Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Winter 2011
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly 31:1 (Winter 2011).
Abstract
The Great Plains often are dismissed as ho-hum fly-over country lacking in significance or appeal. But in the skillfully written narrative of Seldom Seen, Patrick Dobson describes how he finds the Plains a source of emotional sustenance and, ultimately, rejuvenation. Seldom Seen is the story of the author's trek, largely by foot, from Kansas City, Missouri, to Helena, Montana. Along the way Dobson-- a 32-year old blue-collar worker seeking relief from a variety of intense personal frustrations-meets a long string of open-hearted if often dirt-poor souls and comes to find hope in what he'd largely considered a "mean and unforgiving world."
Seldom Seen stands as a heartfelt if idiosyncratic expression of affection for the Plains region. But the book is above all an exploration of self. At times it risks losing the reader by ladling out so many heavy dollops of Dobson's angst. Still, the author displays a keen literary sense, and the vignettes he presents of a wide variety of Plains locales are often vivid. Dobson ably describes significant cultural tangents such as a young Kansan's intense love of farming-emblematic of small farmers' devotion to agriculture even in the face of enormous challenges-as well as Native American bemusement at whites' mistaken stereotypes and fears.
Comments
Copyright © 2011 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska.