1987-04 (April)

Wednesday, April 1st

Took my Aiwa Walkman for checking at Opus 2; was told the whirring noise was harmless, merely superficial. Came home + continued The Odyssey. Broke for lunch, then finished it by 3:30. A great repeat experience—T.E.Shaw (Lawrence) translation; Thank god for it. Walked 2.5 in 38 mins. Played Hindemith Conzertmusik; Bloch’s quartet 2. New potatoes + asparagus for dinner. So ends April Fool.

Thursday, April 2nd

Isaiah, due at 7:30, didn’t show; cold + rainy. He called at 8; I told him to come next week. Read spottily in Joyce’s Selected Letters. Willie Morris called; wants us to come to Oxford for dinner with Bill Styron on April 9—the Appomattox anniversary. Played cassette + followed score of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, K. 976. Great winds. Wrote to Bob Loomis saying I hope he keeps Random well-stocked with hard-cover War. Also praisedMuirhead’s Those Who Fall, an air war memoir. Dinner at Midway—as usual, in on Thursday nights out a fiasco: accusations, accusation XX XXXXXXX, etc. Back in room by 10 oclock.Call from Ken Burns; plan is for meeting in Vicksburg on May 1, Friday, for XXXXon Saturday. XXXXXX XX?

Friday, April 3rd

Blockbuster TV; got VCR of “Out of Africa,” watched it in evening; not bad, but not superior either. Meryl Streep good; Robert Redford mostly inadequate. Packed for tomorrow trip to Shiloh for the reenactment, accompanying Bill Thomas.

Saturday, April 4th

Left at 9:30 in the morning with Bill Thomas, Commercial Appeal reporter, for Shiloh + the 125thanniversary staging of a re-enactment of the battle by some 6000 North + South “volunteers” in authentic dress + with valid weapons. Arrived just before noon, checked into Econo Lodge, had lunch, + drove the XXXXXX miles to the re-enactment site adjoining the actual field. Visited the various camps; also had a demonstration of gun drill by a crew from Savannah, Georgia. Enjoyable afternoon. Back at motel by6; then went to a “Botel” on the opposite bank of the Tennessee River, just across Pickwick Dam, for a catfish dinner. Back to motel again by 9:30. Read Richard Ford novel, A Piece of my Hearttill midnight—or, rather, 1 a.m. by daylight saving time, which goes into effect tonight.

Sunday, April 5th

Corinth-Shiloh: day of the big “Re-Enactment.” Breakfast at 8, then on to the field.Impressive show—30,000 spectators, 6000 participants, booming cannon, the rattle of drumfire rifle clashes, lots of smoke + fireworks, all in a 20-or-30 acre field with the onlookers on both sides of it. Bill + I had press passes + a decent view of the action, which lasted from about 1 o'clock to shortly before 3; then a long wait before we managed to get out of the parking lot + on the road at 7. Home by 9:15. Saw to my surprise that two days in the filed had given me a sunburned face. I enjoyed both days of strenuous fun.