Ferne: A Detroit Story

by Barbara Henning

Ferne is a time capsule of mid-century Detroit, a city poised to explode. Its sounds, scents, and sights spill forth, as vividly experienced by a vibrant young woman whose life would end too soon. Ferne joyously curates her own life; that’s the heart of this book. But we also encounter her through the fervent eyes of her daughter, poet and novelist Barbara Henning, who lyrically fills in and fleshes out the social contours and details of the ghostly presence that haunts these pages. Through her daughter’s skilled hands, Ferne comes to life again on these pages, bringing with her glimpses of the city she loved so deeply. John Hartigan, Jr., Shaving the Ritual and Wild Horses in Spain Barbara Henning has composed a Valentine to her mother, Ferne, whose tragic young life she recreates with loving detail and an eye for family romance. The resulting immediacy gives these American proletarian figures their due, whether in the shadow of war, death or everyday living. This memoir’s fundamental power lies in breaking open memory’s dam with a heart-language that makes space for what is, after all, our common lot. Chris Tysh, Night A Fable for Klara K Barbara Henning is an indomitable writer, thinker, traveler and a stalwart weaver of the threads through the heart centers and margins of her own existence. This is a daughter’s complicated love story of a mother and a city and a time before we knew more than we thought to know. A poignant tribute of what haunts the premises in all the fractures and layers in the souls of America. A brilliant—and in a strange way—a most timely intervention. Anne Waldman, Trickster Feminism

Genres: Biography

338 pages, Paperback

Published January 5, 2022

About the author

BARBARA HENNING is a poet and fiction writer, author of four novels and several books of poetry. Her latest novel is Just Like That (Spuyten Duyvil 2018) and a book of poems A Day Like Today (Negative Capability Press 2015. Other not so recent books include A Swift Passage (Quale Press 2013), a novel, Thirty Miles to Rosebud (BlazeVOX Books 2009), a collection of poems My Autobiography (2007 United Artists). Two novels, You Me and the Insects (2005) and Black Lace (2001) both published by Spuyten Duyvil . Other works include a series of photo-poem pamphlets; Detective Sentences (Spuyten Duyvil, 2001), In Between (Spectacular Diseases, England); Me & My Dog (Poetry New York, 1999); Love Makes Thinking Dark (United Artists, 1995); The Passion of Signs (Leave Books, 1994); Smoking in the Twilight Bar (United Artists, l988). Poems and stories have been published in many magazines, including Poetry International, the Paris Review, Fiction International, The Brooklyn Rail, The World, Talisman, Lingo, Shiny, Not Enough Night, Hanging Loose and others. During the early nineties, she was the editor of Long News in the Short Century, a journal of art and writing. She was born in Detroit, relocated to New York City in the early eighties. She is presently teaching for Long Island University where she is Professor Emerita, as well as for writers.com.

Reviews

[Nathan Andren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This charming family narrative interweaves Detroit history and world events with the life of Ferne, a woman of my grandmother's generation. While this book is a must for any Detroit history enthusiast, it is of special interest to me as 4th generation Detroiter and family friend of the author. "What's important is not the love you receive, but the love you give. That will stay with you and the one you love forever."

[Jim Feast · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ferne is an impressive and innovative work, telling the story of the author’s mother’s short life as a struggling girl, daughter and eventually wife and mother in Detroit before and after World War II. Not only does Henning recreate scenes from her mother’s life but uses newspaper clippings and family photos to give the story a visual and historically objective counterpart.

Recent German psychologists and phenomenologist who have been exploring the effects of reading, say that when you read a story, you mentally acquire a demi-image of the scenes and people; not a full-fledged image, something akin to but below that in clarity. So, I think, when I was reading the book, I was getting these demi-images. Then when I turned to the actual images, I was always surprised as they didn’t align exactly with what I expected. That along with the vivid freshness of some of the pictures made this an invigorating read.

The use of newspaper clippings will make any reader think of the The Big Money, The 42nd Parallel or other works of Dos Passos in which he inserts newspaper headlines, radio jingles and slices from news stories. But Henning does this in a more targeted way. For Dos Passos, the news provides a generalized sense of the time and background; whereas in Ferne the point is to give an insight into how mass culture and historical movements shape lives. And this concerns how, for one family, history both touched and didn’t touch them.

Most obviously, large-scale historical events such as the Depression and WWII affect everyone. For instance, the hurried nature of Ferne’s second marriage with a rushed courtship and wedding, which eventually ends badly, was shaped by the great uptick in weddings before the men went off to war. Clippings affirm this. It is also media-influenced stereotypes of proper role behavior that can also be counted as large historical trends. A woman’s role, as your clippings show us, such as the fight over birth control, was contested at the time. Although having an interesting life working in offices and country clubs, Ferne eventually settled on being a homemaker with a big family as what would be best to do with her life. Due to Ferne’s heart ailment, this became a major health strain, not only raising kids but in keeping a Home Beautiful. Endless diapers to be washed, windows clean, suppers made. Here the main support mechanism is the extended family.

This is the more positive side of the Detroit world. One can at least count on one’s family, always available to help, always caring, always affirming its ties through constant get togethers. This is the center of working class life providing security and solace, which helps each member endure the historical disruptions of war and depression. There is some slight indication that, as people move farther out, these ties are eroding, but that is only a hint.

All in all, Ferne is a text in which a rich interplay is built between images, documentation and narrative, the various parts both complementing and correcting each other in a complex interaction.

[Kristen Gere · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book, which she describes as hybrid "novelized non-fiction," the author tells the story of her mom's life, who lived in Detroit between 1921 and 1960. Ferne was one of 8 children, married a soldier just before WW2, and eventually had 4 children of her own.
The story is compiled dispersed with family photos, snapshots, and newspaper clippings from the corresponding times.

The book tells of growing up during the Great Depression, falling in love as the world was heading into war, moving on an off of military bases, in and out of family members' homes depending on the economic/job situations of the times. This is a story of growing up, of falling in and out of love, of struggling through the tough times in life all while clinging to the bonds of family through it all.

This is a great book for history lovers, or for anyone who is looking to learn more about growing up during these formative years of our nation and the city of Detroit.

It took me a while to adjust to the format of the book, which is laid out somewhat like a scrapbook, with photos and newspaper clippings dispersed among first and 3rd person narrative, letters, and poetic retelling of memories.

[Lieca Brown Hohner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting in its design yet not well written in my view, I was still able to enjoy this book. It wasn't until the end that it hit me that my mom is nearly Barbara Henning. Their lives are ~80% similar.

Henning lifted the story of her mother's life—one that is not particularly outstanding in any way—with headlines from the day: politics & government, international affairs & wartime, women's changing status over the decades, racism, protests & unions, crime, even weather and fashion. Family photos littered throughout pull you into the family's good times and bad.

Ferne is also a study of east Detroit from the '20s-'50s, including The Detroit Times and the Hearst family, Joe Louis, GM, The Vanity Ballroom...

Other areas of Michigan are mentioned: Roseville, Mt. Clemens, Anchor Bay, Mackanac.

An endearing memoir to Henning's mother, I'm sure it helped her to grieve a mother lost too soon.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ferne: A Detroit Story is one of the most fascinating books I read this year. It is innovative and takes you on a real journey - not just through the too-brief life of a woman, Ferne Hostetter, but through the life of the city of Detroit in the Depression, WWII and its aftermath. Along with the narrative of Ferne and her family, Barbara Henning braids in newspaper clippings, wedding announcements, ads that center the story in place and era. I love the kind of book that asks the reader to do a little bit of work - put together the details of those clippings with the bits of story we are given - to fill in a full narrative picture ourselves. Barbara Henning gives us that pleasure here. I read and reread several parts, studying the details. I enjoyed this piece immensely.