Professional Documents
Culture Documents
RED GARDEN
A Reader’s Guide
277
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5. “The River at Home” captures both the untold suffering
and the healing that marked the home front during the Civil
War and its aftermath. What ultimately restores Evan and
Mattie?
10. Discuss the many types of love that emerge in “Kiss and
Tell.” Although Hannah has to hide the truth about her roman-
tic feelings, she is able to realize her dream of raising a child. In
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what ways does history repeat itself through the story of Black-
well?
14. James Mott seems cursed, yet he is also a healer. What is the
role of fate in lives like his? Was he destined to succeed? Could
you relate to the closing scene, in which James is watched over
by his father and Cody? Do you feel protected by the spirit of
loved ones who have passed away?
15. Which characters were you most drawn to? How would you
have fared in their situation? What did you discover about life
and history by reading their stories?
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16. Discuss other Hoffman works you’ve read. What themes
(perhaps of family, new identities, or the power of magical hope)
echo throughout her previous books and The Red Garden? What
unique vision of the human experience is presented in The Red
Garden?
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comes the Apparition. Her personal story becomes a shared
story. That is the power of history and of storytelling.
BB: The Red Garden contains intricate genealogies. Did you create
family trees before you began writing this book, or did the inter-
twining families emerge during the writing process?
BB: While writing Here on Earth, you cared for your beloved
sister-in-law and your mother as they faced terminal illness.
After the novel was published, you were diagnosed with breast
cancer. How have these experiences shaped the way you per-
ceive serious illness, and the way you write about it?
BB: Most of The Red Garden tales are written in the third person.
What led you to shift to first person for “The Truth About My
Mother”?
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AH: Often point of view is not a decision for me—a story or
a novel comes with its own voice . In the case of “The Truth
About My Mother” the ten-year-old narrator began to tell the
story. I heard it in her voice, with details and language she chose.
It’s a very personal story, and I think the intimacy comes from
the voice. Because of this, I became so attached to this charac-
ter, I included her in the following story, for she seemed some-
one who was wise beyond her years, and I wanted to follow her
into adulthood.
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being “imposed” on fiction—after all, this is not real life, it is
art, and art consists of imagination and experience—the recipe
for magic. “Magical realism” is a new term for an ancient tradi-
tion.
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Stanford. What was the best advice he gave you when you were
an aspiring writer?
AH: Albert Guerard was a truly great teacher, writer, and critic,
and I was so lucky to have known him and studied with him. He
was a great believer in “Voice” and felt that a writer’s voice was
made up of childhood experiences and readings, dreams, and
adult experience. Every writer’s voice was unique and original,
much like a fingerprint, and if one could tap into one’s true voice
every story would ring true. He also gave me the freedom to
write not what I “knew” and had experienced, but what I felt.
Great advice.
BB: Your writing spans a vast array of locales and time periods,
from a contemporary Wuthering Heights to sisters who may have
witchcraft in their genes. How many story ideas do you have at
any given moment? What would you like to write about next?