<![CDATA[The Lay of the Land]]>

false <![CDATA[The Lay of the Land]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166501473m/12372.jpg 12372 17 After more than a decade, Richard Ford revives Frank Bascombe, the beloved protagonist from The Sportswriter and Independence Day. Fans will be scrambling for The Lay of the Land, a novel that finds Bascombe contending with health, marital, and familial issues wake of the 2000 presidential election. We asked Richard Ford to tell us a little more about what it's like to create (and share so much time with) a character like Frank. Read his short essay below. --Daphne Durham <hr noshade="noshade" size="1" class="bucketDivider" /><div class="bucket"> Richard Ford on Frank Bascombe <img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/books/promos/a-plus/ford.1.jpg" hspace="4" vspace="4" border="0" align="left">I never think of the characters I write as exactly people, the way some writers say they do, letting their characters "just take over and write the book;" or for that matter, in the way I want readers to think of them as people, or even as I think of characters in novels I myself read (and didn't write). In my own books I do all the writing--the characters don't. And for me to think of them as people, instead of as figures made of language, would make my characters less subject to the useful and necessary changes that occur as I grow in my own awareness about them as I make them up. Writing a character for twenty-five years and for three novels, as I have written about Frank Bascombe, has meant that Frank has, of course, become a presence in my life (and a welcome one). When I wrote Independence Day I began with the belief that Frank was pretty much the same character and presence he was in The Sportswriter. But when I went back later and read parts of The Sportswriter, I found that the sentences Frank "spoke" and that filled that second book were longer, more complex, and actually contained more nitty experience than the first book. This has also been true of The Lay of the Land: longer sentences, more experience to reconcile and transact, more words required to make lived life seem accessible. You could say that Frank had simply changed as we all do. But practically speaking--as his author--what this makes me think is that I've had to make up Frank up newly each time, and have not exactly "gone back" and "found" him--although Frank's history from the previous books has certainly needed to be kept in sight and made consistent. What is finally consistent to me about Frank is that I "hear" language I associate with him, and it is language that pleases me, with which I and he can (if I'm a good enough writer) represent life in an intelligent and hopeful and buoyant spirit a reader can make use of. --Richard Ford </div> <hr noshade="noshade" size="1" class="bucketDivider" /><div class="bucket"> 1362538 24 10 2006 The Lay of the Land total:703|5:168|4:297|3:157|2:61|1:20| 703 2641 1095 167 3 2 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat May 12 16:52:54 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 15 14:23:23 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 2 false false Wed Feb 11 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 14:06:45 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 17:24:50 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Feb 15 19:37:32 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 19:40:53 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jan 04 12:47:34 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 12:47:45 -0800 2009 Bittersweet Downshift In Life Expectations , 13 Nov 2006

"This novel showcases many of Mr. Ford's gifts: his ability to capture the nubby, variegated texture of ordinary life; his unerring ear for how ordinary people talk; his talent for conjuring up subs...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Sep 07 12:47:14 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 13:47:43 -0700 2008
I suppose it's just like the Sportswriter and Independence Day. The whole narrative takes place over the few days sur...more...]]> 4 2 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Nov 13 06:53:48 -0800 2007 Tue Nov 13 07:40:28 -0800 2007
I have spent a great deal of time now with Mr. Bascombe over the past few years, and...more...]]> 0 1 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 30 18:07:02 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 30 18:07:02 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 3 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 04:10:03 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 20:14:04 -0700 2009
I've said many times I don't really believe in the entity called the Great American Novel, but if I did, this book would certainly qualify. It's wonderfully written (though exhausting at times with all the details, but trust the author, they all serve a purpose),...more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Oct 30 16:26:33 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 16:26:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Nov 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 14 08:54:54 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 24 08:23:56 -0800 2008 sentimental, I'd describe this book, along with the other two Frank Bascombe novels (less so The Sportswriter, even more so Independence Day) as: wonderful. I often tell people that reading them is like slipping into a warm bath or, more appr...more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:50:00 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:50:00 -0800 2009 Not all of Richard Ford's readers share his fondness for monologues, introspection, and the mundane details of everyday life. To be sure, some found them fascinating and insightful, but others were decidedly turned off. Most felt Ford had gone slightly overboard with his decision to follow Frank fro...

more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu May 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 30 14:45:23 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 14:15:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 02 10:15:26 -0700 2009 Sat May 02 10:26:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Feb 18 23:09:24 -0800 2009 Tue Jun 23 11:42:14 -0700 2009
An interesting sense of narrative time and rhythm. In my initial impression (above) I...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Apr 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Feb 03 17:19:35 -0800 2009 Sat Apr 25 09:48:45 -0700 2009
This is the third, and final book, by Ford about the same character. It isn't some Lord of the Rings type trilogy. Rather, Ford wrote a successful book (the Sportswriter), followed it up years later with a Pulitzer prize winner (Independence Day), and then decided to ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed May 07 23:33:27 -0700 2008 Wed May 07 23:34:09 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 13 03:35:40 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 14 03:26:02 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Feb 14 21:05:25 -0800 2008 Thu Sep 04 01:12:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Apr 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 05 11:53:44 -0800 2008 Sun Apr 06 17:36:06 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Aug 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 03 13:05:42 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 13:06:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=12372