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Texas Monthly journalist and essayist Steve Harrigan will encourage readers to confront their memories and beliefs about themselves and history in conversation about his new essay collection “An Anchor in the Sea of Time,” during an author visit, Thursday, March 19, from 6–7 p.m. at The Story Peddler.
“An Anchor in the Sea of Time” compi les 14 essays about either Harrigan’s life or journalistic studies that explore the narratives engrained in personal and public memory. The collection’s name comes from the last essay in the book of the same name where Harrigan writes about a childhood moment, random and seemingly insignificant, that he decided to remember for the rest of his life. Harrigan said the last essay reflects on the collection’s journey as a whole.
“I liked the concept of holding onto history…and holding on to memory and trying to discover how history and your own memory and your own identity interact with each other and create who you are and illuminate the times in which you live,” Harrigan said.
One of the notable pieces about Harrigan’s personal life is “Off Course.” In the award-winning essay, Harrigan reflects on his father that he never met and what happened to himself and his family as a result. “Dreaming in the Dark” follows Harrigan’s love of film throughout the development of technology.
“I ’ ve learned more about myself because I’ve confronted, as a journalist, who I am…and I’ve thought about myself in a way that I hope isn’t solipsistic but that will touch a universal chord,” Harrigan said. “…All these pieces are a way of opening up the world to myself and to the reader and opening a window onto something and letting the light in.”
Harrigan also sought to open readers to new perspectives with a handful of essays that touch on his interests in history and public memory, the shared stories and historical representations that shape and define a community’s history and culture. “Twilight of the Bronze Age” contemplates who and what should be honored and commemorated as society is moving to dismantle monuments and statues to Confederate soldiers and slave holders. “Discovering (and Remembering) Vietnam” confronts class privilege between Americans who fought in the war and others, including Harrigan, who sought not to. Harrigan said community memories create individual memories.
“In some ways, you’re told what to remember in school, and through media or whatever, things are thrust in your face, or perspectives are given to you that you’re supposed to adopt,” Harrigan said. “… You have to combine your own experience and your own instincts, your own understanding of things, what you’ve learned, and you have to confront the things you’ve been told.”
Harrigan said all writing and journalistic enterprises should not seek to overturn what readers have been told but question it so they can seek a more “granular and complex” understanding of themselves and the world. He said people have responded positively to some of the included essays already.
“If there’s something about it that they feel connected to, then I feel like my work is done,” Harrigan said.
Harrigan will host a Q&A for readers and sign copies during his book release tour stop at The Story Peddler in Bellville, Thursday, March 19, from 6–7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
