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History book club to discuss Laura Ingalls Wilder
PIERRE, S.D. -- One of South Dakota’s most beloved and well-known writers will be the subject of the October meeting of the History and Heritage Book Club.
Author Pamela Smith Hill will join the book club by telephone when members discuss Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer’s Life.
The discussion begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. Everyone is welcome to attend.
“We are fortunate to have Pamela Smith Hill, a gifted writer, sharing her insights into another gifted writer, Laura Ingalls Wilder,” said Patricia Miller, president of the South Dakota Heritage Fund.
The Heritage Fund is the nonprofit fundraising partner of the South Dakota Heritage Fund and is a sponsor of the History and Heritage Book Club, along with the South Dakota State Historical Society Press.
Geographically, Smith Hill has lived Wilder’s life in reverse. Smith Hill grew up in Missouri, near Wilder’s farm. She moved to South Dakota and currently resides in a place where Pa Ingalls always wanted to be – Oregon.
While living in South Dakota and working for the South Dakota Department of Tourism, Smith Hill often wrote about Wilder. Smith Hill was asked to write about Wilder by Nancy Tystad Koupal, director of the SDSHSP. Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer’s Life is the first book in SDSHSP’s South Dakota Biography Series, which highlights some of the state’s most famous residents.
“What I found to be interesting was not just the relationship between Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, but in Laura’s development as a writer,” Smith Hill said.
It is a myth that Wilder was an undiscovered writer who made it big when she was in her 60s, Smith Hill said. In reality, Wilder was an experienced journalist when she began writing fiction.
“What I hoped to accomplish in writing the book was to fill in the gaps about Wilder’s writing career,” Smith Hill said. “Previous biographies didn’t place her as a working writer. I was also interested in how Wilder adapted the purposes of her life for the purposes of fiction. I wanted to pursue the facts of her life and fiction.”
There are many differences between Wilder’s actual life and the fictional Laura’s life. In her books, for example, Wilder omits the birth of her brother, who died living in Iowa, and she changes some events that occurred in Walnut Grove, Minn., and by SilverLake.
“Life and fiction are two different things. She knew that as a novelist she had to give her story more drama, more immediacy,” Smith Hill said. “That makes her an artist.”
People should continue to respect Wilder as a gifted writer who in many ways transformed children’s literature in the 20th century, Wilder’s biographer said.
Wilder legitimized series books and helped create literature for young adults.
As the “Little House” books progressed, Lane believed that the fictional Laura was outgrowing her readership. Lane wanted Wilder to focus the stories on Laura’s younger sister Carrie rather than Laura, Smith Hill said.
“Wilder said no. She had the vision readers would group up and want to read about Laura growing up,” Smith Hill said. “She pioneered the young adult category and legitimized it.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer’s Life is available at the Heritage Store at the Cultural Heritage Center and Heritage Store at the Capitol, as well as other locations. A discount is given at either store to book club members and South Dakota State Historical Society members.
History and Heritage Book Club members have selected novels they will discuss in upcoming months. Selections are The Lance and the Shield by Robert M. Utley on Nov. 10; Peter Norbeck: Prairie Statesman by Gilbert Fite on Dec. 8; and The Homesteader by Oscar Micheaux on Jan. 12, 2010. All the book club meetings begin at 7 p.m. at the Cultural Heritage Center. The featured books are available at either Heritage Store.
For more information about the History and Heritage Book Club, please call Dorinda Daniel at (605) 773-6006.
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The South Dakota State Historical Society is a division of the Department of Tourism and State Development and strives to help the state meet the goals of the 2010 Initiative by enhancing history as a tool for economic development and cultural tourism. The society is headquartered at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. The center houses the society’s world-class museum, the archives, and the historic preservation, publishing and administrative/development offices. Call (605) 773-3458 or visit www.sdhistory.org for more information. The society also has an archaeology office in Rapid City; call (605) 394-1936 for more information.