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BOOKS 2.8.2024 ABOUT US/HELP NEWS ARCHIVES BUSINESS NEWS CLASSIFIEDS COMMUNITY DISCUSSION ENTERTAINMENT -Arts -Books -Denver CitySearch -Colorado Peaks -Columns -Comics -Dining -Events -Movies -Movie Times -Music -On Stage -Restaurant Guide -Television -Denver CO TV Listings LIFESTYLES MARKETPLACE COLORADO NEWS OPINION PROMOTIONS SPORTS DENVER WEATHER DPO MAIN SEARCH DPO book review Civil War sights, sounds captured By Jonathan Shipley Special to The Denver Post THE YEAR OF JUBILO By Howard Bahr Henry Holt, $25 August 6, 2000 - Walt Whitman once wrote, "I dream'd in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth, I dream'd that was the new city of Friends." Can dreams become reality in the ravages of war? Can dreams be dreamed at all when brother is taking arms against brother? When innocents are murdered? When the dying want death and when the living create it? When a person's life before war is utterly different than after it? Take the small Southern town of Cumberland, Miss., for instance, in Howard Bahr's newest novel, "The Year of Jubilo." Can a "city of Friends" be created after the bloody battles? The year is 1865, the American Civil War has just ended and Gawain Harper is heading home. Bahr, former curator of the William Faulkner homestead and museum, wrote his first novel about the Civil War. "The Black Flower" was a riveting and frighteningly realistic portrait of men and women overcome by the tragedy surrounding them. It was a New York Times Book Review Notable Book. It was also published the same month as Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain," therefore leaving it in the shadows. Bahr has returned jubilantly however, with the publication of "The Year of Jubilo," finally giving his work, his creativity, his powerful imagery and storytelling center stage. Gawain, an English professor at an all-girls' school, boards a train, an enlisted man for the Mississippi infantry. He didn't want to go to war; he went to war because the city looked down on him, snubbing able-bodied men who didn't go while those older, younger or more hobbled died on battlefields for them. One of those people was Morgan Rhea's father. Morgan is his true love and he cannot wed her without joining the ranks. So, he fights. His friends die beside him in grassy fields and shadowy forests. The years pile up, as do the wickedness and dirtiness of war. Innocence is lost, but not beauty. Love is carried with him in the shape of a gutta-percha case, Morgan's torn and tattered image inside. Gawain meets Harry Stribling, a former lawyer, and they become fast friends on their way to Cumberland. "Pilgrims they were, and for a little while longer they could shape whatever possibilities they wished about the moment toward which they journeyed," Bahr writes. Gawain and Harry went through the darkness and found the light on the other side, they had "no real sense of their own history, no more than the high geese traveling across the stars. They were too busy: They were spared of death, so must once again pay the tally for living." Gawain and Harry safely arrive home, only to discover what war can do, not only to a person, but also to a town, a state of mind, a country of thought. The town is crumbled, a husk of what it once was. Morgan has indeed waited for him, but scores need to be settled. A band of Federal troops occupy the city streets. In retaliation, bands of local ex-Confederate soldiers ambush the Yankees - and punish Southerners who they believe didn't do enough to support the war efforts. There also is "King" Solomon Gault, a dirty dreamer, a killer who wants to reignite the slaughter. Gawain wants no part of the conflict, he's had enough in his short military life, but pulled in he is, as he finds a way to avenge the deaths of Morgan's sister and brother-in-law. Bahr's writing is at times brilliant. At others times, more so. He brings the world of Gawain Harper to life. All the senses come into play. The reader can smell the smoke from a farmhouse across the field, taste the grit, see the aftermath, feel the hot breeze, hear the conversations. The reader becomes immersed in a world that is not only ugly and destitute, but also a world in which poetry, beauty, love still find a place. Like a photo album of Matthew Brady's finest work, "The Year of Jubilo" is a series of Civil War images, whether it be of death of grown men or of hope in the eyes of children. Bahr's literary photographs are populated with a totality, a marriage of the tragedies and troubles with the joys and happiness that one finds in life. Maybe this wholeness creates a dream come true. Perhaps in "The Year of Jubilo" Bahr has created a city of Friends. Jonathan Shipley is a freelance book reviewer who has written for the Dallas Morning News, Boston Globe and Daily Oklahoman. He lives in Renton, Wash. You be the reviewer: If you have read this book and want to share your views send us an e-mail with your full name, day/evening phone numbers, book title and comments. Reviews will appear on The Denver Post Online. - Tell us what you think Copyright 2000 The Denver Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Return to top - Comparison shop for books