Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 by Garrison Keillor
"Lake Wobegon Summer 1956" by Garrison Keillor is a coming-of-age novel that explores the life of a sensitive fourteen-year-old boy named Gary, whose experiences reflect the complexities of adolescence in a small, conservative town during the mid-20th century. The narrative is presented primarily in the present tense, adding a unique stylistic flair, and shifts to past tense later in the story. Gary is depicted as an aspiring writer grappling with his burgeoning sexual awareness and familial dynamics within a strict fundamentalist sect known as the Sanctified Brethren.
The story features a cast of characters including Gary's parents, his perceptive older sister, Aunt Eva, and his adventurous cousin Kate, whose contrasting traits influence Gary's development. Gary's internal conflicts are fueled by his two obsessions—his curiosity about sex and his passion for writing, which he navigates amidst the societal expectations and restrictions of his upbringing. The narrative touches on themes of artistic ambition, youthful rebellion, and the tension between personal desires and familial loyalty. Ultimately, the novel culminates in a poignant scene that encapsulates Gary's struggle for self-identity and acceptance, leaving readers with a profound sense of nostalgia for the trials of growing up.
Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 by Garrison Keillor
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 2001
Type of work: Novel
The Work
Like Wobegon Boy, this novel is written in the first person. The first two-thirds of the narrative are told in the present, a highly unusual tense for long fiction. In chapter 18, “In the Press Box,” the narrative switches to past tense—for no apparent reason other than stylistic experimentation—and continues in that tense until the end of the novel. The narrator is Gary, Keillor’s birthname. Gary is fourteen in 1956, as was Keillor, and Gary dreams of becoming a writer, as Keillor did. It is, at first, difficult to avoid reading the novel as slightly disguised autobiography. However, upon further consideration, it could be the tale of any sensitive adolescent with artistic ambitions, growing up in a small town where such ambitions are not highly regarded.
The principal characters are Gary, his parents, his older sister, his Aunt Eva, his cousin Kate, and Grandpa and Jesus in Heaven. Daddy is head cashier at the bank but does not like dealing with people—they are so utterly ignorant of sound fiscal practices. Mother reads the newspaper, devoid of interest in politics, sports, and the lives of Hollywood stars but giddy with delight when reading about a juicy murder. The older sister is a constant pain in Gary’s side. She is both self-righteous and perceptive; she knows that inside Foxx’s Book of Martyrs, Gary is really reading High School Orgies. Aunt Eva has never married and has always lived on the family farm. When Daddy went into the Army in 1945, Mother and her three children went to live on the farm with her. (Gary has an older brother who is away at the university during the entire narrative.)
Gary is Aunt Eva’s favorite. Kate is Gary’s daring, sophisticated seventeen-year-old cousin. Grandpa and Jesus, in Gary’s imagination, are looking down from Heaven and commenting on his behavior; Grandpa is usually shocked and disappointed, while Jesus is consistently neutral.
Gary has two obsessions. The first, sex and all bodily functions, is typical of fourteen-year-old boys. The second, writing, is not. The family belongs to the Sanctified Brethren, the People of the Word, a very strict, and tiny, fundamentalist sect. They would not approve of Gary’s sexual fantasies. He continues to read his erotic magazines, despite the fact that his sister, much more under the influence of the Sanctified Brethren than he, threatens constantly to expose his sinful behavior. Kate is nothing like his sister. Though not an attractive girl, she is an appealing free spirit; she embodies womanhood to Gary. She gives him his first kiss after they have been drinking the communion wine. She smokes, reads The New Yorker, uses indelicate language, and one day wears no bra to school and lets Gary touch her breasts. His second obsession is fueled by his Uncle Sugar’s gift of a year-old Underwood typewriter. He writes stories that are wild and juvenile but indicative of his talent. One such story is “The Flaming Heart,” a tale of touring thespians Alfred L’Etoile and Jean du Nord and their adopted son Roy, who is blown by a tornado onto the farm of a Sanctified Brethren family.
Gary is crushed when Kate becomes pregnant and marries Roger Guppy, pitcher for the local team, the Whippets. He is positive that Roger has never read The New Yorker. In the final scene of the novel, Gary throws off all of his clothes and runs naked around the deserted baseball field. Grandpa, who once had hopes that Gary might become a preacher, looks down from Heaven and asks, “What’s going to become of him?” Jesus advises him to take it easy and come away from the window.
Sources for Further Study
Los Angeles Times Book Review, August 26, 2001, p. 3.
The New York Times Book Review 106 (August 26, 2001): 6.
Publishers Weekly 248 (September 10, 2001): 19.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 12, 2001, p. D1.
USA Today, September 13, 2001, p. 6D.
The Washington Post Book World, September 2, 2001, p. 15.