Encounter With an Angry God by Carobeth Laird
A while ago (recorded here I believe) I wrote about Tailholt Tales by Frank Latta. He references (and has a forward by) a John P Harrington. There was something fascinating about this guy so I looked him up and found a biography by his wife of a few years Carobeth Laird, called Encounter with an Angry God. Something about his single-minded devotion to his work of recording and capturing the quickly disappearing languages of the Native Americans was fascinating to me.
I tracked down her book at the library and I thought it might be a bitter memoir about how she was wronged and how she needed to set the record straight about the dude. Instead, I discovered a sweet, honest, forward-thinking, brilliant, kindred spirit kind of soulful person who wrote artfully, candidly, authentically, and with the purpose of conveying the uniqueness of her experience - the character of Harrington and their work together.
Harrington was a complex but entirely utilitarian person who had dedicated his life to preserving and recording the languages of the western tribes (particularly Californians.) I think they were married for about 7 years and this was around the time of WWI. He basically saw in her the perfect co-pilot and co-researcher and their marriage was completely unorthodox in that he seemed to exempt himself from any need to protect, provide, or nurture her in any way. She accepted this for a time as she was swept away by his obvious brilliance and the fascination of the work. During this time her parents cared for her daughter and their one daughter they had together which Harrington never invested thought, time, or money in, but saw as an obstacle to his mission. (until she was an adult then they forged a kind of relationship.)
He eventually thought she merited her own independent assignments and he sent her off to New Mexico and then to Parker, Arizona. While in Parker, she had a love at first sight encounter with an indigenous man named George Laird, a member of the Chemehuevi tribe, although his father was of European and Cherokee ancestry.
They became friends and he became her primary "informant" as they called natives who participated in their research by interpreting words, supplying cultural information, and pronunciation guides etc. George became devoted to her almost instantly even though he was about 24 years older than she (she was about 24 when they met.) He was a jack of all trades, - man of wisdom, humor, solicitous of her care (that would have been appealing!), and one who appreciated nature, poetry, mysticism, and learning.
George accompanied her back to Washington DC to meet Harrington and the three lived together for some months (awkward!) Harrington didn't seem to perceive that the other two were smitten with one another - he just seemed eager to find out what George (super willing informant) would be willing to share about his language etc. Although Harrington wasn't completely clueless. She remembers (this book was written when she was like 80 or something - so well after the facts) that he seemed uneasy but perhaps was unable to access the emotional intelligence part of his being to communicate or perceive what was happening.
Anyway, she and George manage to buy a car and take off on an epic road trip west. (cars were in their early stages of development y'all.) Harrington is left to his research. Eventually, she and George married and started a little homestead outside of San Diego where they raised 5 more children.
The focus of her book is on her life with Harrington and the idiosyncrasies that marked his character and their adventures. But her romance and the sweetness of her life with George Laird definitely are a big part of the story.
She also later published a book called the Chemeheuvis which I checked out and skimmed through. It is full of details about that people group - their language, customs, social organization, and mythology. It's amazing. It's based on all the recordings she was given by her husband George Laird prior to his death.
This is one gal I would have loved to meet - and maybe I will!
No comments:
Post a Comment