Snow by Ann Beattie
"Snow" by Ann Beattie is a reflective narrative centered on an unnamed narrator who recounts memories shared with a former lover during a winter spent in the countryside. The story unfolds as a series of vignettes, reminiscent of flipping through an old photo album, detailing moments such as the playful arrival of a chipmunk, the first days of moving into their home, and the whimsical sight of her lover shoveling snow while wearing a makeshift turban made from a bath towel. Through these recollections, the narrator highlights the contrast between her perspective and that of her former partner regarding their experiences.
The narrative deepens as the narrator grapples with the passage of time and the evolution of her relationships. Following the winter, she returns to the scene of their shared happiness, now tinged with loss after the death of a mutual friend, Allen. As she sits with Allen's wife, watching the rain transform the landscape, she contemplates the themes of love gained and lost, with snow serving as a poignant symbol throughout. Beattie's work invites readers to reflect on the nature of memory and the complexities of human connections.
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Snow by Ann Beattie
First published: 1983
Type of plot: Neorealist
Time of work: The late 1970's or early 1980's
Locale: The countryside in an East Coast state
Principal Characters:
The narrator , an unnamed womanHer former lover Allen , andHis unnamed wife , her former neighbors
The Story
The unnamed narrator relates her story as if she is speaking to her former lover about the time they shared together. She recalls details and events from the winter that they lived in the country, providing information in short vignettes, much as if she were paging through an old photo album, occasionally pausing to describe the scenes it contains. She recalls a chipmunk that once entered the house on a load of firewood and ran for the door, and she remembers when they first moved furniture into the house and accidentally scraped a wall, revealing old layers of wallpaper hung by former inhabitants. She remembers the day of the big snow, when her lover went out and shoveled, and unable to find a hat, wore a bath towel that she helped him to twist on his head like a turban. She recalls the visits of friends who told amazing stories of marvelous good luck before their fire. She also remembers the snow, wonderful and silent, beautiful like an enormous field of Queen Anne's lace.
The narrator divides her attention among memories of that winter, her realization that her lover's vision of the same events differs from her own, and her account of her return to the place of their happiness when the winter is passed, their relationship ended, and their friend and former neighbor Allen has recently died. She sits with Allen's wife next door to where she once lived, and they watch the rain outside fill up the black plastic pool cover and spill over onto the concrete that surrounds it.
She surmises that the story all comes down to the barest outlines: love found and love lost, with the love in this case symbolized by snow.
Bibliography
Centola, Steven R. "An Interview with Ann Beattie." Contemporary Literature 31 (Winter, 1990): 405-422.
Friedrich, Otto. "Beattieland." Time 135 (January 22, 1990): 68.
Hill, Robert W., and Jane Hill. "Ann Beattie." Five Points 1 (Spring/Summer, 1997): 26-60.
McCaffery, Larry, and Sinda Gregory. "A Conversation with Ann Beattie." Literary Review 27 (Winter, 1984): 165-177.
Montresor, Jaye Berman, ed. The Critical Response to Ann Beattie. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993.
Murphy, Christina. Ann Beattie. Boston: Twayne, 1986.
Plath, James. "Counternarrative: An Interview with Ann Beattie." Michigan Quarterly Review 32 (Summer, 1993): 359-379.
Schneiderman, Leo. "Ann Beattie: Emotional Loss and Strategies of Reparation." American Journal of Psychoanalysis 53 (December, 1993): 317-333.
Young, Michael W., and Troy Thibodeaux. "Ann Beattie." In A Reader's Companion to the Short Story in English, edited by Erin Fallon, R. C. Feddersen, James Kurtzleben, Maurice A. Lee, Susan Rochette-Crawley, and Mary Rohrberger. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001.