OUTSIDE PASSAGE : A Memoir of an Alaskan Childhood

New York, NY: Random House, 1998. First Edition, First Thus . Hardcover. COLLECTIBLE - NEW/New. Text/NEW & Bright. 1998, Stated First Edition, First Thus; later re-published 2011 by the Univ of Alaska Pres. Bi-color boards/Fine. DJ/Fine. Memoir of Julia Scully's (1929-2023) childhood in the barren town of Nome, life experiences in an Alaskan orphanage around 1940. Array of central figures are Julia's mother, Rose; her father, whose suicide was discovered by his two daughters (when author Julia Scully was but seven years old) --- extraordinarily distinguished being recollections of one so young --- a liquor shop owner named Hessel Green; a ''bad'' woman named Norma; her mother's roadhouse where miners drank & played cards --- all portrayed against the unadorned background of Scully's memory. In the early 1970's, while an editor at Modern Photography, Scully was among the first to recognize & admire the photography of Mike Disfarmer (-1929), who ran a portrait studio, from 1939 to 1946 in Arkansas, for 50 cents a shot. Disfarmer simply placed his subjects before a plain, dark backdrop; props, if any, either both belonged to or were chosen by, the subjects themselves, and clicked the shutter at the magic moment. Parallels have been drawn between Scully's sparse prose & Disfarmer's approach to portraitures ... plain & simple, but powerfully alive w/minimal artists' commentaries. 219 pgs in 64 episodes.