A Review of “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage” by Bette Howland

A Review of “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage”

by Bette Howland

Reviewed by Jayme Balachowski In her lifetime, Bette Howland was well-known for publishing W-3, Blue in Chicago, and Things Come and Go. She was also awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship and the McArthur Fellowship. Yet, much of her work is unknown to contemporary audiences—in fact, Howland is somewhere between obscure and unheard of. Now, with the publication of two editions of Howland’s work, a small publisher is trying to change that.

Not long after Howland’s death in 2017, A Public Space Books has re-issued her memoir, W-3, and has combined work from her other two books under the title Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. This collection is a mixture of essays and short fiction, stories that wind through all parts of Howland’s life. Howland takes readers through daily challenges, including violent crime trials, visits with elderly relatives, family disputes about marrying someone of a different religion, and the loss of a friend. These works offer a glimpse into what life was like during this era—which, it turns out, isn’t much different than the present day—an era in which the same struggles are not only unresolved, but often intensified.

Howland examines the issue of race in several of her pieces.

One of the most notable instances is when she discusses the issue of white flight, briefly touching on her own family’s part in it:

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B O OK R E V I E W

After the war began the wholesale migration of whites out of, blacks into, the West Side of Chicago; completed sometimes in the mid-fifties. (Someday there ought to be plaques of bronze all over the city—the kind you see in scenic or historic areas— commemorating these landmarks and battle zones.) If I wanted to, I would probably fix the final hour, name the exact date on which there were no longer any Jews left in all of Lawndale. That had to be the day we moved.

With its blunt acknowledgements of racism, and other investigations of social issues (urban vs. rural, crimes against women, prejudice against immigrants and certain religions), this collection sometimes feels as if it was written as recently as it was published. Often the reader feels lost in time, just to be pulled back by the mention of a particular year or notable occurrence.

Amidst the serious social commentary in these pieces, Howland’s writing can also be humorous. In the title piece, “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage,” Howland addresses a recently-deceased friend, recounting the time leading up to and directly after his death. “All these people with their good consciences,” she writes. “Where do they dig them up? Is God holding a garage sale? I tell you, Victor, these good consciences will be the death of us.” Here, the delicate letter from Howland to the late Victor takes on a much more personal tone with these added moments of lightheartedness. This type of wry commentary continues to cut through the heavy moments in many of the stories in this collection, a welcome dose of levity amongst often serious subject matter.

But perhaps Howland’s greatest strength as a writer is her ability to paint vivid images in the mind of the reader. In the short story “The Golden Age,” Howland describes the narrator visiting her grandmother in a decrepit Uptown Chicago building she refuses to move out of:

J AY M E B A L AC H OW S K I

The lobby is stripped; just a few cracked mirrors, prongs in the chandeliers where the lights used to be. At one end a black-andyellow sign: Fallout Shelter. It leads upstairs; that makes me wonder. Down at the other end, the glassed-in reception desk, a shirt cardboard leans against the counter, scribbled in pencil: Out To Lunch. Through the window you can still see the old-fashioned switch board, plugs torn from the sockets; the empty pigeonholes that used to hold mail, telegrams, important worldly messages.

The present tenants get mail once a month: pension, relief checks.

The desk clerk has been out to lunch for fifteen years.

It is through these types of descriptions that Howland draws us into her world. This kind of immersive description is characteristic of Howland’s writing, and the book as a whole.

Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage showcases Howland’s incredible talent. It is my sincere hope that this more recent publication will lead more people to the work she published during her lifetime. Her wry humor, sharp observations, and discussions of trying times are on display throughout this collection, and every page is worth reading.

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