This a great selection of fascinating stories (and some poetry) giving insight into medicine in the early twentieth century. Williams has a style that's direct, memorable and powerful. It's surprising that he isn't more famous. ( )

I thankfully found The Doctor Stories rummaging through my beloved circuit of St. Louis used bookstores--up until this, I have only read WCW's poetry (which I love). Who knows how long I would have gone without reading his prose had this morsel not insisted in staying in my grasp?

...
I am failing to write what I need to say.
...
...
hmph
...


This is beautiful. This is humanity. Of course, this is what WCW is. It's been several years since I've really immersed myself in his poetry, but I need to go back and do it again. I knew all about him when I got into him years ago--his bio and poetry are fairly inseparable--but maybe it has taken this time to feel like I have a better handle of who he was as a person and how he faced the world. For the first time--really--it blew my mind to truly realize the depth of the life he led. How in the hell did he become so prolific as a writer working simultaneously as a pediatrician and obstetrician for decades? And had a family (though notoriously was put on the back burner), kept up with all of his great artistic friends, and still had time for womanizing? HA! How? What? Huh?

This collection dwells in a time when doctors made house calls; when births and deaths happened in the same bed, in the same neighborhood, in its own distinct language; before health insurance became the predominant factor for how you would be cared. WCW did not have a cush practice; he set his life to help those in poverty. His determination and undying passion for his work and people comes through equally strong in his stories as it does in his poetry. In this collection, you witness the destruction of cultural and ethnic barriers and feel the devotion of a man who has willed his life to the service of others.

I think the clincher for me, though, was the "The Practice" from his autobiography, wherein he relates the uniqueness of a physician's role in a person's (and community's) life and how poetry cannot help but flow from it. It brought me to my knees (and I've just added it to my faithful paperbackswap queue). In a way, it reminded me a lot of the role and importance of the public education system today. Sadly, doctors do not inhabit the same community role as they did 100 years ago. The opportunity Williams' speaks of to be involved with such a wide variety of people at various stages of their lives, to go far beyond the tasks his title deems he perform--boy, did that remind me of teaching. I'm about a breath away from embarking on a tirade, so I am stopping there.

This is beautiful. Please make sure to read his prose, too. ( )

Having read A Fortunate Man recently, John Berger's account of the world view of a country doctor, I was pleased to discover in a Leiden bookshop the other day, this collection assembled by Williams' son.

Thirty years earlier, country US, written by a poet who supports himself through doctoring. Whereas it is Berger's eye which informs what we read about his country doctor, here it is the medico's eye that informs the writing. Having just been rereleased, there may be a new audience for this slim volume. It's enthralling to read as a lay person interested in fiction, but Williams' musings on the world of the general practitioner is not part of the canon for that group the way Berger's still is. Maybe, even compared with Berger's, it's too bluntly honest. Doctors don't come out of this smelling of any sort of flowers.

Having said that, if you are interested in medical views of literature that strays into their area, you can go here and here.

Highly recommended. ( )

Having read A Fortunate Man recently, John Berger's account of the world view of a country doctor, I was pleased to discover in a Leiden bookshop the other day, this collection assembled by Williams' son.

Thirty years earlier, country US, written by a poet who supports himself through doctoring. Whereas it is Berger's eye which informs what we read about his country doctor, here it is the medico's eye that informs the writing. Having just been rereleased, there may be a new audience for this slim volume. It's enthralling to read as a lay person interested in fiction, but Williams' musings on the world of the general practitioner is not part of the canon for that group the way Berger's still is. Maybe, even compared with Berger's, it's too bluntly honest. Doctors don't come out of this smelling of any sort of flowers.

Having said that, if you are interested in medical views of literature that strays into their area, you can go here and here.

Highly recommended. ( )

Having read A Fortunate Man recently, John Berger's account of the world view of a country doctor, I was pleased to discover in a Leiden bookshop the other day, this collection assembled by Williams' son.

Thirty years earlier, country US, written by a poet who supports himself through doctoring. Whereas it is Berger's eye which informs what we read about his country doctor, here it is the medico's eye that informs the writing. Having just been rereleased, there may be a new audience for this slim volume. It's enthralling to read as a lay person interested in fiction, but Williams' musings on the world of the general practitioner is not part of the canon for that group the way Berger's still is. Maybe, even compared with Berger's, it's too bluntly honest. Doctors don't come out of this smelling of any sort of flowers.

Having said that, if you are interested in medical views of literature that strays into their area, you can go here and here.

Highly recommended. ( )