I once had the surreal situation of team teaching with one of my mentors. She taught english; I taught history. The class was an exploration of southern culture. I can’t speak to the motivation behind this statement, but during the first session she announced to everyone, including me, “history gives you facts, literature gives you truth.”
Photo: Ron Rash and his new novel will be on display Thursday night, August 8 at Drendel Auditorium.
I’ve wrestled with that statement ever since and have never really come to terms with its meaning until I read the work of Ron Rash, a New York Times best selling author. His writing embodies the assertion that fiction gets to the heart of the matter. If you read any of his short stories or novels, you begin to see how the world he creates reveals something about the place from which all southerners come, one that a detailed, non-fictional look at the same situation could not peek into. Serena and In the Valley were just two of his most popular works.
Some of the characters he creates you know. They live down the street. Others, you may have just heard of, but they and the things they do ring true in a land where genius, an itch to have fun and the occasional desperation caused by bad choices can all get mixed up on a Thursday night. Given some of the historical characters that have come out of the South, those in Rash’s work make perfect sense. Even when they engage in some forlorn scheme that has no chance of success, we understand. In that way, he gets into the bloodstream of the southerner in ways where history never breaks the skin.
Don’t get me wrong. History has vital lessons to learn. Knowing what really happened offers important parallels to who we are now. Seeing those connections informs us on how we got to where we are today. The work of writers at the top of their game like Ron Rash offer an additional dimension, though. We can see living, breathing southerners deal with the legacy of the past, just like us.
Thursday, August 8th, Ron Rash is coming to Hickory. His new book, The Caretaker is out and he will be at Drendel Auditorium on the Salt Block, starting at 6:30. Doors open at 6. The evening promises to be a good one, with author Ed Southern of the NC Writers’ Network facilitating the conversation. NC author David Dixon will also be featured. He has a new short story collection coming out, himself. It’s called Down to the Root. Both Dixon and Rash will be signing copies of their book from 7:45 to 8:15.
The event is sponsored by Redhawk Publications, the Art of Compassion and Patrick Beaver Memorial Library, and offers a rare opportunity to see how truth gets written, southern style.
