Wednesday, July 17, 2019

The Putnam Tradition


The Putnam Tradition is a 1963 short story by Sonya Dorman. You can read it online here. It begins,
It was an old house not far from the coast, and had descended generation by generation to the women of the Putnam family. Progress literally went by it: a new four-lane highway had been built two hundred yards from the ancient lilacs at the doorstep. Long before that, in the time of Cecily Putnam's husband, power lines had been run in, and now on cold nights the telephone wires sounded like a concert of cellos, while inside with a sound like the breaking of beetles, the grandmother Cecily moved through the walls in the grooves of tradition.

Simone Putnam, her granddaughter; Nina Putnam, her great-granddaughter; the unbroken succession of matriarchs continued, but times the old woman thought that in Simone it was weakened, and she looked at the four-year-old Nina askance, waiting, waiting, for some good sign.

Sometimes one of the Putnam women had given birth to a son, who grew sickly and died, or less often, grew healthy and fled. The husbands were usually strangers to the land, the house, and the women, and spent a lifetime with the long-lived Putnam wives, and died, leaving their strange signs: telephone wires, electric lights, water pumps, brass plumbing.

Sam Harris came and married Simone, bringing with him an invasion of washer, dryer, toaster, mixer, coffeemaster, until the current poured through the walls of the house with more vigor than the blood in the old woman's veins.

"You don't approve of him," Simone said to her grandmother.

10 comments:

  1. The story reminds me of the television show Bewitched. Oh, to be able to twitch a nose and get things done.

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    1. I want real magic to work. I always thought being a witch -but not the housewife kind ;) - would be a fine thing.

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  2. This little blurb is very captivating. And the photo you used is too. I am off for the day but when I get home I need to check this story out. I am rereading the Witching Hour by Anne Rice right now. It is time 3 and just as good as the other times but I did forget how long it takes to read that book at almost 1000 pages and not the fastest read. I do find that interesting about words-how sometimes a 1000 pages takes no time to read and sometimes 1000 pages takes forever. Must be how much depth and details are in the writing...happy Wednesday

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    1. I've never read that one. I'll look for it the next time I'm at the library. There are so _many_ books I still want to read and not enough years left to get through them all lol But the journey's the thing :)

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  3. This is another interesting sounding story. I've saved the link. (I'm behind on reading.)

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    1. I try not to think of it as being behind but as having a comforting stockpile ;)

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  4. I enjoyed this immensely, great story. Thanks! And it stopped me from starting on the ironing.... Valerie

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  5. I found it fascinating. It took me awhile, because I'm a slow reader, but well worth the time. Thanks for the link.

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was unfamiliar with this author until I came across this story online.

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