Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Sojourner at Cross Creek by Elizabeth Silverthorne

"Sift each of us through the great sieve of circumstance and you have a residue, great or small as the case may be, that is the man or the woman."
                 -Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings,  Cross Creek

I read this biography several years ago, likely soon after I took on a cameo role where I portrayed Marjorie in front of school groups. I have just finished rereading it in preparation for a class I am teaching at Rollins College in the Lifelong Learning program there. The course title: The Life and Literary Works of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings." I enjoyed this reading so much more, perhaps because I have been involved in the Rawlings Society, visited Cross Creek and read so much more of her work. I have gone from being interested in Mrs. Rawlings to being a true fan! As biographies go, this one is quite good;  I will rate it a 4.

Marjorie's life is fascinating and a good example why one should never give up on their dreams. She was a precocious child and a promising writer through her school days. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with honors she went to New York with high hopes of beginning a writing career. After 10 years of newspaper work, she had no luck selling her short stories or an early novel she had written, Blood of My Blood, and was becoming doubtful of achieving her goal to be a famous author. It was after moving to north central Florida, a place known as Cross Creek, that her writing career really took off. When she was inspired by the tranquil, wild surroundings and her Cracker neighbors, she wrote short stories and later novels that were published and proved popular and successful. Her best-known novel is The Yearling, although Cross Creek, a chronicle of her experiences, would rank high as well. The Yearling won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939.

I especially admire Rawlings' ideas about the earth, for example "No man should have proprietary rights over land who does not use that land wisely and lovingly." Time and again, her love of nature appears through her writing. In reading The Yearling again, and listening to it on CD, I'm discovering much humor along with the beautiful descriptions.

Marjorie was extremely generous it seems, both with financial help to her family, friends and employees, but also with her time in helping aspiring writers. Much is known of her, too, by her prolific correspondence, especially with her beloved editor Maxwell Perkins. She also answered many letters from readers and wrote to servicemen often during WWII.

I have come to know and appreciate Marjorie's many good qualities, including her great love for Florida (my home) and the attention she brought to its beauty by her writing. Her second husband wrote her epitaph:

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

1896-1953

wife of

Norton Baskin

Through her writings she endeared

herself to

the people of the world