George R. Stewart
May. 26th, 2010 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacAbout a month ago, I posted a brief entry on the route to here from Sacramento which spawned a gratifyingly nerdish discussion on the virtues and characteristics of the various roads.
What I did not mention, because the appropriateness of the comparison didn't occur to me until a couple of days later, is that I had come home from the Sacramento area's used book stores with a copy of The California Trail by George R. Stewart, which is about exactly that same picayune route-choosing and -evaluating topic, only applied to the rather more difficult task of getting to California from the old United States in the 1840s.
I picked it up mostly because I knew other work by Stewart. One of my first adult books - acquired, in the form of my mother's cherished first edition, soon after I read Isaac Asimov's Words on the Map - was Stewart's Names on the Land, a history of place naming in the U.S. Not a dictionary of place names (though Stewart compiled one of those, too, which I also have), but the much more challenging topic of the history of naming, the patterns and significances and trends. Mostly naming by the whites, of course, though there is consideration of the bases on which earlier inhabitants gave names, and a continuing theme of those names' influences on later namers.
It's a delightfully written book, which I cherish for chapter titles like "America discovers Columbus" and another chapter's elegant opening paragraph, which should particularly tickle anyone who's read, say, an account of George Washington's youthful career as a surveyor, as it's to the likes of him that the comparison is being made:
Stewart also wrote several novels. One of them was an educational scientific novel called Storm, the life story of a cyclone. This is the original book in which they call the wind Maria, and you can thank Stewart for the naming convention that's now left names like "Katrina" and "Agnes" as omens of such dread.
If all this convinces you that Stewart is a good writer with an interesting viewpoint, it has served its purpose. It was intended as an introduction to get to the point of telling you that Earth Abides, Stewart's only science fiction novel, has been named Book of Honor for next year's Potlatch. But I've gone on enough for one day, so I'll leave consideration of Earth Abides - which is not light or witty at all, though it does have some consideration of naming, mostly personal forenames - for later.
What I did not mention, because the appropriateness of the comparison didn't occur to me until a couple of days later, is that I had come home from the Sacramento area's used book stores with a copy of The California Trail by George R. Stewart, which is about exactly that same picayune route-choosing and -evaluating topic, only applied to the rather more difficult task of getting to California from the old United States in the 1840s.
I picked it up mostly because I knew other work by Stewart. One of my first adult books - acquired, in the form of my mother's cherished first edition, soon after I read Isaac Asimov's Words on the Map - was Stewart's Names on the Land, a history of place naming in the U.S. Not a dictionary of place names (though Stewart compiled one of those, too, which I also have), but the much more challenging topic of the history of naming, the patterns and significances and trends. Mostly naming by the whites, of course, though there is consideration of the bases on which earlier inhabitants gave names, and a continuing theme of those names' influences on later namers.
It's a delightfully written book, which I cherish for chapter titles like "America discovers Columbus" and another chapter's elegant opening paragraph, which should particularly tickle anyone who's read, say, an account of George Washington's youthful career as a surveyor, as it's to the likes of him that the comparison is being made:
Mr. Thomas Jefferson, like other Virginia gentlemen before him, having made a purchase of western lands, sent some agents to look over the property. Since his was the largest such purchase ever made, the work of his agents attained corresponding fame, and is known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition.I also like the story of how the territory (later state) of Washington got its name. The settlers who petitioned for separation from the Oregon Territory offered the name Columbia, for the river. But Congress thought that since there already was a District of Columbia, this would be too confusing, so they changed the name to Washington instead. "The two Washingtons (not to mention all the smaller ones) have grown steadily in importance, necessitating an ever more frequent and tiresome mention of 'Washington state' or 'Washington, D.C.' The two initials have become attrached to the name of the national capital like an ugly parasitic growth." Colorado was almost named Idaho. Idaho was almost named Montana. Montana was almost named Jefferson. Wyoming was named for a valley in Pennsylvania. I also cherish Stewart's only footnote, on the government agency appointed to resolve place-naming disputes:
Although dedicated to the stability of names, the Board itself has, ironically, suffered from change. It has been successively the Board on Geographic Names, the Geographic Board, and Board on Geographical Names. (Physician, heal thyself!)Which is the first place I ever saw that expression.
Stewart also wrote several novels. One of them was an educational scientific novel called Storm, the life story of a cyclone. This is the original book in which they call the wind Maria, and you can thank Stewart for the naming convention that's now left names like "Katrina" and "Agnes" as omens of such dread.
If all this convinces you that Stewart is a good writer with an interesting viewpoint, it has served its purpose. It was intended as an introduction to get to the point of telling you that Earth Abides, Stewart's only science fiction novel, has been named Book of Honor for next year's Potlatch. But I've gone on enough for one day, so I'll leave consideration of Earth Abides - which is not light or witty at all, though it does have some consideration of naming, mostly personal forenames - for later.
