Matts is a professor of English, emeritus, and the author of numerous commercial and scholarly books and articles, but none like this. THE RED DINGY is a both a memoir and a revelation, long in waiting; but at the age of eighty, a personal necessity if only to discover and put in words what he knew and did not know. Perhaps it may be of value to those who treasure the past, contemplate new horizons, or a mystery suddenly unraveled. Like most people of the 'forgotten generation', we carry our memories quietly, sometimes in scraps and stains, sometimes in pictures; but they are much the same: the love we shared, our faith, the good days and bad, and what we achieved and didn't achieve. Portage Bay, Seattle, is a good place to start; the red dingy is a good way to begin. It is modest and deceptively simple-a metaphor of the life we hoped to live and the legacy we hope to leave.Read with laughter and understanding, my friends. You may not always agree, but you will remember: how we felt, what we felt--the tears and dreams, the never-ending summers, and the buddies we never forgot. May each sunrise be a welcome promise and a light to the ever-changing years that recede before us.