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Life, death and art
By Lisa Scottoline |
December 20, 2009, Sunday
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Print Edition
THE book "Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town" is a true-crime story, an art appreciation course and an American history lesson stitched together. It succeeds as all three, albeit with a few seams showing.
It begins with a painting. In the early 1990s, Elyssa East was studying art history at Reed College when she chanced across a work called "Mountains in Stone, Dogtown" (1931), by the American artist Marsden Hartley. She quickly became obsessed with Hartley -- "my imaginary friend and mentor" -- and eventually determined to visit Dogtown, in Gloucester, Massachusetts, to find the spot where "Mountains in Stone" was made.
Considering the painting's central role, it's a shame the book doesn't reproduce it, but East is so earnest in her appreciation that I was willing to go with her into the Dogtown woods. In particular, she was looking for the one rock formation that could point her, "like an oracle," to the site of Hartley's painting. But she found much more.
Dogtown turns out to be a colonial ruin and a 1,214-hectare wood dense with eccentric townies, ghost stories and, tragically, the haunting memories of a real-life murder from 1984. The victim, a teacher named Anne Natti, was walking her puppy in the woods when she was attacked from behind, her skull crushed by a rock. Her murderer was Peter Hodgkins, a local dropout and dockworker bullied as a child because of his buck teeth and long legs, who grew up choking kittens, crashing his bike into moving cars and exposing himself to women before he killed Natti on sheer impulse. Hodgkins confessed, then attempted suicide three times (once in the courthouse bathroom) before his conviction.
East deserves credit for bringing the case to light and for reporting it with deft, moving details, like the fact that Natti carried her puppy's leash in a plastic bag, which was found later near her body, or that during her hikes, Natti would leave a "woodland calling card," like a branch or a bunch of flowers, for a former roommate who had often visited Dogtown with her. The Natti story is easily the most interesting and dramatic element in the book, and East is at her best in its telling.
Indeed, "Dogtown" would have been stronger had its art and history components been subordinate to the crime story. It's unfortunate that East seems to underestimate the emotional impact of the murder, both in her book and in reality. When a resident asks her if she feels comfortable going alone into the Dogtown woods, East writes:
"There she was again: Anne Natti. Why could people not just let her be? One woman dies in some woods 20 years ago -- many people around this town did not even know her -- but people still talk about it. Why is that? It would have been a fair enough question to ask, but I was at a complete loss for words."
East is an excellent researcher, and "Dogtown," her first book, is full of interesting facts about New England history and native poets. But research, however interesting, has to serve a narrative, not drag it down, and the book would have benefited from trims to the information about the Gloucester City Council politics and eminent domain issues relating to the city's water supply, among other things.
Still, plaudits to East for exploring the relationship of the land to artists, as well as to the people who live upon it, in this case for generations. Ultimately, "Dogtown" is an ambitious and worthy book, and the whole ends up being greater than the sum of its parts.
It begins with a painting. In the early 1990s, Elyssa East was studying art history at Reed College when she chanced across a work called "Mountains in Stone, Dogtown" (1931), by the American artist Marsden Hartley. She quickly became obsessed with Hartley -- "my imaginary friend and mentor" -- and eventually determined to visit Dogtown, in Gloucester, Massachusetts, to find the spot where "Mountains in Stone" was made.
Considering the painting's central role, it's a shame the book doesn't reproduce it, but East is so earnest in her appreciation that I was willing to go with her into the Dogtown woods. In particular, she was looking for the one rock formation that could point her, "like an oracle," to the site of Hartley's painting. But she found much more.
Dogtown turns out to be a colonial ruin and a 1,214-hectare wood dense with eccentric townies, ghost stories and, tragically, the haunting memories of a real-life murder from 1984. The victim, a teacher named Anne Natti, was walking her puppy in the woods when she was attacked from behind, her skull crushed by a rock. Her murderer was Peter Hodgkins, a local dropout and dockworker bullied as a child because of his buck teeth and long legs, who grew up choking kittens, crashing his bike into moving cars and exposing himself to women before he killed Natti on sheer impulse. Hodgkins confessed, then attempted suicide three times (once in the courthouse bathroom) before his conviction.
East deserves credit for bringing the case to light and for reporting it with deft, moving details, like the fact that Natti carried her puppy's leash in a plastic bag, which was found later near her body, or that during her hikes, Natti would leave a "woodland calling card," like a branch or a bunch of flowers, for a former roommate who had often visited Dogtown with her. The Natti story is easily the most interesting and dramatic element in the book, and East is at her best in its telling.
Indeed, "Dogtown" would have been stronger had its art and history components been subordinate to the crime story. It's unfortunate that East seems to underestimate the emotional impact of the murder, both in her book and in reality. When a resident asks her if she feels comfortable going alone into the Dogtown woods, East writes:
"There she was again: Anne Natti. Why could people not just let her be? One woman dies in some woods 20 years ago -- many people around this town did not even know her -- but people still talk about it. Why is that? It would have been a fair enough question to ask, but I was at a complete loss for words."
East is an excellent researcher, and "Dogtown," her first book, is full of interesting facts about New England history and native poets. But research, however interesting, has to serve a narrative, not drag it down, and the book would have benefited from trims to the information about the Gloucester City Council politics and eminent domain issues relating to the city's water supply, among other things.
Still, plaudits to East for exploring the relationship of the land to artists, as well as to the people who live upon it, in this case for generations. Ultimately, "Dogtown" is an ambitious and worthy book, and the whole ends up being greater than the sum of its parts.
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