The Extraordinary Work of Ordinary Writing: Annie Ray's Diary (American Land and Life Series)

255 Pages·2002·1.61 MB·English

by  Jennifer Sinor

The
Extraordinary
Work of
Ordinary
Writing

The
Extraordinary
Work of
Ordinary
Writing
a n n i e r ay ’s d i a ry
Jennifer Sinor
University of Iowa Press Iowa City
University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242
Copyright © 2002 by the University of Iowa Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Design by Richard Hendel
http://www.uiowa.edu/uiowapress
No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means
without permission in writing from the publisher. All reasonable steps have
been taken to contact copyright holders of material used in this book. The publisher
would be pleased to make suitable arrangements with any whom it has not been
possible to reach.
A portion of the introduction originally appeared in
“Waiting for the Words of Annie Ray” in Rosebud, vol. 17 (2000).
A version of chapter 3 originally appeared in “Reading the Ordinary Diary”
in Rhetoric Review, vol. 21, no. 2 (2002).
A portion of chapter 4 also appears in the essay
“Inscribing Ordinary Trauma: The Diary of a Military Child”
in Arms and the Self: War, the Military and Autobiographyedited by
Alex Vernon, forthcoming from Kent State University Press.
The publication of this book was generously supported
by the University of Iowa Foundation.
Printed on acid-free paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sinor, Jennifer, 1969–
The extraordinary work of ordinary writing: Annie Ray’s diary/by Jennifer Sinor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
isbn0-87745-832-4 (cloth), isbn0-87745-833-2 (paper)
1. Autobiography—Authorship. 2. Diaries—History and criticism. 3. Women
pioneers—United States—Diaries. 4. Frontier and pioneer life—United States.
5. Ray, Annie, 19th cent.—Diaries. 6. Sinor, Jennifer, 1969–—Family. I. Title.
ct25 .s554 2002
808(cid:1).06692—dc21 2002021138
02 03 04 05 06 c 5 4 3 2 1
02 03 04 05 06 p 5 4 3 2 1
for billie schuneman
and annie ray

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Prologue: Annie’s Gaze xi
A Note on the Editing xiii
Introduction: Stories That Matter, the Matter of Stories 1
1. A Story of the Diary 23
Intertext: The Year 1881 58
2. Time, Days, and Page 86
Intertext: The Year 1882 123
3. Putting Things to Right Generally 145
4. Making Ordinary Writing 180
Notes 211
Bibliography 225
Index 233

Acknowledgments
A text is populated by those who have helped daily in its making. They
should be more visible. I have benefited greatly from the time and gen-
erous attention of many strong and creative scholars. I am thankful for
thesupportofAnneRugglesGere,whosededicationto,andrespectfor,
thewritingofordinarywomenprovidedaplacetobeginthinkingabout
Annie’s writing. My thanks also to Ruth Behar—poet, critic, and eth-
nographer—whoencouragedmebywordandexampletotakerisksin
my writing. Thank you to Pamela Moss for being a paragon of reflexiv-
ityinbothherconversationandherteachingandtoPatsyYaegerwhose
work on trauma introduced me to the everyday. I have also benefited
greatly from the support of the Institute for the Humanities at the Uni-
versity of Michigan, and the Hunting family in particular, who provided
a yearlong fellowship that allowed me to work on this project.
Also,mythanksgoestothoseinFHE,mywritinggroupatUtahState
University, as well as to Kathryn Flannery, Andrea Lunsford, Roxanne
Mountford, Margaret Brady, Judy Nolte Temple, Theresa Enos, and to
the two anonymous reviewers fora/b: Auto/Biography Studies. Each
of them enters this text in some significant way. Michael Spooner, edi-
tor of the Utah State University Press, helped my manuscript find a
home at the University of Iowa Press and for that I am ever grateful.
Thank you also to those at the University of Iowa Press for their time
and commitment. In particular to Prasenjit Gupta, Holly Carver, and
Charlotte Wright.
Making a text requires the love and support of others as well, people
who are dear to me. Thank you to Cathy Best, Seunghee Ha, and Rona
Kaufman, women who represent all that is good and strongandbeau-
tifulinfemalefriendship.WithaspecialthankstoRona, whose bright-
ness and generosity of spirit has literally carried me at times.Thankyou
to Elizabeth Dutro, Kathleen Collins, Leslie Jeffs, Kara Plumb, Dave
Youn, Rafael Heller, Matt Kaplan, Anne Reeves, Babette Cain, Debbie
Minter,AmyBrugh,andKeithandJolineSinor,whohaveall,insomany
ways and at different times, made my world a better, brighter place.