When D.E. Axinn Professor of English and Creative Writing Jay Parini introduced writer Howard Frank Mosher to a crowd in Axinn’s Abernethy Room last Wednesday, he said that he had a title for Mosher ever since he started reading his books: the William Faulkner of the Northeast Kingdom. According to Professor Parini’s introduction, Mosher’s work is rooted in this postage stamp of land in Northeast Vermont and with his books he has universalized it for decades.
Mosher went on to explain how he came to call the Northeast Kingdom his home. In his early twenties, Mosher had a desire to look for “a blueprint” that would show him how to write fiction. He thought graduate school might be the answer, but with very little money he had to put it on hold. It was at that time that he and his wife decided to teach and found jobs teaching high school in the county of Orleans, Vt, one of the three that defines the Northeast kingdom. Mosher and his wife had their first contact with the people of the Northeast Kingdom when they asked two drunken men caught in a street fight for directions. The two men jumped in the car and showed them where they wanted to go, only to continue the fight when they were done.
To Mosher, the Kingdom held “a goldmine of stories. When I arrived, I wasn’t ready to write them. I wouldn’t be able to write them for 10 or 15 years. Some of the stories are sad. The kingdom is a very desolate place.”
Mosher had just completed a 100-city book tour for his most recent book, Walking to Gatlinburg, published in March. Currently, Mosher is working on a new book that has a connection to Middlebury. According to Mosher, it is inspired by the life and work of one of Middlebury’s most famous graduates, Alexander Twilight.
Much of Mosher’s visit was focused on Walking to Gatlinburg. “I’m interested in where writers come up with that glimmer of an idea,” he said. “Where did Jane Austen come up with that spark for Pride and Prejudice? In the case of Gatlinburg, it started as a true story.”
The original story belonged to a friend of Mosher’s in North Carolina, whose great-great-great grandfather was conscripted to the confederate army during the Civil War.
“His name was Jasper Memory. At the beginning of his campaign, he was almost immediately captured and taken to Elmira Prison, where nearly 3,000 confederate soldiers died from neglect.” The story was to be about how he survived and traveled back to his bride in North Carolina, trekking over the Great Smokey Mountains.
“But it seemed somebody else wrote this story.” Mosher said, referring to Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain. “I didn’t want to go at Charles Frazier. But the story wouldn’t let go.”
The current story came to Mosher about a year later, when he was walking at his home and observing the mountains.
“I thought, what if? What if he [the main character] was looking for his brother who was MIA?”
Seven years and 50 drafts later, Walking For Gatlinburg was finished.
Mosher read two sections from his book to the crowd. Both involved encounters between the main character, Morgan, and famous figures in the war, most notably President Lincoln. From listening to the reading, Mosher’s skill was apparent, though not in an overwhelming or bombastic way. The content was very specific and laced with history, while the language was active and heavy, but not wordy. Mosher’s skill with dialogue was strong, as it covered a huge spectrum of emotions. One minute it was quirky and pleasant, the next morally heavy. His prose seemed alive and incredibly natural. Though future drafts of the work might remove extra prepositions or words, two things that will remain in Mosher’s writing are curiosity and interest. He was genuinely in love with the story he was writing, which caused the audience to follow in turn.
This is in keeping with what he said was his muse. Mosher heard his best writing tip in a bar in Nashville listening to a young girl sing country. At the back of the bar was an old man “with iron grey hair” who was supposedly a major country star at one point. When Mosher saw him, the man was drinking himself to death. After the young singer finished, the old man beckoned her back and Mosher, “being the nosey writer from Vermont,” leaned in to listen to their conversation. Apparently, this country singer, a man past his prime, told Mosher via the younger singer: “When you’re up on stage singing nice songs, never hold nothing back.”
Mosher certainly took this to heart. While his words were spare at his reading, his curiosity with the world he creates could not be contained.
Vt. author embodies spirit of Northeast Kingdom
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