Remembering Irving Howe
Howe, Nina
I want to talk about the world of my father—the world that I knew best, that is Irving Howe as father and grandfather. I knew my father in many ways, but I will leave it to others to talk about...
...Daddy was absolutely captivated...
...I was pleased, but taken aback, because there was no man in my life...
...After a couple of boring innings, we began talking about the clichés that sportscasters use when broadcasting baseball games...
...I remember him with fingers flying at the typewriter in several houses and over 534 • DISSENT Remembering Irving Howe many years...
...Seymour's kind, professional manner calmed us both, and Daddy felt that I was receiving the best of care, then and in subsequent years...
...But it was his appreciation of Russian literature that he conveyed in his impromptu lecture that stands out in my memory...
...Daddy's list included classic authors such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky and other less familiar names, such as Lermontov and Zamyatin...
...In the following years, he would ask about my progress and seemed to take great satisfaction in my reading...
...He spoke in an organized and chronological way, making the links between the books and authors clear as he explained the major themes and images of Russian literature...
...In times of personal crisis, Daddy was always supportive and asked the right questions...
...One of my earliest and most vivid memories of my father took place on a sultry summer afternoon in the ruins of Ostia, the seaport of ancient Rome...
...His own collection of books was fascinating, and when visiting I would investigate his bookshelves and the stack next to his desk...
...However, it also signified that reading was not just a solitary activity, but could be a focus for interpersonal exchanges, that is, a time for sharing of feelings and an exploration of the world of ideas...
...Daddy's reading was spellbinding, his voice clear, loud, rich in expressive detail...
...he may not have asked many questions, but they got to the heart of the matter...
...Although I wish I had inspired him, he seems to have developed an appreciation of this art form on his own...
...He always remembered when it was time for my semiannual checkup...
...generally these were foreign editions of his books or novels for which he had written an introduction...
...My job ahead is to convey this world to Anna and Nicky, a task both easy and impossible...
...What Daddy did not count on was the overwhelming pride of his children—we felt it was important to have everything that he wrote, so we "raided the closet...
...Moreover, Daddy was amazed that I was being treated under Canada's universal health care plan at no cost...
...About ten or eleven years ago, Daddy was speaking at the University of Toronto and staying at the Park Plaza Hotel, a grand old hotel and a place that he loved...
...When I became an adult, we developed an increasingly close, warm, and affectionate relationship...
...Needless to say, his pleasure in his grandchildren was profound...
...My mother was exploring the ruins and left the three of us behind under a tree...
...After my husband, Bill, and I returned from Russia and Estonia in 1989, I was eager to attack Russian literature...
...He was visiting us in Montreal early in the baseball season...
...During our last visit together in March, Daddy came to meet his new grandson, Nicholas...
...Raiding the closet" was our secret, and we felt a genuine sorrow when the closet was torn down several years ago to enlarge the dining room...
...At that point, she loved saying "Uh-oh," whenever she dropped something or just for the sheer pleasure of talking...
...He was a man of many worlds, and I marvel at how this was reflected in his day-to-day reading...
...At the end of the story, Daddy laughed with a great sense of glee at this bizarre tale...
...From this experience, I gained an appreciation that books had some kind of magical quality, that in some way they were a special gift...
...He said that I was the perfect audience because I'd laugh at all of his jokes, good and bad...
...Finally, let me say a few words about my father as grandfather...
...The world of my father was very special to me, and I am very sad that Anna and Nicky will only hear about it secondhand...
...At one point, Anna walked by, reached out, patted Daddy on the back and said, "Grandpa, Grandpa...
...Beforehand, he gave me lecture about asking all the questions and getting all the pertinent information, a practice he didn't always apply to his own health problems...
...Rather, I want to talk about the personal side of my father, the less public part of his life...
...I shall never forget him sitting with tiny Anna on a pillow on his lap, cooing to her and watching her over a long and hot June afternoon...
...For months afterwards, I would pick up the phone and the first thing I would hear would be "Uh-oh...
...Nick and I were visiting Daddy on Cape Cod, and the family was sitting around the table talking on a warm summer day...
...Five years ago when I became ill with cancer, Daddy was right there...
...After his death, I found myself automatically checking out the stack—there were novels by Dostoevsky, Brian Morton, E.L...
...Nicky was on the table in his infant seat and Anna was playing on the floor...
...Daddy came to see his granddaughter, Anna, when she was two days old...
...I was about five years old and my brother, Nick, was about four...
...This is a very special gift I feel he gave to me and I know to many others as well...
...Daddy just glowed and gave her an affectionate pat on the head...
...A small moment, but one that I shall never forget...
...As Anna grew, she really caught her grandfather's imagination...
...Bill and I wish that we had taped the impromptu lecture on Russian literature that Dad gave us when I requested a reading list...
...I knew my father in many ways, but I will leave it to others to talk about him as a literary critic, as a man of politics and ideas...
...he was thrilled to have two grandchildren...
...But there was so much more to my relationship with my father than books and work...
...We were both terrified, but Dr...
...I know how pleased he would have been...
...It was one of my first memories of my father, and the book is a central theme in my image of him...
...This incident stands out in my mind for several reasons...
...Even now, I can hear it echoing in my head...
...Nick and I had a wonderful time digging trenches in the dirt for our Dinky cars, while Daddy sat on a small ledge under the tree reading a book...
...Seymour, at the Montreal General Hospital...
...Dad was a great source of information about Balanchine ballets, and part of our last phone conversation was about a Balanchine ballet to be performed by the Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, which Bill and I had planned to see...
...He was so much at peace as he read on this still, hot afternoon...
...In recent years, one memorable afternoon stands out from many...
...I remember looking up and seeing him engrossed in his book...
...For the rest of the game, and even on the subway ride home, a steady stream of clichés poured out of Daddy and Bill and we laughed until our sides ached...
...From his dedication, I realized how much he loved the worlds of politics, literature, and culture...
...A second vivid memory comes from my adolescence —I was perhaps fifteen...
...It has become a part of the family language...
...There are many other fond moments and stories, but I feel that they are moments and stories for my children...
...Certainly, the entertainment value of listening to a well-read story was important...
...I was about to call him with the good news about the latest one when Nick called to say that he had been stricken...
...One evening, as he was stretched out on the bed with his shoes off, he announced that he was ready to be a grandfather...
...I hope that he knew the depth of our admiration and pride in his work...
...Doctorow, a book on the history of Yiddish theater, Paul Berman's book on political correctness, and, finally, several books on socialism, including Michael Harrington's...
...He faithfully sent Nick and me copies of most, but not all, of his new books...
...A third set of memories revolves around an activity that Nick and I called "raiding the closet...
...He insisted on accompanying me on my first visit to see the surgeon, Dr...
...The Mets were playing the Expos, so Bill, Daddy, and I trundled out to Olympic Stadium to see the game...
...he also took great pride in the fact that Nick and I were dedicated to our chosen fields...
...Last fall, Daddy came to visit us when Anna was about sixteen months old...
...He was a disciplined, efficient writer, a man dedicated to his work...
...We worried that we might be trapped in the cliché mode forever, it was an amazing fantasy and one of the happiest afternoons of my life...
...In Daddy's apartment there was a storage closet off the kitchen that held the usual assortment of items as well as extra copies of his books...
...In later years, we shared a love of the ballet...
...One afternoon, we were sitting in the kitchen having a cup of tea and a cookie...
...Suddenly, a comment someone made excited Daddy and he went in search of a macabre story, "Oil of Dog," by the nineteenth-century author Ambrose Bierce...
...My father conveyed to me a deep love of literature and, over the years, he guided my reading, by suggesting specific books, or I would ask for a reading list...
...There were many fun times...
...I don't know what book he was reading, and when I asked him several years ago, he no longer remembered...
...Daddy was there for both operations and I dimly remember him holding my hand as I came out of the anesthesia and helping me as I vomited...
...When saying goodbye, Daddy would say, "Tell Anna, Uh-oh...
...My love started with childhood ballet lessons...
...Many other memories of my father center on books or his work...
...Partly out of modesty and partly because he probably thought of these books as mere footnotes to his life's work, some stayed in the closet...
...FALL • 1993 • 535...
...He took delight in such profundities as "A win in April is as good as a win in September," or "Then again, the only thing that matters is the numbers on the scoreboard at the end of the game," and "That new fellow is a rookie, but he's got a lot of savvy...
...The stack consisted of books that he was using in his current writing or that he had been sent for various reasons...
...He agreed that this was a bit of a problem, but...
Vol. 40 • September 1993 • No. 4
