The Deer Pasture by Rick Bass

Abstract

72 Western American Literature how women were affected by their frontier experiences. Borrowing the names of quilt patterns for a title, Texas Tears and Texas Sunshine’seditor seeks to “piece together” the experiences of pioneer women in Texas. The book con­ sists of reminiscences by sixteen women of the nineteenth century, whose stories run the gamut of possible adventures: migration, settlement, Indian captivity, and the war with Mexico and the Civil War. The best selection draws upon the letters of a plantation mistress to her doctor-husband serving with the Confederate Army. From these, a clear picture of daily life during the Civil War emerges as she describes her unique solutions to the problems of running the farm. Her emerging self-confidence permeates the letters. This book may be of interest to someone wanting a sample of the experi­ ences of Texas pioneer women, but there are some editorial problems that raise questions about the volume’s value to serious students of the frontier or of women’s history. It is unclear why the reminiscences of these particular sixteen women were included, since all but one have been published elsewhere. Perhaps the editor aimed toprovide a spectrum ofwomen’sexperience, though no Mexican or Native American women were included, and the inclusion of a slave narrative seems gratuitous because it has little to do with Texas or the frontier. In her brief biographical sketches, the editor neglects noting when the reminiscences were recorded, and she accepts uncritically the veracity of the recollections. The most serious problem is her failure to recognize that reminiscenceswritten many yearsafter the eventsthey describe are alwayssub­ ject to selectivememory. There are, nevertheless, some things to be learned from this volume. Collectively, these recollections provide insights into prevailing frontier values and the daily lives of women. The ethnocentric attitude of white women toward Indians, Blacks, and Mexicans emerges from several of the selections. Moreover, themes common in the lives of nineteenth-century frontier women come to light: the hard work involved in building homes on the frontier; being alone for long periods while husbands looked for work, went to war, or took goods to market; and the constant presence of death as women buried parents, spouses, and children. KATHLEEN UNDERWOOD The University of Texas at Arlington The Deer Pasture. By Rick Bass. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1985. 123pages, $12.50.) The mystique of the annual deer hunt is assumed by many nonhunters to consist of the thrill of shooting, boozing it up under starry skies around a campfire, and generally escaping from civilized life with a few days of primi­ tive stench and sweat. Rick Bass, in these 17essays, puts the lie to this popular myth—but gently. Deer stalkers will find plenty to enjoy in this volume, even while confirmed bambi-lovers gasp in recognition, realizing that they finally Reviews 73 understand why their friends and loved ones venture forth each autumn with guns. Turns out it’snot just blood lust that propels them; it’snot even purely escapism. According to Bass, it’s also tradition, memories, and storytelling. It’s Cousin Randy, and the way the armadillos that also populate the Texas woods leap straight into the air and bolt when you surprise them; it’s the smell of hickory trees turning gold in Gillespie County, and the taste of Bass Wonder Biscuits and Dr. Pepper bread. The author and his family have made pilgrimages each November for 50 years to this “deer pasture,” a hunting lease in the Texas Hill Country. This collection of stories is as much about that family and its lore as it is about hunting, although Bass includes a piece called “Why We Do It” that begins thus: By now you may be beginning to suspect that we go to the deer pasture each November for reasons other than hunting deer, and it’strue, but for a fact there isessentially one and only one thing that is thought about during the daylight hours, from first grey light to too-dark-to-see-through-the-scope dusk, or at least until we each have a deer in the freezer, and the thought is exactly that: getting one. Challenging. Winning. Making the...