Happy to Be Here by Garrison Keillor
"Happy to Be Here" by Garrison Keillor is a collection of stories and comic pieces that reflects the author's keen observations about rural and small-town life, contrasted with urban experiences. The original version includes twenty-nine selections organized into five parts, featuring a mix of short stories, parodies, and humorous sketches, although some pieces venture into more serious or mood-driven territory. The title story follows a writer's monologue about trading city life for life on a Minnesota farm, encapsulating the tension between rural charm and urban allure.
Throughout the book, readers encounter a variety of quirky and memorable characters, such as a private eye turned arts administrator and a punk-rock band notorious for their unconventional performances. Keillor's background in broadcasting is evident, as is his passion for baseball, which is humorously explored in several pieces. While much of the collection is lighthearted, the final sections take on a more introspective tone, offering a mix of whimsical and reflective narratives. Overall, "Happy to Be Here" showcases Keillor's unique storytelling style and his ability to capture the complexities of life in the Midwest.
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Happy to Be Here by Garrison Keillor
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1982
Type of work: Short stories
The Work
Happy to Be Here is subtitled Stories and Comic Pieces. The original version contains twenty-nine selections and is divided into five parts. An expanded edition appeared the next year. Most of the selections can be classified as short stories, although some are parodies of other genres or brief comic sketches. Most are humorous, although a few are mood pieces that scarcely rely upon humor at all. The book’s title story, which originally appeared in The New Yorker under the title “Found Paradise,” is a monologue by a writer who has left the city for the dubious paradise of a Minnesota farm. It is an example of the polarity found in so much of Keillor’s work: the narrator’s being tugged at simultaneously by the charm—and often the absurdity as well—of rural and small-town life on one hand and the glamour of the city on the other.
The reader meets quite a gallery of characters: The title character in “Jack Schmidt, Arts Administrator” is a private eye who has turned to grantsmanship on behalf of such clients as the Minnesota Anti-Dance Ensemble (they do not believe in performance). Don of “Don: The True Story of a Young Person” is the leader of Trash, a punk-rock band; Trash becomes famous—or notorious—for eating live chickens during its act. Slim of “The Slim Graves Show” presides over a country and western radio program that evolves into a singing soap opera, with the listening audience voting for its favorite member of the love triangle.
In “Friendly Neighbor,” Walter “Dad” Benson is the star of a curious radio show on which the fictional Benson family listens to another show, piped in from an adjoining studio. The show within the show is a dramatization of the family life of the Muellers, equally fictional. Mr. Mueller’s indiscretion at Christmastime, 1958, shocks the midwestern audience by setting such a poor example for Christian listeners, especially during the holy season. Dad strongly states his disapproval of Mr. Mueller’s decision to spend Christmas at his girlfriend’s house rather than with his wife and children. Dad’s audience is not placated, however, having decided that the Bensons probably should not have been listening to The Muellers to begin with; on New Year’s Day, 1959, the parent show, Friendly Neighbor, leaves the air. Keillor’s many years as a broadcaster in the Midwest are apparent throughout Happy to Be Here.
Keillor’s interest in baseball, evident in all of his books, is reflected in several pieces from Happy to Be Here. “Around the Home” is a parody of a sports column, the subject of which is a losing baseball team, the Flyers. Bill Home is sick, and his substitute columnist is a psychologist, much under the influence of I’m OK, You’re OK, a popular self-help work published in 1969. Ed Farr managed the team from a Fourth of July doubleheader until the end of the season, giving the players intense one-to-one and group therapy all along the way. He explains that the problems of the pitching staff resulted from their having suffered “pitcher’s block.” Similar problems in hitting and fielding resulted from the fans sending a clear message that the Flyers were not OK. Farr looks to the coming season with high hopes for his charges’ personal growth and increased self-esteem.
“Attitude” outlines the proper approach to playing slow-pitch softball. One should chatter continuously, spit frequently, pull up tufts of grass, and become involved with dirt. These mannerisms represent real ball and will compensate for any amount of inept play. “The New Baseball” argues that the existential response to modern life is altering the traditions of the game. The emphasis upon performance, the use of umpires, the keeping of the score—all will ultimately disappear. The static conventions of three strikes and three outs will wither away as players become more concerned with experiencing at-batness than with getting hits. The final salutary development will be the abandonment of the arbitrary distinction between player and spectator. “How Are the Legs, Sam?” examines the baseball career of the narrator, who played one game in 1965 and one game in 1966 and has been inactive from 1967 to 1970.
The final section of the book—containing the pieces “The Drunkard’s Sunday,” “Happy to Be Here,” and “Drowning 1954”—is more melancholy or wistful than humorous in tone. The collection represents the sort of work Keillor had been doing as a freelance contributor to The New Yorker; most of the pieces in the book, in fact, appeared originally in that magazine.
Sources for Further Study
Christian Century. XCIX, July 21, 1982, p. 793.
Library Journal. CVII, January 15, 1982, p. 195.
National Review. XXXIII, December 11, 1981, p. 1492.
The New York Times Book Review. LXXXVII, February 28, 1982, p. 12.
Time. CXIX, February 1, 1982, p. 74.
Virginia Quarterly Review. LVIII, July 2, 1982, p. 793.