海角大神

Journalism students quickly learn of the line between newspapers and literature when they enter college. The news-gathering classes are taught on one part of campus, with literature usually reserved for the hallowed halls of the English and languages departments.

But Russell Baker, the retired columnist for The New York Times who died on Jan. 21, collapsed that boundary; his celebrated columns and memoirs invited readers to wonder if the mission of newsroom scribes and so-called creative artists really differed that much in the first place.听

Baker won his first Pulitzer in 1979 for his Times columns 鈥� often humorous and sometimes poignant essays in the tradition of E.B. White. His second Pulitzer came in 1983 for 鈥淕rowing Up,鈥� a memoir, published the year before, that鈥檚 still hailed as a classic. Baker鈥檚 autobiographical books, which also included 鈥淭he Good Times,鈥� a 1989 account of his career, affirmed his stature as a man of letters 鈥� a reputation enhanced when he hosted public television鈥檚 鈥淢asterpiece Theatre鈥� from 1993 to 2004. Fittingly, he succeeded Alistair Cooke, another newspaperman whose prose was widely regarded as literary, too.听

Memoirs have mushroomed as a cultural fixture since 鈥淕rowing Up鈥� first appeared, but when Baker made his entry into the genre, not everyone was writing them. Baker鈥檚 tenderly evoked recollections of his Depression-era origins in rural Virginia set a standard 鈥� and helped created an audience 鈥� for many memoirists to come. Long before 鈥淎ngela鈥檚 Ashes,鈥� Frank McCourt鈥檚 iconic 1996 portrait of his long-suffering Irish mother, Baker鈥檚 鈥淕rowing Up鈥� had revealed how a matriarch could be rendered in all her emotional complexity.听

Although Baker is the ostensible center of 鈥淕rowing Up鈥� and 鈥淭he Good Times,鈥� the real star of his memoirs is the headstrong and poverty-stricken widow who raised him, a woman whose insistent striving 鈥� her primary virtue 鈥� was also her biggest vice, according to her son.

With humor and more than a little pathos, Baker recalls his mom鈥檚 persistently voiced desire that he 鈥渕ake something of himself,鈥� an admonition that lingered even after he鈥檇 reached the top echelons of journalism. In 1954, learning that her son had been named a White House correspondent at 29, her reaction was typical: 鈥淲ell, Russ, if you work hard at this White House job you might be able to make something of yourself.鈥�

Baker continued to rise, eventually becoming a regular on the Times opinion page. His best columns, assembled in collections such as 鈥淪o This Is Depravity,鈥� touched on everything from his inept gardening to Watergate to the travails of grocery shopping.听

After his retirement from The Times in 1998, Baker wrote occasional book reviews for The New York Review of Books, some of them collected in 鈥淟ooking Back,鈥� a 2002 book that showed Baker the writer was a perceptive reader, too.听

In 鈥淟ooking Back,鈥� Baker casually observed that 鈥渢he adult American male鈥檚 dream of paradise is eternal boyhood.鈥� Baker鈥檚 own paradise, of course, was rattled by his mother鈥檚 running reminder to make something of himself.

The many fans who treasure his work are proof that he answered his mother鈥檚 call.听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听

Danny听Heitman, a columnist for The Advocate newspaper in Louisiana, is the author of 鈥淎 Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House.鈥澨�