English Comp II: Final Exam—John Dufresne’s obituary, don’t worry he’s alive! It’s just an interesting writing assignment!

For our final exams we had to write obituaries on people in our desired fields. My field is writing, and I was assigned John Dufresne, an author who received his bachelors from my school, and has written quite a bit. Also, he appears to be a lovely man. I recommend his new novel to anyone interested. He writes with southern settings, but with this very well-done northern form. I have great respect for his writing.

He has a wordpress: http://johndufresne.wordpress.com/ which was actually how i got the idea to start having one of my own. He puts strange little “snip-its” of his day, i guess that’s what they’d be called.

Requiem, Mass. A Novel by John Dufresne, I hear some good things, and it looks good. If you can’t wait for its release than look into Louisiana Power & Light, I read L L&P and found it to be very well-written and a very interesting story told by the view of “the town” in the singular form. Interesting writing style, interesting in a positive way!

Well, anyways here is the obituary I came up with…

 

John Dufresne, Novelist Who Wrote on Love and Motivations in the Southern Setting, Dies at 60

 

John Dufresne, a novelist who wrote on motivations and love with an infusion of humor and pain (Gale), captured southern culture in four novels and two collections of short stories, discussed his northern form and approach in a book on creative writing, and taught many aspiring writers, died on Thursday in his home in Dania Beach, Florida. He was 60 years old.

 

The occasional negative criticism aside, Dufresne’s work was generally praised. Mr. Dufresne’s writing has been seen as having the ability to “weave”(Lesher 14) “a powerful spell, proving himself…a writer of great energy and a big open heart” (Steinberg and Zalenski 41). Though at times his work has been reviewed as having a tendency to lapse into “parochial preciousness” (Steinberg and Zaleski 41), there has been a largely positive response from critics who have sent any notions seemingly negative.

 

Staying true to his two loves, story writing and the southern culture, Dufresne at times connected his stories to external components, lending to his stories an authentic richness which cannot be found in most writing that could be compared to his. His subtle placement in stories of “local color” (Gale) can be seen in his first novel, Louisiana Power & Light (1994), which was his first best-seller. In this story Dufresne gives a beautiful portrayal of poor Billy Wayne, and his misfortunes and search for significance ([Penguin Group {USA}] An Interview with John Dufresne). This young man takes up his identity—a newly married man—finds himself a job, not a career, and learns the values of life, family, and love; and how the three tie together.

 

“Billy Wayne listened as Earlene poured out her heart like water, like cool water to his thirsty soul. Her voice, like a river, washed over him. He had looked at God for so long that God had vanished suddenly, and all Billy Wayne saw before him now was Earlene, and he looked upon her as upon the face of the water and saw himself reflected there. Saw his yearning. Was that it? An emptiness? He had no sipped, yet could taste the sweet draft of intimacy” (Dufresne, L L&P, 19).

 

John Dufresne traced his history with love far beyond his first publications. Dufresne said, in a piece for The Washington Post, that at about the age of five he had his first crush and venture into love. His first experience, Cookie Pepper, he would see every day on the bus. Growing up in Worcester, Massachusetts he would take the bus every day to Sacred Heart, where he attended school. He considered this his first encounter with how strange love was (Dufresne), and ever since has understood very little on the topic, though finding it a very fascinating topic to write about. Dufresne has said himself that, “It’s love that’s essential” (Dufresne 312).

 

A few trials and tribulations later, after graduating from Worcester State College, he found himself in the field of social work: helping teens with drug problems (In an Interview with Max Ruback). He “ran an alternative high school, a drop-in center, worked a suicide prevention hotline” (Dufresne), until, “the government decided to spend money on treatment rather than prevention” (Dufresne), Thereby putting the young Dufresne out of work. He moved through a series of other jobs painting houses, working in a factory, and driving a cab. At the time MFA programs did not have much attention, but Dufresne decided to apply, explaining some years later, “I did some research into the programs and applied to about ten of them, thinking whoever takes me, I’ll go.” This technique worked, and he landed himself at the University of Arkansas (In an Interview with Slushpile.net).

 

In his first class at University of Arkansas in writing Dufresne found that a piece that he had published locally, and had included in his application, would be the first piece of writing the course would examine. Because this piece was what traditionalist might label “experimental,” Dufresne was convinced that it would not stand much of a chance of being well received by the instructor, Professor Harrison, “who experimental fiction.” As it turned out, Harrison enjoyed this experimental attempt, and told Dufresne he “knew how to write but had no idea what a story was” (In an Interview with Max Ruback). This rather frank critique didn’t get Dufresne at all down, he asked Harrison to explain what a story was to him. Immediately after receiving that explanation Dufresne ran off to begin work on his first ’story’ named Addie, which would make it to the Intro 14, a journal of the best of the Arkansas Writing Project programs. Addie also found its way to winning Dufresne the Henfield Foundation/Transatlantic Review award for fiction (In an Interview with Slushpile.net).

 

Tom Whelen, a graduate of Arkansas at the time, predicted out loud that in ten years only two writers in Dufresne’s writing group at Arkansas would still be writing. Dufresne then looked around the table, immediately thinking, who’s the other one? “At that point I knew I couldn’t be stopped. I did figure I’d be publishing in little magazines all my life, but that was okay by me” (In an Interview with Max Ruback).

 

While at University of Arkansas Dufresne began his work on his first collection of short stories, The Way That Water Enters Stone (1990), “a collection of short stories set in New England and the Deep South” (Gale), which placed him on their list of signed authors for his lifetime publisher, W.W. Norton. The themes behind his pieces revolved around relationships and loss; there’s a recurring case of “characters are adult characters whose spouses have left them, or they are children of broken marriages” (Gale). This first publication established him in the field of writing, no small achievement, considering how difficult it was, and is, to put together a collection of short stories able to sell.

 

Even Dufresne’s relationship with his publisher illustrates how firmly his priority lies with his love of writing rather than simply with making as much money as he can: He called Norton “the best publisher in New York because it’s the last independent publisher, and it’s owned by the people who work there. They’re loyal and they sign you on as a writer and not as a book. They want to nourish and support your career. They don’t pester me about deadlines, they’re just very supportive people” (In an Interview with Slushpile.net).

 

John Dufresne always demonstrates that he was not in the field just for the possibility of fame and wealth, which he has found his fair share of. Up until the time of his death he was a Creative Writing professor at Florida International Institute, who, every other Wednesday night, also gave a free creative writing course for local aspiring writers. Dufresne, when discussing his career as a professor, has said, “Even though I may not be writing at any given moment, I’m thinking about fiction. In that sense I’m more fortunate than most writers who have to support themselves with day jobs” (In an Interview with Elaine August).

Dufresne, always keeping busy with writing, made time to write a book about fiction writing, The Lie that Tells the Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction (2005). “You only have to want to write as much as you want to watch TV or go to the movies,” he writes in the book. “You manage to get those done. You can probably manage all three. You pay with your time, your patience, your passion, your persistence’” Dufresne broke down the approach to writing, and how to go into the art without getting lost in the other books about writing out there, which, he contended, “are too basic and too fluffy,” Even as they do not allow the reader to learn anything or to be presented with any “challenges” (In an Interview with Slushpile.net).

 

As Dufresne continued to work diligently at his writing over the years, his reputation grew, and awards began to come his way. He has received several, including: “Transatlantic Review Award, 1983; PEN Syndicated Fiction Award, 1984; Yankee Magazine Fiction Award, 1988; Florida State Arts Council grant, 1992; New York Times Notable Book of the Year, 1994, for Louisiana Power and Light, and 1996, for Love Warps the Mind; honorary doctor of literature, Worcester State College, 1999″ (Gale).

 

His death was an early one, coming as it did four months after his 60^th birthday only four months prior on January 30^th. His wife, Cindy Chinelly, confirmed the cause of death as a heart attack. Dufresne lived to finish his last semester, and to teach another group of writers/editors the art he loved. His last novel, Requiem, Mass is due for release in two months. His last piece of fiction is a novel set in Massachusetts in a setting much similar to his own childhood, with exception of Johnny’s mother’s belief that everything around her isn’t real, and that her family has been replaced by aliens (Dufresne, Back Cover). This last piece should leave all with an after-taste of Dufresne’s twisted humor.

 

Many evaluators of Dufresne’s writing have noticed an “ironic setting” in his writing. His having a French-Canadian background, and writing for the most part about people of the South has an out-of-the-element appearance, but after his moving to Arkansas, for his M.F.A, and considering his eventual move to Florida, he found that the southern milieu fits, very well “his idea of what story characters should be. Poets and Writers contributor Eve Richardson characterized this quality as ‘unfailingly fallible, often quirky, human to the last molecule, seeking a coherent existence in an oft-mad world, and pursued by Trouble’” (Gale).

 

He leaves behind a son, Christian Jude, from his first marriage to Marilyn Virbasius; also, his widow, Cindy Chinelly, an adjunct professor at Florida International Institute (Gale).

 

“Am I going to be a writer or someone who wrote a story. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Dufresne said (In an Interview with Slushpile.net), and that is what he did for the rest of his life.

 

 

Works Cited

 

 

Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC>

 

 

Dufresne, John. “An Interview With John Dufresne.” Interview with Max Ruback.

Turnrow. Winter 2001: Volume 1.2.

 

Dufresne, John. “An Interview with John Dufresne.” Interview with Penguin Group Book Clubs/Reading Guides. Penguin Group(USA) Date not given. <http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/louisiana_power_light.html>

 

Dufresne, John. “Getting Black on White: The Craft of Writing.” Interview with Elaine August.

Southern Scribe 2003.

 

Dufresne, John. “Interview: John Dufresne, Author.” Interview with Slushpile.net

Slushpile.net. Jul. 2005. <http://www.slushpile.net/index.php/2005/07/01/interviw-john-dufresne-author/>

 

Dufresne, John. Louisiana Power & Light. New York: Norton, W.W. & Company, Inc., 1995.

 

 

—. Love Warps the Mind a Little. New York: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc., 1997.

 

—. Requiem, Mass. A Novel. New York: Norton, W.W. & Company, Inc., 2008.

 

—. “What’s So Hot About Passion?” The Washington Post Company 9 Feb. 2003: W20.

 

Lesher, L. Parent. Rev. of Love Warps the Mind a Little. By John dufresne. The Best Novels of the Nineties: A Reader’s Guide (2000): 14.

 

Poets and Writers, March-April 2002, Eve Richardson, “The Trouble He’s Seen: The Tragicomic Vision of John Dufresne.”

 

Steinberg, Sybil and Jeff Zaleski. “Forecasts: Fiction.” Publishers Weekly 02 Dec. 1996: 41.

 

W.W. Norton & Company. About W.W. Norton.

<http://www.wwnorton.com/area4/about.htm>

 

 

I hope you found this interesting!

 

Michael