.
PHOTO: Price Valley, Idaho, 1982     1
Marking the Magic Circle     2
Venn Confesses an Early Crime     21
The First Day of Summer     22
A Gallon of Honey in Glass     35

II.
PHOTO: Dandelion, Caldwell, Idaho, 1966     37
The Trail to School     38
A Note for Primary Art     40
Poem Against the First Grade     44
The Office     46
Fourteen Modes of Local Discourse
          in the Composing Process     48

III.
PHOTO: Sheep Shearing, Adecoa Ranch,
          Canyon County, Idaho, 1976     53
Making Porridge     54
You Want to Go to Town?     57
Out in the County     66
Builds Strong Bodies Twelve Ways     68
Conjuring a Basque Ghost     80

IV.
PHOTO: Jordan Craters, Malheur County, Oregon, 1985     83
Continuity in Northwest Literature     84
Report from East of the Mountains     110
Coyote Teaches Jesus a New Word     112
Fence Post Talks     114

V.
PHOTO: Tree Borer Chambers, Idaho, 1986     115
Cactus     116
Hail     118
Opening in the Wall     120
Fish Fossil     130
The Lost Years     134

VI.
PHOTO: Writing on the Wall, Arco, Idaho, 1986     139
Sooner or Later, Something’s Got to—     140
Blue Hour: Grandview Cemetery     154
Nard Jones, Weston, and Oregon Detour     156
Writing on the Hill     176

VII.
PHOTO: Barn, Larsen Homestead, Rock Creek, Idaho, 1976     179
Directions for Visitors     180
Barn     182
Forgive Us…     192
Sleeping Upstairs     194