October 5, 2005
Author reading novel idea
'Montana 1948' writer reads work at TC district library
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Winding up the local reading season, Larry Watson spoke to more than 75 people at the Traverse Area District Library about "Montana 1948," his award-winning novel published in 1993.
Recounting his inspirations, goals, motivations and struggles while writing the book, Watson was in town to wind up this year's Traverse City Reads program. From April to September, book clubs, individuals and other groups were encouraged to read and discuss work, which was this year's designated TC Reads book.
Weaving in themes of family loyalty and betrayal, innocence and molestation, Watson said his role in writing the novel was that of storyteller.
"I tried to find a good story, one that I could write about with authority," Watson related of "Montana 1948." "I did not set out to write a book that was a working out of social or political issues, I had my hands full with words and sentences."
After summarizing the plot for his audience, most of whom had already read the book, he discussed its creation plus his childhood, writing background and life in a witty, self-effacing manner.
Watson drew parallels to characters in his own family and the frontier feeling - "a wild undertone" - of the book's Montana frontier and his North Dakota childhood. This childhood and that of the novel's central character, 12-year-old David Hayden, merged a mid-century innocence with darker undertones.
"I have never written a fiction, short story or novel in which I stayed so close to my roots, not just my family heritage but the region," he noted. "To some degree when I write about the 1940s and the 1950s I'm writing about my childhood, but the era before 1950 is really that of my father."
Watson termed that era just before his consciousness - he was born in 1947 - an era of hat wearing.
"My father always, always wore a hat and that hat was a fedora," he related of his now deceased father, who served as a sheriff and later as an attorney for various government agencies.
A professor for 25 years at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Watson lives in Milwaukee and is a visiting professor at Marquette University. A prolific author of poetry, short stories and novels, he began writing in college and has many publications to his credit.
Watson was so captivated by the characters and family featured in "Montana 1948" that he later wrote a prequel about the Hayden family history entitled "Justice."
Book clubs around the area read "Montana 1948" this year as part of the one-book, one community thrust of the TC Reads program. Bonnie Willings, a member of the AAUW book discussion group, noted that some club members found a dichotomy between their reactions to the book and those of their husbands.
"The men who read it were like, 'Cart him off and take him to jail,'" she said of the book's tension between a sheriff and his molesting brother. "The women were much more process and the men were much more action."
TC Reads began nearly five years ago to promote reading among people of all ages, interests and genders. Earlier this year, the organizers, which include area librarians, professionals and book lovers, wanted a book that could include a visit by the author. The previous two year's selections did not offer that facet while Watson's visit last week included a formal tea at the Wellington Inn, interviews on the radio, a spontaneous visit to a creative writing classroom at Interlochen Arts Academy plus Saturday night's reception and lecture.
"It really adds a nicer dimension to the books if we can have him doing things in the region," said Victoria Sutherland, founder of TC Reads and publisher of ForeWord Magazine.