“Closer to the Outside” Reflections on New Hampshire’s Big Read
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This past fall, over 3,000 Granite Staters from all corners of the state shared a powerful reading experience as part of New Hampshire Humanities’ (NHH) Big Read of The Bear by Andrew Krivak. A story of the last two humans on earth– a father and his daughter– The Bear challenged readers to consider ‘What would it be like for the last two people?’ For a society just emerging from the pandemic, with fresh memories of social distancing and quarantining, the characters’ isolation resonated deeply with some readers, particularly incarcerated fathers at the NH State Prison for Men in Concord. As one resident said of the experience of incarceration: “We know isolation here. We are isolated from society. You see its impact on some guys here. They sleep a lot. They are depressed. If you want to learn about what it means to be isolated in a way, come spend some time here.” Through the Family Connections Center (FCC) at the prison, these fathers read and discussed The Bear with Connections facilitator Dr. Courtney Marshall, exploring how they could use the story to talk to their children, and in preparation for a visit by the book’s author, Andrew Krivak.
On October 14, Krivak made a special visit to the Concord FCC to talk with incarcerated fathers about his book and learn how books provided by NHH’s Connections program help them maintain relationships with their children. For nearly two hours, Krivak discussed his experience of growing up in rural Pennsylvania, how New Hampshire inspired The Bear’s setting, and how his eight years in Jesuit formation led to his life as a husband, father, and writer.
The men came prepared with tough questions and complex reflections for Krivak. For example, they asked, What are your views of humanity in writing a book like this? How do you want to be remembered in 150 years? Could the daughter survive without other human contact or communication? They compared The Bear with other books such as Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel, The Road, and Jean M. Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bears. Many of the men were familiar with the works by transcendentalist philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau and were eager to discuss their ideas with Krivak. When asked to reflect on what the experience of participating in the Big Read and meeting with the author meant to them, one man reflected, “Being involved in this discussion makes me feel just a little bit closer to the outside world. [It] Makes me feel that maybe my opinion matters.”
The visit was a memorable one for Krivak as well, and he offered to meet with the fathers again. Consequently, in early February, Krivak returned to the FCC to discuss another one of his books, The Sojourn. The book follows the story of Jozef Vinich, a young Slovakian immigrant to the United States who must return to Europe — and finds himself fighting in World War I. The Sojourn was a National Book Award Finalist in 2011 and was inspired largely by Krivak’s own family history. NHH thanks Andrew Krivak, the NH Department of Corrections, FCC staff, our Connections facilitators, the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, and the National Endowment for the Humanities for making these opportunities possible in the Family Connections Center at the NH State Prison for Men.
To learn more, please visit www.nhhumanities.org/Connections.
Photo couresty of Jane Graham, NH Department of Corrections
