Woman at Otowi Crossing

Description

Based on the real life of Edith Warner, who ran a tea room at Otowi Crossing, just below Los Alamos, the novel tells the story of a woman who is in tune with her adopted environment and her neighbors in the nearby Indian Pueblo, and who is also a close friend of the first atomic scientists. The secret evolution of atomic research is a counterpoint to the psychic development of the main character, Helen Chalmers. The story is quintessential Waters: a parable for the potentially destructive materialism of the mid-twentieth century. The antidote is Helen Chalmers's ability to understand a deeper truth of her being; beyond the Western notion of selfhood, beyond the sense of a personality distinct from the rest, she experiences a new and wider awareness.

First Sentence

The woman at Otowi Crossing heard it now for the last time as she had heard it day after day for years on end: that long-drawn, half-screech, half-wail of No. 425 whistling round the bend-to her the most mysteriously exciting, excessively romantic, and poignantly haunting sound in the world.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Woman at Otowi CrossingHardcoverOhio University Press1966-01-01
• The woman at Otowi CrossingSwallow Press1966-01-01
• The woman at Otowi CrossingA. Swallow1966-01-01
• The woman at Otowi CrossingOhio University Press1987-01-01
• The woman at Otowi CrossingSage Books1988-01-01