Reading in Place: Memory of Old Jack
“Now when he walked in his fields and pastures and woodlands he was tramping into his mind the shape of his land, his thought becoming indistinguishable from it, so that when he came to die his intelligence would subside into it like its own spirit“ (30).
Midweek Discussion Session (Zoom or in person)
Friday or Saturday Humanities Field Day at TBC Farm (in-person0
Cost: $75
Participant limit: 15
The Memory of Old Jack is a story at once familiar and bittersweet. An elder, a farmer, a life-long Port William neighbor recounts the fullness of his life, complete with its regrets and lessons as well as moments that tickle and delight. Jack blurs the lines between past and present as memory shapes his final day in 1952. The day takes him from his little room in a hotel turned boarding house across the countryside of time to nine decades of farming, loving, falling short, and trying to make amends. As he snoozes at Jayber Crow’s barber shop and takes dinner with the tobacco harvesting crew, his mind is with this present membership. But it also dwells with the generations that came before this day, stretching back to his Civil War-era childhood.
Once you have read Wendell Berry’s novel The Memory of Old Jack (1974), you’ll join the membership of people who come back to it time and again in their thoughts. Whether it is your first or your fifth time reading the novel, you’ll gather with a thoughtful group of neighbors near and far to read, discuss, and walk about in the landscape of The Memory of Old Jack. We’ll key into the rhythms and creatureliness of Jack’s work life with a short demonstration with The Berry Center’s team of Grey Percherons, and we’ll physically read the pastures, waterways, and woodlands through Jack’s eyes.
Current Offerings
This workshop will return in Summer 2027. Join our mailing list to be notified of new dates.
*Reduced-rate scholarships are available for farmers and residents of Henry County.
via Zoom or In-person
$75
Limit 6 participants
