Ohio

[Krafft, John M.]

"I'm Ohio born, and Ohio bred, / and when I die, I'll be Ohio dead!"

Ohio often embarrasses me, but I can't say I'm sure I'd prefer to live in many other states. (The outcome of today's Federal election, however, may tempt me to seek political asylum in Poland, where I'm teaching for the year.) Ohio has the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in one corner, and in the opposite corner comes close to the Creation Museum--if you go in for the sublime and the ridiculous.

But what actually prompted this post was my wanting to call attention to some more fictional renderings: Walker Percy's Ohioans in ... _The Last Gentleman_, I think it is--it's been decades since I  read it; William H. Gass's elegant vitriol poored over Ohio (as well as Indiana) in "In the Heart of the Heart of the country"; And Joan Chase's quite beautiful novel set in Ohio, _During the Reign of the queen of Persia_.

John