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Common Knowledge

Birthdate: 1940-03-25
Date of death: 2011-08-26
Gender: female
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Place of death: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Places of residence: Rockville Centre, New York, USA
Education: University of Chicago
Occupations: novelist
poet
professor
Relationships: Schaeffer, Neil (husband)
Organizations: Brooklyn College
University of Chicago
Short biography: Susan Fromberg Schaeffer was born in Brooklyn, New York. She attended South Side High School on Long Island and graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree in 1961; she went on to earn a master's in 1963 and her Ph.D. 1966. The following year, she joined the faculty of Brooklyn College, where she met Neil Schaeffer, a fellow English professor and scholarly author. They married in 1970 and had two children. She made her debut as a novelist with the semiautobiographical Falling, published in 1973. During her career as a writer, she published 14 novels, including The Madness of a Seduced Woman (1983); a collection of short stories; six volumes of poetry; and two children’s books. She also contributed often to the New York Times Book Review and published a number of articles on writing in scholarly journals. She also wrote an unpublished memoir, Memories Like Splintered Glass: Growing Up in New York. In 2002, she returned to the University of Chicago to teach English and creative writing.

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The Snow Fox by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

Set in fuedal Japan. It’s a meandering, contemplative yet sparsely-told story about a beautiful woman loved by two men, a noble lord and his closest trusted samurai. Half of the story is about the lives of women in the palace- secluded, pampered, and constantly vying with each other, petty cruelties that sometimes turn deadly. Further on the novel suddenly switches narrators, relating rumors and fables that you’re not sure at first have anything to do with this story, then turning to the samurai’s viewpoint. So there are councils of war, strategy planning, battles, villages of poor peasants burned to the ground with no remorse. Men wondering if anyone will recall their exploits when they are long gone, knowing their deeds become legends barely resembling the truth after just a few re-tellings. In the end, this beautiful woman has taken herself to live in seclusion up in the mountains, embittered by what she’s done in the past. The samurai finally encounters her again after what seems like a lifetime of campaigning (and a very long period spent just wandering around in the vast untamed forests with his horse and a fox he tames, when he gets tired of being a soldier). What happens next is idyllic and peaceful- for a while. But it doesn’t end happily.

I just don’t know how to tell about this book. It’s so strange and dreamy and upsetting at the same time. The people speak to each other obliquely and frequently quote poetry. They are enthralled by the beauties of nature, art and poetry, then turn around and cause terribly brutal things to happen. There’s the ravages of disease and other misfortunes- one long segment of the book is about a plague that strikes in summer, very unsettling. The characters for all their high education and artistic poise, are full of superstition and totally inept at dealing with illness or complications of childbirth. It doesn’t take much to bring them down. The feel of this story is very like The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck to me- in the sweeping breadth of its narrative and precise understatement. It also reminds me strongly of The Worm Ouroboros, one which I probably did not appreciate enough at the time. It feels very foreign in many ways, so I didn’t at all mind the mundane details about how people lived. At the same time it is deeply familiar, with all the concerns and dreams of humanity. One I’ll definitely have to revisit again, as there’s a lot I didn’t quite follow but found intriguing.… (more)

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jeane | 1 other review | Feb 17, 2023 |