Pulitzer winner, 'U' alum Richard Ford to return to Ann Arbor, read at Borders

By Dean Bakopoulos
Daily Arts Writer

When writer Richard Ford comes to Ann Arbor, he won't be on foreign soil. Ford was an assistant professor in the University's English department in the mid-70s, working here while his wife did her Ph.D. work. He's lived right on South University street, and still has plenty of friends in Ann Arbor. Plus, he returns to town every year to give a lecture to the Michigan Society of Journalism Fellows. So, needless to say, he's looking forward to his visit.

Ford will be at the Borders on E. Liberty Monday night, reading from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "Independence Day" - the hero of which, Frank Bascombe, is a University alum who makes references to distinctly Ann Arbor traditions like love in the Arb and "The Victors" fight song. But most University grads will not aspire for a future like Bascombe's, who, in the 1986 novel "The Sportswriter," went through a midlife crisis of epic proportions. In "Independence Day" Bascombe returns, having given up the writing life and settling down to a real estate job in upper middle-class New Jersey.

With his return, and a marvelous return it is, many critics have heralded Bascombe as one of the greatest American literary characters, ranking him with the likes of Updike's Harry Angstrom or Miller's Willy Loman. Ford says that wasn't his intention. "When I finished 'The Sportswriter' I had no intention of bringing Frank Bascombe back again. But I found that in a rather accretive sort of way, that voice kept creeping back into my way of thinking."

The decision to bring Bascombe back in "Independence Day" does not stem from a fascination of any kind with his own character. Rather, Ford says, "I think about Frank Bascombe chiefly as a kind of tone of voice. A tone of voice which allows me to do a number of things which I feel might be appealing to the reader. For instance, things like making moral judgements, being mirthful, showing sympathy, being attractively self-effacing."

Bascombe is a key reason that the novel is being labeled distinctly American by the literary community. The book is full of minor characters, all of them in different phases of losing out on the mythical American dream, and is set during the nation's most patriotic holiday, so such a label seems inevitable. Ford said indeed the novel does deal in some distinctly American themes, not only because of the July 4th setting, but because the novel also takes place in 1988, an election year, and the election is oft-discussed in the novel.

"I think the book turned out to be a kind of political book, in that it exemplifies how much the average American, or at least this character who represents an average American, is divorced or distanced from the actual electoral process," Ford said. "And yet at the same time Americans are intensely involved in political forces themselves - the forces of economy, the forces of democracy, the forces of sociology."

There are other reasons Ford chose to set his novel on the July 4th weekend. "I'm often tempted to want to set up a novel around a holiday because I think most Americans have very vivid, personal memories of holidays," Ford said. "And if I can engage in a reader's personal memories, then I think I have part of the persuasive work done." Plus, Ford's themes in the novel also heavily focus on an individual's personal and emotional independence. "I wanted to define independence in a slightly different way than I thought its conventional understanding was."

Whatever Ford's motives in writing the novel were, the readers caught on quickly. "Independence Day" is a bestseller, and it's also won Ford this year's PEN/Faulkner and Pulitzer awards. Plus, many critics are welcoming Ford into the ranks of the great contemporary American novelists, joining literary lions like John Updike and Saul Bellow. Ford said that's not how he views things. "I don't have that stratified sense of accomplishment. I would never consider myself of being on a plane with them. They're heroes of mine and I don't compete with them, nor do I aspire to be as good or better than them. All's I try to do is be the best I can be."

Successful or not, Ford said, the writer's life should be viewed as a "privledged one." "To choose to be a writer," he said, "is basically a life in which you aspire to do what Chekhov did. I mean, what can be more wonderful?" Still, Ford says the writing life is one in which disappointment and discouragement are commonplace, and he says the writer's trade is "very, very, very difficult," one in which the failure rate is very high.

Any advice for younger, aspiring writers? "Sure," Ford quips, "Talk yourself out of it, if you can." He tells young writers to weigh all their other options first, before they decide to dedicate their lives to being a practicioner of words.

Fortunately for his many readers, Ford was unable to do that.

Pulitzer winner, University alum Richard Ford relaxes in tweed.