 |
Writing is solitary labor and every writer has a unique approach to the task. For Sam Pickering, UConn professor of English, it’s walking. He does a lot of it. On sabbatical last year, in Scotland, he once walked 18 miles in a single day.
An inveterate chronicler, he keeps a notebook handy everywhere he goes. “I take a lot of notes,” he says.“I record patterns.”
Those notes are the raw material from which he constructs insightful ruminations that offer fresh ways of looking at everyday topics such as the seasons, teaching, and politics. In the last 30 years he has composed upward of 100 essays that have been published in the most prestigious literary periodicals and in 19 books.
Pickering is among a number of UConn professors who have distinguished themselves in recent years by producing books that transcend academia, reaching a broader audience. He was, for instance, just one of nearly 50 writers whose work, celebrated by the UConn Humanities Institute during 2003 and 2004, speaks to a writing culture whose roots have penetrated every department and discipline at the University. This proliferation of writers goes well beyond the many books and scholarly works produced each year by members of the UConn faculty and it extends to UConn alumni, such as the poet Lewis Turco ’59 (CLAS), author Robert D. Kaplan’73 (CLAS), and former UConn professor Wally Lamb ’72 (CLAS) ’77 M.A. who are among the nation’s most prolific and respected writers and authors.
When the expanded UConn Co-op opened two years ago, new space provided the opportunity to promote faculty works that now fill nearly two racks at the entrance to the Co-op, helping to make many of them brisk sellers. “We acquire copies of all faculty books and we host a lot of readings and book signing events throughout the year,” says Suzy Staubach, manager of general books at the Co-op.
 Photo by Peter Morenus |
| Writings by UConn faculty and alumni are among the best-selling books available in the UConn Co-op. |
The section devoted to UConn authors is hardly the exclusive province of the English department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Among the Co-op’s most requested volumes are geologist Robert Thorson’s Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England’s Stone Walls, which won the 2003 Connecticut Book Award in nonfiction; The Hanging of Ephraim Wheeler, a riveting account of the last execution by hanging in Massachusetts by history professor Richard Brown and his wife, former family studies professor Irene Brown; and philosophy professor Michael Lynch’s True to Life: Why Truth Matters.
Unquestionably, however, the English department has always been the epicenter of writing at UConn. The department’s history as a magnet for world-class authors is noted by Stephen Tabachnick ’71 Ph.D. in his 2003 book Fiercer Than Tigers: The Life and Works of Rex Warner, a biography of the historical novelist who taught in the UConn English department from 1963 to 1974.
Now chair of the English department at the University of Memphis, Tabachnick writes that the UConn English department established its renown, more than 40 years ago, with a faculty that included the poet and biographer John Malcolm Brinnin, poets Stephen Spender and Charles Olson, modern literature scholar Joseph Cary, romanticist Jack Davis and Stephen Crane’s biographer, R. W. Stallman.
“An eternal rule of all university departments is that productive and congenial faculty members attract similarly productive and congenial colleagues,” Tabachnick says. “As Spender was to write in his Journals 1939-1983 , the Storrs department was ‘the most congenial English faculty I was to know in all my years of teaching in America.’ ”
“We’re very proud of UConn’s writing culture,” says Robert Tilton, head of the English department. “We’ve made a strong effort, over the years, to attract and retain writers as members of the faculty.” In the last four years, he notes, nearly 50 books have been published by English department writers who are among the most celebrated in Connecticut, such as Pickering, humorist Regina Barreca and Ann Charters, one of the foremost scholars in the country of the Beat Generation writers.
To nurture that culture, the department sponsors or supports a wide range of programs. It regularly brings prominent writers to campus for lectures, receptions and interaction with students and faculty, ensuring UConn’s profile as an important stop on the literary trail between New York and Boston. It houses the Connecticut Writing Project that, since 1982, has been providing educational opportunities for Connecticut teachers in all disciplines and from all grade levels who recognize the worth of using writing as a means of learning any subject matter. And it enjoys a close affiliation with Curbstone Press, a highly regarded publisher based in Willimantic, devoted to creative literature that promotes human rights and inter-cultural understanding. The increasingly prominent Litchfield County Writers Project, based at UConn’s campus in Torrington, exemplifies the reach of UConn’s writing culture.
Contemporary faculty members characterize the climate of productivity and congeniality that Tabachnik identified as a hallmark. Penelope Pelizzon, for instance, is a widely published poet and author of the book, Nostos, published in 2000. Formerly assistant professor and coordinator of creative writing at Washington and Jefferson College, she came to UConn in 2002 to direct the creative writing program.
In Storrs, she says, she has found “a sense of collegiality” as well as what she calls “writerly solitude.” This privacy and creative space, which writers often crave, is a benefit of the English department’s culture that many of her colleagues also extol. For instance, some professors teach only one semester each year, which provides ample time for the writing and research that both fulfills their own professional needs and informs their classes.
“Poetry is a craft,” says Marilyn Nelson, poet laureate of Connecticut and UConn emeritus professor of English. “Too often people tend to write poems like building a house without knowing much about architecture.” The commitment to helping young writers learn that craft has been a foundation of Nelson’s work as both a professor and a writer, which, she says, has been aided by a number of UConn grants.
Nelson, who taught full-time from 1978 to 2002 and now teaches part-time, is the author of nine books and the recipient of many literary awards, including two Pushcart Prizes and two creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. She now directs the Soul Mountain Retreat at her home in East Haddam where, with support from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, she nurtures African-American poets who are “committed to the craft” with residencies year round.
There may be no better indication of UConn as a respected center of writing than the selection of Ross Miller, professor of English and comparative literature, to write a critical biography of one of America’s great modern novelists, Philip Roth. Miller also was selected by the Library of America as the sole editor of its comprehensive eight-volume edition of Roth’s entire body of work, only the third living writer to be so honored, that will be published from 2005 to 2013. Regina Barreca has written or edited 14 books and is a renowned expert on humor. In addition to her teaching, she writes regular columns for The Hartford Courant and the Web site Education World and is in demand as a public speaker.
“Writing helps to keep me current as a teacher, and it helps to keep me honest,” says Barreca, who admits that the pressure of impending deadlines is an important motivator. “It’s a humbling experience. Words are not just some gift from the cosmos that magically appear on paper. Writing is hard work. It’s a craft, and I try to impress upon my students the importance of honoring the craft by doing it well.”
It is a sentiment that many of her colleagues share and an idea that is central to UConn’s writing culture. Every student at the university is required to take at least two writing-intensive courses, and the emphasis is on learning to write clearly and correctly. The journalism department, also within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is often where UConn students elect to fulfill the writing requirement, a point noted in a 2003 report by the team from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The report indicated that the journalism department is known for its faculty expertise in teaching writing that sharpens critical thinking and the wide impact that it has across campus.
Adds Pelizzon, “Many of my students have no intention of becoming professional writers. What we try to impress upon them, however, is the importance of the craft of writing. We try to put students inside the writing process and give them a sense of responsibility for doing it well.”
Celebrating the Retreat
 |
| Author Frank McCourt speaks at UConn’s Torrington campus with Davyne Verstandig, lecturer and director of the Litchfield County Writers Project. |
The way in which UConn’s campus in Torrington uniquely reflects the region that it serves is no better illustrated than with the Litchfield County Writers Project.
Litchfield County has been a country get-away for literary luminaries for many years. The establishment of a vehicle for local writers to share information and insights began 12 years ago with a small collection of eight first-edition books signed by the late writer, artist, historian and environmentalist Eric Sloane and writers gathering to talk informally about their work.
That modest beginning has evolved beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. The Litchfield County Writers Project has developed into a distinguished regional writing program offering classes, workshops, special events and speakers programs, often featuring some of the most celebrated writers in the nation. Arthur Miller, Wendell Minor, Madeleine L’Engle, Burton Bernstein and Honor Moore have all been guest speakers. This fall’s series has included novelist Frank McCourt, playwright A. R. Gurney and Bill C. Davis.
With donations of some 100 books last year, the spark for the Litchfield County Writers Project has grown to nearly 1,000 books written by nearly 200 local authors.
The Writing Life After UConn
The writers who teach at UConn are a diverse lot. But just as idiosyncratic in their varied approaches to their craft are the many alumni who have taken up the pen. A sampling of some UConn alumni who are prolific writers:
Ann Beattie ’70 M.A. is a short story writer and novelist who has been recognized many times for her work, including an award of excellence from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Collections of her short stories include Park City and The Burning House, and her six novels include My Life, Starring Dara Falcon.
Robert D. Kaplan ’73 (CLAS) is a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly and the author of 11 books on travel and foreign affairs, including Balkan Ghosts and The Coming Anarchy. His latest book, Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground, is the first of a series of books he is writing about the U.S. military.
Wally Lamb ’72 (CLAS) ’77 M.A. is the best-selling author of She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, and editor of the poetry collection, Always Begin Where You Are. He is the recipient of a 1998 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award, a past recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts grant for fiction and a Missouri Review William Peden Fiction Prize.
Patricia MacLachlan ’62 (ED) is the best-selling author of many beloved books for young readers, including Sarah, Plain and Tall, winner of the Newberry Medal. Among her picture books are Painting the Wind and Bittle, both of which she co-wrote with her daughter Emily.
Bobbie Ann Mason ’72 Ph.D. is one of the country’s leading fiction writers, known for such novels as In Country and short stories that have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s and Redbook.
Jean Marzollo ’64 (CLAS) has published more than 100 books, including the popular I Spy children’s books. Recent books she has both written and illustrated include Little Bear, You’re A Star and Daniel in the Lions’ Den.
Leigh Montville ’65 (CLAS) is one of the nation’s best-known sports-writers, having worked for Sports Illustrated and as a columnist for the Boston Globe. Among his many books are Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero, The Fast Life and Tragic Death of Dale Earnhardt, and Dare to Dream: Connecticut Basketball’s Remarkable March to the National Championship with Jim Calhoun.
Jim Motavalli ’75 (CLAS) is editor of E, The Environmental Magazine, and one the nation’s leading environmental writers. His books include Breaking Gridlock: Moving Toward Transportation that Works and Feeling the Heat: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Climate Change.
Mark Kimball Moulton ’77 (CANR) published his first children’s book, A Snowman Named Just Bob, in 1999 and has written 15 other children’s titles.
Les Payne ’64 (CLAS) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and columnist for Tribune Media Services. He is associate managing editor of Newsday.
Elaine Scarry ’74 Ph.D. is a literary critic, author and English professor at Harvard University who is best known for her books The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World and On Beauty and Being Just , which won the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism Award.
George Smith ’63 (CLAS) retired from his career as a sportswriter for The Hartford Courant , to begin a new career as a writer of military history and has written four books, including The Siege of Hue and MacArthur’s Escape.
Lewis Turco ’59 (CLAS) established a writing career that has spanned more than half a century and included 44 books that have won some of the nation’s most respected literary awards, including the Poetry Society of America’s Melville Cane Award for his 1986 book of criticism, Visions and Revisions of American Poetry . He is professor emeritus of English writing arts at the State University of New York-Oswego.