Andre Dubus III

I have really enjoyed discovering blogs by other people who enjoy reading and authors. There are about a million of 'em out there so this new found distractions should get me through what looks like a long, grueling Winter. Anyway, I am intrigued by one that encourages persons to write about the author they are currently reading...research facts about them and then present it in their own blog.

So, I am reading 'The Bluesman' by Andre Dubus III. I selected it for several reasons.
1. It is about music in the 60's and 70's which ties into the book I am writing.
2. It is by a highly regarded writer whose works are known for a skillful and sensitive use of language and subject matter.
3. Andre Dubus III also wrote 'House of Sand and Fog' a National Book Award finalist in 1999 and 2003 movie, which I have not read yet but surely will after finishing 'The Bluesman.' I LOVE this writer!

4. Andre Dubus III has a new work just released titled, 'Garden of Last Days,' which I will also read ASAP.

Looks like I am going to be into Andre for a while and loving every minute of it. His style reminds me somewhat of David Wroblewski whose debut novel, 'The Story of Edgar Sawtelle,' is also a great read.

Anyway, some facts from Random House's website and Wikipedia.

Andre Dubus III is the son of Andre Dubus (small wonders never cease!), an extremely talented man of words as well. He was born in 1959 in California. His other works include 'The Cage Keeper and Other Stories' (1959).

He attended Bradford College in Massachusetts where his father was a professor, University of Texas (for sociology) and University of Wisconsin-Madison. He abandoned his Ph.D. pursuit there to tend to a number of odd jobs before becoming a fiction writer. Those odd jobs find lots of places in his writing. He now lives in Newbury Massachusetts with his wife, a dancer, and their children. He also currently teaches at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

There is a great interview of Andre at the following link written after the release of 'House of Sand and Fog.' It was published online in Random House's review blog 'Bold Type' which was evidently discontinued in 2003.

http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0300/dubus/interview.html

Excerpts quoting Mr. Dubus in that piece follow:

"As a matter of writing philosophy, if there is one, I try not to ever plot a story. I try to write it from the character's point of view and see where it goes."

"I try not to ever make a point with my writing, and if I do it kills the fiction. I try to just capture the texture, because I don't have the answers."

"I do believe that what's so exciting and terrifying about the writing process is that it really is an act of exploration and discovery. With all of us, not just writers, there is a sort of knowledge of the other. We have a lot more in common than we realize, and I think writing is really a sustained act of empathy."

"I try not to ever make a point with my writing, and if I do it kills the fiction. I try to just capture the texture, because I don't have the answers."

"There's that great line from Flannery O'Connor, where she said, 'Our beliefs are not what we see, but the light by which we see.'"

'Bluesman', written in 1993, is a story about 18 year old Leo Struther growing up in the '70's and his struggles with understanding and expressing his emerging virility and musical genius to his father, his girlfriend Allie or himself.