The Field of Vision

Wright Morris is an American writer from another era, both in terms of his style of writing, his organization of materials, and his orientation toward the world. This book is in the style of High Modernism, but gently applied. Each chapter is written with the voice of a different character, and we return, in the novel, again and again to the character's voices. In the process, we learn more about them, and the central events which displaced them in their world. One is quaint: a kiss stolen on a porch in Nebraska forty years ago. That one kiss set this world on its end, and was a watershed mark in the lives of three people. This book is charmingly quaint, and its repetition, meant to add knowledge, never quite evolves beyond a few central points. That said, for those with the patience for a quiet read, will find much to like in The Field of Vision.