The Man Who Swam with Beavers: Stories by Nancy Lord (review)

3 8 2 WAL 3 7 . 3 F a l l 2 0 0 2 sh ip betw een a W h ite w om an an d a H ispan ic m an in th e con te xt o f N e v ad a’s ran ch in g culture. O th er stories in T h e R iv er U n d e rgro u n d exam in e th e w ars o f th e tw en tieth cen tury. T h e m adn ess o f V ietn am appears in H . Lee Barn es’s rem arkable fable “Ston eh an d s an d th e Tigress.” R ich ard W iley sh ares a tale o f m oral am bigu ity from W orld W ar II: in an excerpt from h is n ove l Sold iers in H id in g (1986), tw o Jap an e se A m erican s, stran ded in Jap an at th e start o f th e war, b ecom e prison gu ards in th e P h ilippin es yet are n o less at th e m ercy o f a sad istic com m an d an t th an are th eir A m e r ican ch arges. T h e problem s o f grow th an d en viron m en t, alw ays con ten tiou s fares in th e W ise U se M o ve m e n t’ s h om e state, are ab sen t in m ost o f T h e R iv e r U n d ergrou n d . So m e ch aracters in th e stories do sh ow an appreciation for th e n atu ral w orld, but th e u ltim ate qu estion abou t grow th appears on ly in D on ald Beran ati’s “T h e Exce llen t H ou se,” in w h ich tw o erstw h ile frien ds d eb ate th e m erits o f exten d in g d evelopm en t in to fresh territory. A s usually h ap p en s in th e real w orld, th e issue rem ain s u n resolved in th e story. I cam e to th is an th ology w ith h igh h opes, based b oth o n G riffin ’ s prior w ork an d on m y ow n h om esickn ess for th e G r eat Basin after tw o years in n orth eastern M in n esota. I w ish ed to recall a N e v ad a n ow sin kin g in to m em ory: th e sm ell o f sagebrush , th e scru n ch o f decom posed gravel u n derfoot durin g w alks in th e Sierra footh ills, or even Tad Dun bar, th e great Bu dd h a o f R e n o T V n ew s. H ad I h eld to th at expectation , I m igh t h ave b een disappoin ted in T h e R iv er U n d ergrou n d . In stead I cam e aw ay w ith a deeper appreciation for th e Silve r State an d its diver­ sity o f experien ce. In a way, perh aps I d id get w h at I cam e for: a sen se o f th e place itself, n ot as I w ish ed to rem em ber it, b u t as it is. T h at sen se, I believe, is th e best th in g ab ou t th e r ecen t spate o f statespecific an th ologies, b oth poetry an d fiction , th at h as appeared in th e past few years. T h e R iv er U n d e rgro u n d is a fin...