A Book Reading of Dr. Ann Peters’ “House Hold”

In her “Literature of Home” class that I took last spring, I remember how Dr. Ann Peter’s eyes would light up when reading Joan Didion or Willa Cather’s descriptions of American cities and fields. It is this brand of excitement over the ideas of home, place, and landscape that inspired Dr. Peter’s to write her novel entitled “House Hold: A Memoir of Place”, published in February 2014.

On Tuesday morning May 8^th, a group of 35 students and alumnae, gathered in Schottenstein back lounge to hear a reading of Dr. Peter’s novel and to discuss questions about her creative writing process and her journey that influenced the creation of the novel. The event was chaired by the Creative Writing/Publishing Club and the Communications club and was sponsored by SCWSC. After pizza and socializing, the reading began with an introduction by Yael Farzan, SCW ‘14. Farzan read Dr. Peter’s biography, citing the many awards she has received for her writing. Most notably, Dr. Peter’s dissertation, “Travelers in Residence: Women Writing New York at Mid-Century,” won the Adrienne Auslander Munich Prize for the Best Dissertation on Women’s Writing as well as the Harold M. Proshansky Fellowship for the Best Dissertation on the Study of Urban Change.

In “House Hold: A Memoir of Place ”, Peters explores her journey through the places she has lived in, from the house her architect father built in Wisconsin, to her many apartments in New York City, and how each one has shaped her.  In House Hold, Peters also uses the musings of other literary greats, such as Henry James, to reflect on how literature shapes our understanding of place and property. As Alice Kaplan from Yale University has said about the novel, “House Hold has the makings of an American classic: a perceptive and deeply affecting book about belonging to a place and yet never quite belonging.”

Peters began by reading a passage that she said felt appropriate to share with us as young women in our twenties, as she had written it during her first night in New York. Peters had come to New York City post-college from a small rural town, and knowing only one person and bringing with her only one suitcase, she had set off to start a new exciting life. Peters read a passage detailing how her first night was a far cry from the glamorous experience she had expected, walking the streets of New York, the city that she saw in her head as a 1930’s black and white film.

The audience asked Peters various questions about this experience, and she explained how her picture of New York as a place where people sat in cafes and discussed literature was more representative of a city like Paris. Farzan asked Peters if she had been inspired by Joan Didion, as Didion is known for her beautiful descriptions of life in NYC, and Peters answered that she had certainly be inspired by her. Dr. Peters also detailed how she had moved around very often in NYC, and discussions then followed on the difficulty of forming community in New York, yet the importance of finding one’s niche and a group of friends. Following the discussion, Dr. Peters signed books for students.

The musings that Peters shared were particularly relevant to those in the room, myself included, who are graduating seniors, as we try to navigate New York City away from the comforts of Stern life, the dorms, and the YU community. It will be a different city when we leave college, Dr. Peters explained, and each one of us must carve out what that means for ourselves. Her words were comforting to me and I left with a sense that I was embarking on a path that had been tread by Didion, Peters, and so many others before me.