BOOKS

Vermont Author's Book'lnto theWilderness' Explores Mature Romance

By Clara RoseThornton

@hough Deborah Lee Luskin

W agrees that middle age -- andSW American society's perception

of it -- has been a factor in her self-awareness in her adopted rural home,she Gels that being a Democrat and

Jewish were stronger Factors.

Luskin, a 54-year-oldVermontnoveiist and journalist, pubLished

an acclaimed book last Februan'centered on lvvo 64-year-olds s-homeet and fall in love, set against thechanging socio-political backdropo{ early-1"960sVermont. "Into the

Wilderness" winds themes of reLigion,

tradition, grief, familial and romanticcompanionship and starting aneuin liFe with an uncanny proness tbrdetails that vibrate with nuance andexpiore the vast landscape of thehuman heart.

Main character Rose Mayer is a

Jewish Florida resident who buriesher second husband rn 1964.Herson, Manny, lives in NewJersev andowns a summer home in southeasternVermont, near Marlboro. Mannyand his wife,Jeannie, beg Rose tovisit them there so that the sting ofloneliness is softened, and so she can

be surrounded by farnily and receiveassistance with any needs that mayarise. Though she ultimately agrees,

she initially feels reluctant, notrvanting to be put in the box of an"aging widow."

"lnside, she still felt - well, not\oung. not the youthful Rose of urges

and lusts - but spry and smart and as

if her r.,-hole Life were still ahead ofher." page three reads.

"At the drne I rras rvriting thisbook, when I rras -{8, I rvas veryaware that in the general populationI was already being written off as an

old woman.-We live in a culture that

Deborah Lee Luskin

is devoted to youth. But I was actuallyrather liking my invisibility," Luskinexplained via telephone from herNew{ane home.

"As I get oider," she continued, "myidea oftold age'changes all the time.When I think of'o1d age'I think ofmy parents who are 85 and strugglingto maintain their activities of dailylife.In 1964,being 64 was seriousiyconsidered more'ancient' than it istoday. I'm ten years away from 64; Idon't think I'11be old then.I thinkI'11be middle-aged.I think we as a

society have to be careful about usingthe term'old."'

The idea of a senior living a lifefull of passion, romance and self-determination was interesting toLuskin as a concept, but aiso, thereality that by age 64 some peoplemay be quite set in their ways andideas. She wondered what it mighttake to shake up those mores - eitherfrom peers or from one's surroundingculture. In "Into the'Wilderness,"Percy Mandell. the love interest

whom Rose meets atVermont'sfamed Marlboro Music Festival

during her stay, is a born-and-bred

Vermonter who never married, neverleft the state and is deepiy skepticaiof those unlike him, includingDemocrats and non-Christians.

"'When I came to Newfane in1984," said Luskin, "I was the first

Jew many had met in theWestRiverValley. It was an astonishingtransition for me, having come fromNewYork Ciry where one generallylives amongstJews. I'd come tothe area with my family tn 1965,so I had impressions of the culturethen - 9-year-o1d impressions, butimpressions nonetheless. I'd alwaysunderstoodVermont to be thisRepublican bastion, this bastion ofconservatism - religious and political.And it was for a long time."

"Then, serendipitously,' Luskincontinued,"the year that I movedhere was the year that MadeleineM. Kunin was elected governor ofVermont." Kunin was the firstJewishwoman to be eiected governor of a

lJ.S. state. She was aisoVermont's firstand, to date, only Gmale governor inhistory, and a Democrat.There are

several similarities berween Kuninand Luskin, including that they bothreceived their advanced degrees fromthe Columbia Universiry GraduateSchool in NervYork Ciry and workedas journalists for several years. Luskinfelt a bit of a kinship.

Over time, the back-to-the-landand hippie movements (so closelyassociated withVermont in later years)

spread their influence. Throughoutthe 1980s and'90s Luskin watchedher adopted home change. In theear\ 2000s, she wrote an as-yet-unpublished book called "Elegy for a

Girl," set in 1958, which had a minorcharacter named Percy Mandell whoshe wanted to expand on.

Soon she met an 80-year-old

CONTINUED AN NEXT PAGE

I

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Mature RomanceCONTINUED FROM PAGE 29

woman who'd recently been widowed. In talking withher, the woman had said, "-Why would I ever wantto get married again?" The idea of this woman, as

a character, finding happiness with Percy took hold.Luskin gave the woman the name of her grandmother,

Rose. In thinking back to her initial years in Vermontwhen Kunin was elected, and the cultural reintegrationLuskin's move required as aJew, the tale of two seniors

from very different backgrounds finding love inVermont was born.

The amount of research Luskin performed for the

time and locale of "Elegy for a Girl" made the 1964

setting of "Into the 'Wilderness" not nearly as difficult

as if she had to start from scratch. '.A lot was transferable

from that book," she said. She filled in holes by reading

the Rutland Herald and Brattleboro Reformer onmicrofilm and researching at the Bailey/Howe Special

Collections library at lJniversity of Vermont."I have a Ph.D. in English litetature, so I love

research," Luskin added with a laugh.Luskin was born in Teaneck, NJ., and moved to

-Weston, Conn., with her family in 1966. She attended

Oberlin College in Ohio, graduating with high honors

in English. Her path took her to New York City in1978, where she landed a job as an editorial assistant fora small publishing imprint. Wanting to further indulgeher iove of reading (particularly that of her favoriteauthor, Jane Austen) she went on to earn a master's and

Ph.D. Her exhaustive doctoral dissertation, entitled,"Jane Austen and the Limits of Epistolary Fiction,"argues that Austen uses letters to teach her characters

-- and her readers -- the importance of close reading.

Luskin now leads literature-based humanities classes forinmates, children, and adults; teaches writing; writesfor The Commons newspaper in Brattleboro; and is a

Vermont Public Radio commentator."I'm part of the Baby Boom; I'm in the middle of

the bulge," she mused. "'We are healthier than ourparents and our grandparents, we have a longer lifeexpectancy, we're more active, and for the most part,

we're wealthier. What are we going to do with all this

loneliness and leisure time that we're facing? I'm startingto see a 1ot of people starting to date in midliG, and Igarnered a lot of influence from them. Forget Americanculture being so much about self-suspension. It's always

time to live.""Into the'Wilderness" is available through www.

deborahleeluskin.com, and through the publisher, www.

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