Grad News Forum

About twenty graduate students from various disciplines gathered for an intimate lunch at the cozy Montgomery House last Wednesday with author Tobias Wolff who, until recently, was in residence at Dartmouth as a Montgomery Fellow. Wolff is the well-known writer of the memoirs This Boy’s Life and In Pharaoh’s Army, as well as several novels and short stories. After a childhood of traveling around the United States with his single mother, Mr. Wolff earned his bachelor’s degree at Oxford University and his master’s from Stanford University, where he is currently the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor of English. He spoke with students about everything from writing to politics to his childhood, and his penchant for storytelling was evident throughout the afternoon.

Students asked Wolff questions about his success as a writer and about his thoughts on the craft in general. “Writing is hard for me,” he admitted, adding that to avoid distraction he wrote for years in an empty cellar room with no windows.  He also pointed out that in a world filling up with diversions like Twitter, Facebook, and cell phones, achieving full concentration is one of the biggest challenges facing writers today.

When asked how he was able to succeed in such a competitive field, Wolff replied that the key is to not worry about others. “Someone always did it better, younger,” he mused. “Just strive to be better than you were the last time, every time you write.” He spoke also on the value of writing workshops, but warned that while we should learn to use criticisms to improve what we are trying to do, it is equally important to learn to ignore certain voices. If a writer tries to make each and every reader happy, Wolff said, his or her job becomes impossible; the real competition and most important readers are writers themselves. He went on to say that many of the decisions writers make—how to begin or end a story, which characters to include, etc.—are determined by instinct. Most often, Wolff said, writers actually discover their stories in the process of writing them. “We can only explain the decisions afterward,” he added.

Mr. Wolff not only gave advice, but he also regaled his audience with the true stories behind some of his works—including a bank robbery, a car wreck, a hunting trip gone wrong, and scenes from his tour in Vietnam. The fact that so many of his pieces are drawn from real-life experience highlights what creative writing students at Dartmouth and everywhere hear again and again: start with what you know. Students can only hope to have as rich a store of authentic adventures as Tobias Wolff.

by Chris Abell
photo by Erin E. O’Flaherty

Award-winning writer Tobias Wolff, author of several short story collections including Our Story Begins and the memoirs This Boy’s Life and In Pharoah’s Army, is in residence at Dartmouth as a Montgomery Fellow this month.

Wolff, the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor of English at Stanford University, will be on campus from Monday, April 23, to Friday, April 27. He will deliver a public lecture entitled, “Luck and Work: A Writer’s Life,” on Tuesday, April 24, at 4:30 p.m. in Filene Auditorium, located in Moore Hall.

There’s still room at this Wednesday’s lunch the Montgomery Fellow: sign up if you’d like to discuss writing with Tobias over lunch in the Montgomery House!

For more on Wolff, visit Dartmouth Now.

The Montgomery Fellowship brings individuals of outstanding caliber within their respective fields to Dartmouth to engage with and educate students.  The Montgomery Fellow of the spring 2011 term, writer Louise Erdrich, recently sat down with Dartmouth graduate students to discuss the writing process.

There is a tendency to think of works of literature as fixed entities, immovable and static, but this is not always the case. Louise Erdrich, the Montgomery Fellow for the Spring 2011 term at Dartmouth, doesn’t view her work as ever truly being “finished”.

The acclaimed writer and Dartmouth alumnus—she gave the 2009 Commencement address—explained that she often revisits her work long after it has been published, continually reworking and editing a piece. In fact, she mentioned that if she didn’t have a deadline, she’d probably never stop tinkering with her work. While these rewrites might surface in future editions of a published work, in some cases she is the only one to ever see them.

Like so many writers, Erdrich struggled at times to make a livelihood out of writing. At the luncheon, she admitted to keeping some of the numerous rejection letters she received from publishers in her early career, excluding many that were impersonalized form letters devoid of even a signature.

“I only kept the ones touched by a human hand,” says Erdrich.

Having written in virtually every genre, from fiction and poetry to memoir and short stories, Erdrich spoke of her own writing process. By “keeping the door open” while writing, Erdrich allows each medium to inform the other while remaining open to her surroundings at all times. In a recent interview with Dartmouth Now, Erdrich spoke of the importance of observation for a writer, regardless of genre.

“I tell aspiring writers to keep diaries or journals descriptive of their surroundings, events, people, and stories they hear,” said Erdrich. “These things are difficult to remember later on.”

Erdrich added that, to jog her memory, she frequently refers back to these journals while she is writing. Filled with prose and pictures, the journals serve as a way for her to gain inspiration from previous experiences.

One of Erdrich’s daughters, Aza, is a current undergraduate student at Dartmouth.  Aza also attended the luncheon, and in her presence Erdrich spoke of the valuable feedback and fulfillment she gets from sharing her writing with her children. According to Erdrich, her daughters share their thoughts honestly and openly with her—and don’t mince words if they feel something isn’t working.

Laughing, Aza replied,“Everything she writes is great!”.

Read more about the Montgomery Endowment at Dartmouth.

by Erin O’Flaherty
photo by Erin O’Flaherty

The final Montgomery Fellow of the winter term, chef and noted food activist Dan Barber, recently sat down with Dartmouth graduate students to discuss the local food movement.

Dan Barber did not invent the concept of the “food to table movement,” but he has certainly contributed to its popularity.  As the main chef and proprietor of two highly regarded restaurants in New York, Barber has become the poster boy of sustainable eating.  Located on an estate in Westchester County, Stone Barns Farms supplies much of the food for both his restaurant at the farm, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and his Manhattan mainstay, Blue Hill.

An intense advocate of understanding where our food comes from, Barber is a unique chef in that much of his culinary interests lie outside of the kitchen.  In addition to his work at both restaurants, Barber has become a leading figure within the sustainability movement, speaking at the TED2010 Conference and serving on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.  As Barber is currently working with university researchers to determine how production methods affect the nutritional content of his food, much of the lunch’s discussion focused on scientific concepts.

“I wish that I had taken more biology and chemistry,” notes Barber.

The seasonal challenges that define growing regions greatly impact Barber’s menu selections at his New York restaurants.  When asked about the difficulties that a harsh New England winter poses to eating locally, Barber stresses that even small adjustments make a big impact.  For example, choosing to eat “in-season” crops such as hearty root vegetables is not only a responsible choice, but a healthy one.

“I don’t want the prevailing mentality to be that of just surviving winter, but instead looking at it as an opportunity to thrive,” explains Barber.

Though some balk at the expense of eating locally and organically, labeling the ‘slow food movement’ as an elitist fad, Barber maintains that this is not the case.  Large grocery chains generally cost less than farmers markets, but according to Barber they do not accurately account for the ‘real costs’ of producing cheap food.

While ‘slow food’ still exists largely as a grassroots movement outside of the mainstream, Barber feels that it is rapidly growing in popularity.

“Ten years ago, we wouldn’t have been sitting here talking about these issues,” says Barber. “So many movements are about depriving yourself of something.  This isn’t.  It’s about indulgence and delicious food.”

By Erin O’Flaherty

Montgomery Fellow Ruth Reichl, the second fellow of this winter’s Montgomery Series, “Tell Me What You Eat, I’ll Tell You Who You Are,” recently discussed her career as a professional food critic with Dartmouth graduate students.

A self-proclaimed “foodie,” Reichl has written about food in publications such as Gourmet magazine, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. In addition to her editorial work, one of Reichl’s memoirs, Garlic and Sapphires, is currently in development to become a feature film.  The book details her experiences as the dining critic of The New York Times and her humorous attempts to avoid detection at various restaurants.  By disguising herself in such costumes as a midwestern tourist and a bag lady, Reichl found that her outward appearance frequently dictated the service that some restaurants provided.

“Restaurants didn’t like me because they had to be nice to everybody,” laughs Reichl.

When asked why many rising chefs are gravitating away from standard haute cuisine toward more eclectic, nontraditional menus, Reichl attributed it to generational differences in tastes.

“I think that young people are exciting to cook for,” notes Reichl. “They’ve been raised on sushi, ethnic food… Your palette is open to different tastes.”

As the editor of Gourmet Magazine from 1999 until its demise in 2009, Reichl spoke about the current lack of publications that tackle the larger ethical issues behind the food that we eat.

“I do think the end of Gourmet has left a vacuum for people who want to look beyond having the ‘most delicious experiences in life,’” notes Reichl.

She identified the next “big thing” not as a particular food trend, but as a fundamental shift in how people think of food.  The emphasis on “eating local” and supporting local farmers is a movement that is rapidly expanding throughout the country, and is a reoccurring theme of this winter’s Montgomery series.

Holding a master’s degree in art history, Reichl never thought she could make a career out of her lifelong love of food.  Having published several books and essays, including the definitive tome, The Gourmet Cookbook, Reichl spoke about the difficulties of the writing process during the luncheon.

“Cooking is fun, but writing is hell,” laughs Reichl.

by Erin O’Flaherty

Wesley Whitaker, Calvin Trillin, Erin O'Flaherty

Calvin Trillin, former staff writer at The New Yorker and current Montgomery Fellow, recently met with Dartmouth Arts and Sciences graduate students to discuss the state of writing in America, and the important role that food has played in both his writing and life.

As a Montgomery Fellow in residence, Trillin met with students, attended classes, and gave a public lecture to the Dartmouth community. Entitled “Eating with the Pilgrims,” Trillin talked about the traditions of food in America and detailed his desire for spaghetti carbonara to replace turkey as the traditional meal of Thanksgiving.

Over lunch at the Montgomery House on Occum Pond, Trillin spoke to graduate students about his experiences at The New Yorker as well as his career as a journalist, essayist, and novelist.  He described his personal process of writing and editing professionally, along with his beginnings as a young writer. One of Trillin’s early assignments was to cover the Freedom Rides in the segregated South of the early 1960s, and he noted that this most likely influenced his lifelong ability to write in chaotic environments.

“I learned to be a writer typing on the back of buses that people threw things at,” Trillin said.

When composing a new piece, Trillin stated that in his first draft, he typically writes down all of his initial thoughts, reactions and comments.  Upon completing this draft (which Trillin humorously termed “getting the throw-up out”) he then begins to compose the final piece.  When he switched from a typewriter to a computer, Trillin stated the composition process quickened, but his writing approach remained the same. Having worked under such noted editors as The New Yorker‘s William Shawn, when asked about his relationship with editors, Trillin noted that he welcomes revisions from all sources.

“If the office boy has a suggestion, I’ll listen to it,” says Trillin.

Author of American Fried, Alice, Let’s Eat, and Third Helpings, food has played an integral role in much of Trillin’s work.  As a writer covering ‘the beat of America’, he was often on the road for weeks at a time, and would learn about places dining at the local restaurants.

His most recent piece in The New Yorker details his love of a family-run Italian restaurant forty minutes outside of New Orleans called Mosca’s.  For Trillin, it is these types of restaurants, ones filled with traditions that channel a bygone era, that he enjoys writing about.

It is likely that Trillin will be canonized as one of the definitive voices of his generation, and yet when one graduate student asked about becoming a writer, Trillin warned him of the perils of the profession.

“If your uncle has a venetian blinds business and offers you a job, I would think about taking that,” Trillin joked.

Learn more about the Montgomery Endowment and the Graduate Studies Office at Dartmouth.

-Erin O’Flaherty

Photo: MALS first year graduate students Wesley Whitaker and Erin O’Flaherty with Calvin Trillin at the Montgomery House.  (Photo by Kerry Landers)