For National Donut Day, Donuts in American Literature
It's the first Friday in June, which means it's National Donut Day, which you must know at this point because everyone is talking about it. The fried, sweet goodness that is donuts ... I get why everyone is excited. I’m right there with them.
The first thing I thought of in relation to this day is the very amusing episode of "The Simpsons" in which Homer's love for donuts leads to a brief trip to hell. There, a demon is stymied trying to punish Homer ironically by force-feeding him donuts, but Homer happily gobbles them up. Replace donuts with books, and I figure this is what would happen if a demon tried to punish me ironically. Click here to watch "The Simpson's" clip on YouTube.
"The Simpsons" aside, I thought about books I’ve read in which donuts feature and came up with these three:
"The New England Economical Housekeeper and Receipt Book" by Mrs. E. A. Howland
I discovered this book at an antique fair a few years ago. Published in New London in 1847, it includes five different recipes for doughnuts. Apparently, New Englanders consumed their fair share of doughnuts (and this New Englander still does!). Here is the first of the recipes:
"Two eggs, one cup of sugar, half a pint of sour milk, a little saleratus; salt and spice to your taste; a small piece of butter or cream is better, if you have it; mix the articles together one hour before you fry the cakes; mould with flour."
She makes it sound so simple…
“Ethan Frome” by Edith Wharton
Ethan Frome falls for his sickly wife Zeena's pretty young cousin, the orphaned and displaced Mattie, who moves from Stamford, Conn. to the couple's Massachusetts home to help care for Zeena. Her pastimes include curling up by the fire to read books about the digestive system, traveling around Massachusetts to visit medical specialists, leveling acidic barbs at Ethan and Mattie, and plotting to make everyone around her as miserable as she is.
During a bleak New England winter that provides copious opportunities to reflect mood through descriptions of the weather, Ethan and Mattie's mutual attraction grows, like a plant in a too-small pot. With nowhere to go and no hope of being consummated, their love implodes. The ending is ironic tragedy times a million billions.
In one poignant domestic scene, which will repeat later in the novel but under very different circumstances, Ethan and Mattie share a meal alone together when Zeena is away visiting a doctor. And what does Mattie put on their table? Freshly-made donuts, of course. I wonder if she used Mrs. Howland’s recipe.
“Flora & Ulysses” by Kate DiCamillo
In DiCamillo’s Newbery-winning novel, Flora is a young, self-proclaimed cynic with a passion for superhero comics featuring Incandesto, a janitor who accidentally becomes a superhero, and a preoccupation with impending disasters. Ulysses is the squirrel whose life Flora saves after he is accidentally sucked into a vacuum. His run-in with the powerful machine causes a consciousness awakening for Ulysses, who discovers he has the abilities to fly, type poetry, and love with abandon. Flora has her own issues, namely her separated parents: a romance novel-writing mother and distant father. When her mother gets wind of Ulysses' presence in her home, trouble kicks into high gear, on the heels of which follow mayhem and adventure.
In one memorable scene, pandemonium ensues at a diner where Ulysses anticipates enjoying his first taste of donut but is foiled when a server panics at the sight of him.
Surely there are more books that feature donuts. Know of any?