The BURIED Book Club discussion

This is what I know about Rose Robinson and the only published work by her I have been able to find: Eagle in the Air

I picked this book up in a local second hand shop that stocks lots of old penguin books. It was first published in 1969 and then by penguin a couple of years later. I had not heard of the book or the author and really did not know what to expect. The blurb on the back tells me that Rose Robinson was a black writer and that this was her first novel. In the front piece it indicates that Robinson was born in Chicago, sang with her sisters in a trio, was a professional dancer for a period, has a degree from the School of the Art Institute, had done some academic work for the University of Chicago, had taught in school and worked in community centres as a specialised activity teacher. The book and the author were not on GR at all; they are now (many thanks to Nate). It rather looks as though this was Robinson’s only published novel.
The title is a Biblical reference from the book of Proverbs (30:18-19). “There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand. The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.”
The book tells the story of Jean a young black woman at university in Chicago. It starts as she is taking part in a sit-in (it is the 60s!). She is expelled from college and moves in with a boyfriend. He turns out to be prone to drinking, losing jobs and a bully. Jean exits via the drainpipe and goes to her sister and brother-in-law. Her sister is having a breakdown and she cannot stay. She decides to head west to California to seek a new life. She has little money and so she hitch-hikes. Jean has a series of misadventures with racist and inappropriate men and is almost raped. She is rescued by Johnny, a one-armed man, travelling with a teenage boy (Kid) and she travels with them. There are tensions with Kid and some ups and downs on the journey.
The main characters are drawn well and the dialogue is sharp. Kirkus reviews rather unkindly draw parallels with “the Perils of Pauline” which is rather unfair. It is a decent first novel. It has been thought through and has clear parallels with “On the Road”; here though the road is a much more threatening place for a young black woman. There are also shades of Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men) with the two characters that come to Jean’s rescue. Robinson resists the obvious clichéd ending. Initially the last sentence felt like a bit of a letdown, but on reflection Robinson is making a point about the limited opportunities (and dangers) society holds for black women. Jean has no money and is working in a shop, having started in college; but her character has humour and resilience despite predatory power of the men she has met. The only sympathetic male character, the one-armed Johnny, has learnt through loss and suffering and he continues to learn through Jean.
A worthwhile discovery.

You might paste this in a review so it could gather a bit more attention from the mysterious world beyond our cloistered quarters.

Gregsamsa wrote: "You might paste this in a review so it could gather a bit more attention from the mysterious world beyond our cloistered quarters."

Go hence and Like ! :
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I already did, but I'm glad you linked to it.

I haven’t read her novel yet but I have a copy on order. The back cover of the dust jacket has this bio:

ROSE ROBINSON has a B.A. in Art Education from the University of Chicago. She grew up in Chicago, but has lived in Cleveland, Seattle, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, her present home. A dancer herself, she has taught and choreographed modern dance, and she and two sisters were once a singing trio, but “resisted the professional push.” “Love to walk. Can walk for years.” She has done exhibition diving.

I did a little Googling to see if she was still alive and/or if she had written anything else. The back cover blurb doesn’t begin to tell her story. Here’s what I found:

She was born Eroseanna Robinson in Chicago in 1924. She was a world-class high jumper and tied for first place in the event at the 1958 USA Track and Field National Championships. Her sister Claudealia Bernice Robinson Holland competed in the 80-meter hurdles at the 1948 Olympics in London.

After her success at the 1958 national meet, Rose was selected to participate in a State Department-sponsored track meet in Moscow. She declined the invitation, explaining that by appearing alongside white athletes, it would give the international community the false impression that white and black people were treated equally inside of the United States. “I’m not going to be a pawn. I’m not going to be a tool in this propaganda effort. And I’m not going to use my tax dollars to support this war machine. I’m not doing it. You’re not going to use my body to do that.” For the same reason, she refused to stand for the national anthem at the Pan American Games a year later in Chicago.

Also in 1959, she was summonsed to appear before the IRS for refusing to file and pay income taxes. She told the press, “I have not filed income taxes because I know that a large part of the tax will be used for militarization … We have a duty to contribute constructively to life, and not destructively.” She refused to appear and, in 1960, was arrested and later sentenced to a year in Alderson Federal Prison (West Virginia). She was released unconditionally in May 1961 after 115 days of fasting and non-cooperation. The physical toll that her hunger strike took on her body effectively ended her athletic career.

At the time of her novel’s publication, she was working as an arts and crafts teacher trainer for the Philadelphia YWCA. She died on October 9, 1976.

More info about her political activism can be found on her Wikipedia page -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erosean... -- which makes no mention of her brief literary career.

Thanks for the information Rick