"Getting The Spirit" by Vernon Abner, Thoughts About An Interesting Little Book

The author "Getting The Sprit", Vernon Abner was a former US Navy sailor who was born in 1937 presumably in Jackson County Kentucky where he spent most of his life. After leaving the US Navy, he entered Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, as a nontraditional student at the age of about 36. During his time at Berea, he took at least one class from my friend Bill Best whose work I have written about several times on this blog. During his career at Berea, Bill Best encouraged many hopeful Appalachian writers and Vernon Abner was one of those. Bill Best actually wrote the preface to this book which was the only published work, to my knowledge, by Vernon Abner. This book was illustrated by Jon Howson with wonderful black and white drawings including the cover which is a portrait of Vernon Abner. Bill Best concluded his preface with these words: "The other students remember him as being "real", as someone who "understood his own life. He helped create in them a desire to understand their own lives more deeply. Those who take seriously this collection of his story will understand." In an essay on the back cover of the book, Carl and Sally Glover wrote "As you read this collection, we hope you celebrate Vernon Abner's humor and wit, feel his sorrow and depression, and share in his love and appreciation for all living beings. We trust that your venture into Vernon Abner's world will reward you for your time and effort." I am unable at this time to verify my belief that the Glovers were the owners of Kentucke Imprints which was the publisher of this book and is now defunct. "Getting The Spirit" was published in 1985, just 4 years before Vernon Abner's death. It is my understanding that this book was his only published work. The book is broken into three sections: Fiction, Poetry, and Philosophy. The Fiction section is composed of six short stories which are clearly Appalachian in nature. They are replete with examples of Appalachian aphorisms, cultural qualities, and demonstrate a writer who clearly knew the lifestyle of Appalachians quite intimately and effectively. I cannot say that these are great short stories. But I must insist that I enjoyed them a great deal and would gladly defend them as good examples of short fiction based on Appalachian mores and cultural values. They are at time riotously funny. They contain two central figures, teenage males and neighbors who love to play practical jokes on those around them. The title story is about the boys decision to place a hornet nest under the floor boards of a home where a local preacher is holding a service with the entire neighborhood in attendance with the nest situated in such a way that the hornets are able to invade the church service. Without using direct quotations from the story, rest assured that it is quite funny. For those of you with little direct experience in the Appalachia of the period in which Vernon Abner grew up in the 1940's and 1950's, such home based church services were common and I have attended many in my own childhood. This story is a fine reminescence of life in an Appalachia which is now almost entirely lost. The third story, "Did The Fleas Get To College?" is a rendition of another practical joke which is played on a visiting nurse who travels by horseback. It involves the use of a large number of aggressive fleas which the boys have managed to capture from some hogs which one of their fathers has bought and brought home. It is not quite as funny as "Getting The Spirit" but it is well worth reading. The other stories in the book are not at the same level of writing and humor as the two I have discussed but collectively the group of stories in the book make we wish that Vernon Abner had lived long enough to polish his demonstrated talent, produce more and larger books, and become the writer which his potential could have produced. The Poetry section is composed of three poems which are not at the same level of work as the short stories. The final section of the book, labled Philosophy, contains nineteen short essays of about a page each, perhaps averaging 500 to 750 words each. They discuss a variety of common subjects from everyday life in an interesting, but less than perfect, manner. It is regretable that Vernon Abner had not been able to produce a more lengthy book composed entirely of his short stories. He had obviously been compelled to live a life which required time in the US Navy before his college days, the need to earn his daily bread after arriving at adulthood in one of the more poverty stricken counties in all of Appalachia. Like many native Appalachians, he was born with a sizeable amount of talent and intelligence, a prodigous sense of humor, and a desire to share his world with the greagt world outside. It is a shame that life is sometimes not exactly fair.

"Getting The Spirit And Other Writings" by Vernon Abner--Book Review

I located this book on a used book website after being advised of its existence by my friend, Bill Best, who taught the author, Vernon Abner, when he was a non-traditional student at Berea College after having grown up in Jackson County Kentucky and spending time in the US Navy. Bill Best also wrote the Preface to the book and is listed as the photographer although the book is illustrated with drawings by Jon Howson.  The book was published by Kentucke Imprints in Berea, Kentucky, a small privately owned publisher which went defunct upon the death of the owner.  The book is small but well worth locating and reading a copy.  It is divided into three sections labeled Fiction, Poetry, and Philosophy.  The fiction section is composed of six pieces of writing, four of which are clearly short stories and two others which teter somewhere between clearing being fiction and possibly being essays.  The true short stories are the best writing in the book and, in and of themselves, make the book worth reading.  Two of the stories, "Getting The Spirit" and "Did The Fleas Get To College?" feature a pair of teenage pals in early to middle twentieth century Appalachia who love a good practical joke and are masters at playing those jokes on others.  There are moments in both these stories which are laugh out loud hilarious.  After reading these stories, I felt I knew the author pretty well.  He was born in 1937, about 14 years before me; but, we grew up in the same sort of situations in many ways in rural Eastern Kentucky and it seems that we had the same kind of sense of humor.  Both these stories involve the boys efforts to inflict vermin on others who can be said to have been somewhat of authority figures over the boys.  That is all I want to say about these stories because I don't want to ruin your fun if you locate a copy of the book.  They will have you rolling in the floor just as does the father of one of the boys in the title piece.  

The Poetry section is composed of three poems which are readable but not above average.  These poems and the entire third section, Philosophy, clearly show that it would have been a wonderful thing if Vernon Abner had been able to attend college directly out of high school and been exposed to a handful of good instructors of literature and writing.  Vernon was a highly intelligent, humorous, and caring man who wrote well but his lack of extensive writing experience weakens his work in a manner that would have been eliminated if he had benefited from strong writing instructors in his teens and twenties.  Sadly, he also died at only 52 and is buried in his native Jackson County.  His memorial on Find A Grave contains an epitaph I have never seen on a tombstone before.  It reads simply "It Is Unexplainable".  As a regular Find A Grave volunteer contributor, I have entered more than 3,000 memorial on the website, contributed more than 600 photographs of memorials to it, and I have walked through cemeteries in more than 25 states ranging from Pennsylvania to Arizona and Wisconsin to Florida and I have never seen that particular epitaph on a tombstone before.  I would love to know the story behind it.  The Philosophy section of the book is composed of 19 short essays on a wide ranging set of topic.  They are all worth reading; sometimes funny, but never as funny as the short stories; thoughtful; erudite; and many of them make it apparent that the author's knowledge was attained in an old fashioned manner which valued experience far more than education.  

If you can ever locate a copy of this book, buy it, read it, preserve it, and pass it on to someone or some institution which will preserve it for future readers and researchers.  I have worked in the past for nearly three years in Jackson County Kentucky where Vernon Abner lived most of his life.  It is likely that I have met people who knew him but I was never aware of that.  I wish I had met Vernon Abner.  I know that we could have shared a laugh, a few stories, and maybe even a good supper of squirrels, gravy, fresh peas from the garden, good homemade cat head biscuits, and washed it all down with a glass of cold buttermilk before we started telling more stories and sharing a few belly laughs.