An American Childhood by Annie Dillard  

Web resources:  For additional information, including interviews, see the Annie Dillard World Wide Web-site maintained by David Lavery.

Discussion questions:

What do you think is significant about Dillard’s reminiscence of her early interest in drawing?  What lead her to lose interest in it?  (17-18)

Where was the Homewood Library?  How did going there affect Dillard?  What kind of book from the library did she first come to enjoy?  What was the shock that she found at the end of the book?  (18-20)

What is the significance of Dillard’s use of the metaphors (20) of “bombs” and “duds”?  What kind of perspective does her observation (21) about many books becoming dull in the middle suggest?  What does she mean by making “endless vows” (21, at the end of the selection)?

Do you see any significance in this reading for our course?  What?  Why not?  Is there any way of relating to Bonaventure’s “Prologue”?