River of Words

Nina Shengold

Description

Silver Medalist, 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards in U.S. North-East - Best Regional Non-Fiction Category

"When you truly fall in love, whether with a person or a place, you make everything else fit around it. The last eight years of my life have been a love affair with this place." — Gwendolyn Bounds, author of The Little Chapel By the River

For centuries, writers have drawn inspiration from the Hudson River and its surroundings. John Burroughs, James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Edith Wharton all lived and worked in the region immortalized by the Hudson River School of painters. In River of Words, author Nina Shengold and photographer Jennifer May explore the current crop of Hudson Valley writers, offering intimate portraits of seventy-six contemporary writers who live and work in this magnificent and storied region. Included in this rich collection of emerging and established novelists, memoirists, poets, journalists, and screenwriters are Pulitzer Prize–winners John Ashbery and the late Frank McCourt, bestselling memoirists Julie Powell and Susan Orlean, and distinguished emigres Chinua Achebe and Da Chen. What draws these writers together is not only their devotion to their art but their love and affection for the Hudson Valley. Through words and photographs, River of Words offers an inside perspective on the literary life, the craft of writing, and the pull of this distinctive American landscape.
Foreword by Dennis Stock
Introduction

CHINUA ACHEBE
SUSANNAH APPELBAUM
JOHN ASHBERY
SHALOM AUSLANDER
SCOTT IAN BARRY
BARBARA BASH
HELEN BENEDICT AND STEPHEN O’CONNOR
GWENDOLYN BOUNDS
JON BOWERMASTER
JOHN BOWERS
WESLEY BROWN
AKIKO BUSCH
KRIS CARR
BENJAMIN CHEEVER
DA CHEN AND SUNNY
LAURA SHAINE CUNNINGHAM
JOHN DARNTON
CORNELIUS EADY AND SARAH MICKLEM
NICK FLYNN
MARTHA FRANKEL
ALISON GAYLIN
FRANK D. GILROY, TONY GILROY, AND DAN GILROY
JONATHAN GOULD
MIKHAIL HOROWITZ
MARIE HOWE
MARILYN JOHNSON
ROBERT KELLY
LUCY KNISLEY
CASEY KURTTI
JAMES LASDUN
NATON LESLIE
ANN M. MARTIN
JANA MARTIN
VALERIE MARTIN AND JOHN CULLEN
FRANK MCCOURT, MALACHY MCCOURT, AND ALPHIE MCCOURT
DANIEL MENDELSOHN
BRADFORD MORROW
RON NYSWANER
SUSAN ORLEAN
LEILA PHILIP
DANIEL PINKWATER
JULIE POWELL
NICOLE QUINN
DAVID REES
SUSAN RICHARDS
CHARLEY ROSEN
EDWIN SANCHEZ
ED SANDERS
ESMERALDA SANTIAGO
GENE SANTORO
JOHN SAYLES
EDWARD SCHWARZSCHILD
PETE SEEGER
DANNY SHANAHAN
JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY
RUSSELL SHORTO
ZACHARY SKLAR
SPARROW
NOVA REN SUMA
HUDSON TALBOTT
ABIGAIL THOMAS
CORINNE TRANG
JANINE POMMY VEGA
LINDA VILLAROSA
NANCY WILLARD
DANIEL WOLFF
REBECCA WOLFF
KIM WOZENCRAFT

Acknowledgments

Sujets

• Photographie
• Techniques photographiques
• Technique photographique
• Película fotográfica
• Visual culture
• Region
• Regional
• Film

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 août 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438434278
• Langue: English

Extrait

River of Words

PORTRAITS OF HUDSON VALLEY WRITERS
Nina Shengold
Photographs by
Jennifer May
Foreword by Dennis Stock

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2010 Nina Shengold (text) and Jennifer May (photographs)
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
Excelsior Editions is an imprint of State University of New York Press
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Design by Cathleen Collins Production by Dana Foote Marketing by Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shengold, Nina.
   River of words : portraits of Hudson Valley writers / Nina Shengold and [photographs by] Jennifer May.
       p. cm.
   ISBN 978-1-4384-3425-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
   1. Authors, American—Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.)—Biography. 2. Authors, American—Homes and haunts—Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.) 3. Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.)—Biography. I. Title.
   PS253.N7S54 2010
   810.9'3587473—dc22
   [B]
2010015305
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To the memory of the unforgettable
Frank McCourt (1930–2009)
Dennis Stock (1928–2010)
Donald E. Westlake (1933–2009)
FOREWORD
T HE CHALLENGE IN TAKING PORTRAITS is that, typically, the photographer has never met the subject until the day of the shoot. So, in a short amount of time, the photographer must analyze the subject's physical appearance to the best of her ability in order to make a responsible photograph that gives insight into the subject's personality. By incorporating the environment in which the subject lives, the photographer can create a background that is both informative and complimentary. This is the craft of composition. The photographer is not only telling us what she sees, she is also telling us what she feels.
In River of Words , Jennifer May presents a collection of portraits that each tells a story. But a portrait is only fifty-one percent about the subject—the remaining fortynine percent is about the photographer. A discerning eye can learn a great deal about both. We learn many different things about the group of distinguished writers May has photographed, but about May herself we also learn much. In this sublime and timeless collection, we see an empathic photographer who, with the highest mastery of craft, has presented us with her own love of books and the writers who write them. This is a celebration of something dear to May's heart and, time and again, we will eagerly look over May's shoulder to see what she sees and to celebrate what she celebrates. This is May's love letter to writers—a portrait of words in images.
D ENNIS S TOCK Woodstock New York December 2009
INTRODUCTION
W HAT MAKES A LANDSCAPE MAGNETIC? For centuries, writers have drawn inspiration from the Hudson River and its surroundings. John Burroughs, James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Herman Melville, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Edith Wharton all lived and worked in the region immortalized by the Hudson River School of painters.
River of Words is a group portrait of seventy-six contemporary authors who populate these storied hills—close enough to New York City to meet an editor for lunch, but a world away, filled with rambling Victorian farmhouses, Dutch barns, and Revolution-era stone houses. This book's subtitle should rightly be “Portraits of Some Hudson Valley Writers,” since no book of any length, let alone one this modest, could begin to include the hundreds of talented writers who call this place home.
Artists of all genres gather in groups: think of Hollywood actors or Nashville musicians. Manhattan is publishing's company town, and the phrase “New York author” is firmly entrenched in the zeitgeist. But writing is essentially a solitary pursuit, whose practitioners may benefit from a certain meditative distance. In the breathtaking landscapes and quirky small towns up the river, working writers can find an artistic getaway that isn't too far away.
The colleges and universities lining both banks of the river—Sarah Lawrence, Vassar, Bard, Marist, Siena, SUNY Albany, and SUNY New Paltz—create literary hubs; so, too, do Albany's New York State Writers Institute, The Hudson Valley Writers' Center and Slapering Hol Press of Sleepy Hollow, the region's strong network of independent booksellers, and the book festivals held annually in Albany, Millbrook, Spencertown, and Woodstock. It's a rich, lively mix, and fitting even a taste of it into one book is a daunting proposition.
First, we needed some definitions. Where does “the Hudson Valley” begin and end? The river flows 315 miles, from Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondacks to the tip of Battery Park. The lower Hudson is an estuary, with tidal influences as far north as the junction of the Mohawk River at Troy; its Lenape name, Muhhakantuck, means “the river that flows both ways.” This offered a natural northern boundary; we chose a man-made one, the Tappan Zee Bridge, to the south.
We also needed to define “Hudson Valley writer.” Would we include only those authors who write about the region, or anyone who lives and works in it? What about second-homers, weekenders, and summer people? Expatriates with local roots? Would we limit ourselves to authors of books, or include those who write plays, screenplays, graphic novels, and songs? In the end, we decided to be as inclusive as possible—the Hudson Valley is that kind of place.
Many of the author profiles and photographs published here first appeared in the pages of Chronogram magazine; grateful thanks to editor Brian Mahoney, creative director David Perry, and publisher Jason Stern for giving this project their blessings. Many more were created exclusively for this book. I travel light (legal pad and Bic pen) and Jennifer May travels heavy, toting suitcases full of camera equipment. We made forays by Subaru wagon in all four seasons, traversing unpaved mountain roads, rambling through farmland, and visiting riverfront cities. We met writers at home, in favorite cafes, on college campuses, at historic estates, in parks—even, in the case of river crusader Pete Seeger, at a roadside peace vigil. We crossed the Hudson on seven different bridges—Castleton-on-Hudson, Rip Van Winkle, Kingston-Rhinecliff, FDR Mid-Hudson, Hamilton Fish Newburgh-Beacon, Bear Mountain, and Tappan Zee—and the vistas were stunning from every one.
In all, we logged thousands of miles. But that was just part of the treat of creating this book. The real joy was the thousands of pages we read, guided not by the oddly Australian tones of Jen's GPS, but by the masterful voices of our chosen writers. Our backup list, dozens long to begin with, swelled to over two hundred names as we continued to read and do interviews. Every writer we spoke to knew many more; their recommendations were impassioned and quite overwhelming.
Perhaps this is what makes the Hudson Valley so magnetic to writers. It isn't the breathtaking scenery, the peace and quiet, or the proximity to New York City's publishing axis. It's all these, of course, but above and beyond that, the lure is community. We are proud to be part of this generous literary landscape, and to offer this tasting sampler from the laden banks of the River of Words.
—N INA S HENGOLD AND J ENNIFER M AY
October 2009
Chinua Achebe
F IVE DECADES AGO , an ambitious young man from a small Nigerian village put the handwritten manuscript of his first novel into a brown paper parcel and shipped it to a typing service in London. Months went by without word; the package, it seemed, had been lost. In desperation, the author begged an English colleague at the Nigerian Broadcasting company to stop by the typing service when she went to London on leave. She found the package languishing on a back shelf and got it typed posthaste. The book was called Things Fall Apart .
Since its first publication in 1958, Chinua Achebe's masterpiece has sold over twelve million copies worldwide; it's been translated into over fifty languages. Achebe, whose other novels include No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, A Man of the People , and Anthills of the Savannah , has received over thirty honorary degrees and a cornucopia of literary awards, including the 2007 Man Booker International Prize. He is widely considered, in Lewis Nkosi's words, “Africa's greatest indigenous novelist.”
Given this kind of acclaim, it's startling to visit Achebe's home on the Bard College campus in Annandale. The world-renowned novelist lives in a nondescript ranch house on a sleet-streaked back road, so easy to miss that Bard's publicity office offers a driving escort. Achebe answers the door himself. He has used a wheelchair since 1990, when a car accident left him paralyzed from the waist down; his presence imparts upon it the majesty of a throne. He moves to the dining room, turns, and says simply, “Here.”
Achebe has a powerful face, with an unswerving gaze and deeply carved lines around a strong mouth. He's wearing a striped broadcloth shirt, a coffee-toned vest, and dark trousers, with a black beret at a rakish angle that recalls a resistance leader. He speaks with a quiet authority, sometimes so softly one needs to lean forward. His hands are long-fingered and graceful; they dance as he talks, kneading the air. His dignity is palpable, but there's nothing austere or pompous in him—it's as easy to picture him grinning at his four grandchildren as mesmerizing an international audience.
The house is decorated in earth tones, with dark leather club chairs and vases of dried flowers. There's a sideboard covere