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An Interview with
Alan Michael Parker
By Johnathan
Skidmore
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Alan Michael Parker
Cry Uncle, the new
novel by Alan Michael Parker |
Alan
Michael Parker is a much celebrated poet, a budding novelist, a
respected professor, and the Director of Creative Writing at
Davidson college.
Having already published several volumes of poetry and some critical
prose, Alan Michael Parker has just recently published his first
novel entitled Cry Uncle. The novelist visited Monmouth
College March 3rd and 4th to give his first public reading of the
novel as well as to help council some of our own aspiring writers in
special sessions. The writer was well received and met with a
crowd anticipating his first reading and and autograph
session. The turnout filled the Poling Hall
lecture room to the point where several people were
forced to be seated on the floor.
Afterwards, Alan Michael Parker allowed an
interview with The Printing Press, discussing his new novel,
an upcoming novel, his writing style, and much more. |
Johnathan Skidmore:
How much of yourself do you pour into your writing? Or do you take
on different character’s roles while writing?
Alan Michael Parker: I
like to believe that my characters have free will. I like to
con myself into thinking it while I’m writing. I know it’s not
true.
Nonetheless,
the ways in which I’m in the character are only visible to people
who know me well and probably better than those ways are known to
me. I think it’s probably a blind spot and I don’t really
mind.
JS:
Having now written in multiple mediums, such as poetry, novels and
academic based works, which medium do you prefer?
AMP: Whichever I’m working
on at the moment. Having been trained as a poet and believing for a
long time that it is how I learn best, by which I mean writing
poems, I’m sure that poetry will never be far from my daily life.
Nevertheless, when I get hot for a project it is not a question of
genre, it is what the project is, itself.
JS: Which piece of work,
published or unpublished, is your favorite work, in your opinion?
AMP: The one I’m writing
is my favorite. If the work I’m writing is not my favorite and an
earlier work is, why would I be writing the work I’m writing? If
I’ve already done something that I like more, why would I possibly
continue what I’m doing now?
JS: How difficult was it
for you to get your work published? Were you noticed right away, or
did it take some trying?
AMP: It took a lot of time
and many years from the time my first book of poems was completed to
its publication. Nevertheless, I’ve been really unbelievably
fortunate in the degree to which editors have looked carefully at my
work. There is so much good work out there that is unpublished. I
know how lucky I am.
JS: Following your poetic
career from Days Like Prose to The Vandals to Love
Song with Motor Vehicles, each volume of poetry seems to be
based on a central theme. DLP seems to be Romantic in
nature, TV seems to be a playful joust, and LSwMV
appears to be an urbanized combination of the two. Why do you feel
your work took this path?
AMP: Some of it is
conscious effort. I take as one of my role models, although
certainly not as a person, because he was a jerk, Picasso who has
had, I don’t know, five major periods of completely different mature
work in his career. I do want to set standards for myself and
challenge myself aesthetically in ways that are different book by
book. I don’t want to rewrite the same stuff. I rewrote those
poems enough within that book that I don’t want to write another
book that’s like that book. I also think that some of it is the
inevitable maturation of an artist. So the subjects of my work were
specific to my own maturity as a person, but also to what I can and
cannot do on the page due to my interests and limitations. I’m
always trying to exceed those limitations book by book. I’m writing
a book now, I’m writing a new novel now and I feel like, I say this
but I don’t know if it’s the case, I feel like I’ve raised the bar
so high that I’m not even sure that I can see it. This book is
incredibly ambitious, I can’t imagine that it’ll succeed. That’s
what I do.
JS: Professor Mark
Willhardt mentioned several times that you are now working on a new
novel and you just mentioned a little bit of that yourself. Do you
care to elaborate on that a bit, perhaps give a trailer as to what
type of novel we can expect or anything about plot?
AMP: I’m a third of the
way through, so I have what I’m writing about. I have the shape of
the novel. I have the characters. I have one of two possible
endings. If it takes too long to get to the first ending, then it’s
the ending. If I can get there quickly, then the second ending will
be the ending. The book is about a guy who has a very powerful
dream and decides to enact what happens in the dream in his waking
life. It also a comedy and also a caper, which means it is about
criminals and stealing and bank robbery. It’s wild. It’s also
about the brain, I’m learning a lot about the science.
JS: Has it taken a lot of
research?
AMP: It’s been fun
research. I even have a new friend in the FBI in North Carolina who
has given me a lot of great information about the types of crimes my
characters are committing. I have a friend who teaches neuroscience
who has been advising me. I have a mathematician who is advising
me. I have a classicist who has been helping me with some stuff on
Greek. I also have two friends who have been significant help in
terms of how to build large wooden objects, that which I know
nothing about. So I’m calling upon all of the resources I might
have possibly had and in each case promising good wine in exchange,
although not the guy with the FBI. I have two new friends at Home
Depot who think it’s thrilling that a novelist is asking them how to
build these huge wooden things.
JS: That’s a pretty
interesting combination you have there, you have the FBI agent, the
neuroscientist, the mathematician, and then you have the guys who
help you build large wooden objects. That’s pretty intriguing.
AMP: It’s a crazy book and
one of the goals for me, in terms of the research, was to write
Cry Uncle and now as a result, I’m multiplying the task by ten.
This lets me be a student again, this lets me go out and look up all
of the stuff that I know nothing about. Now I know tons about the
brain, and I didn’t know anything about the brain, well now I know
more. I always liked being a student. I became a professor because
it allowed me to be a student.
JS: Now that you’ve written
Cry Uncle, what do you expect to come of your writing
styles? Do you think your work might begin to take a more political
route? I know that you mentioned in the question and answer session
that your writing had begun to take a political view, did this
affect you?
AMP: The book that I’m
writing at present does not have the social concerns that Cry
Uncle has. That’s as far as I can go. That’s what I know
today. I haven’t thought about the next book, so I can’t answer
beyond this particular project. It does not have that dimension of
social critique that underscores Cry Uncle.
JS: How do you write? Do
you sit down and just jot down ideas that eventually become worked
into stories? Do you carry journals or pieces of paper with you and
suddenly take them out when you have the urge to write? Or is it a
more structuralized, “I’m going to try and write for a few hours
today,” sort of thing?
AMP: Yes. I do all
three. I write everyday, first thing. I carry a notebook. I jot
down stuff that inspires me. I’m very pleased that I got a Palm
Pilot for Christmas, which allows me to press a button and make a
voice recording at any time, which I do. I rewrite like crazy, but
primarily I just work. I read my day’s pages for that day, I wake
up and then I write again. Teaching or not, whether I’m on spring
break like I am now or teaching in a classroom. I do it all the
time. It’s a little obsessive. Not complaining or apologizing.
JS: Who do you admire as an
author? If you had one copy of a piece of literature under your
pillow, what would it be?
AMP: I think that that
author probably has six thousand names. Shakespeare comes to mind,
Milton as well. Faulkner. Just an incredible list. Frost.
Bishop. Lots of younger writers. There is not one single person,
single author, or era. It’s the desert island question and the
answer is, “Well, I’d be happy if the island were a library.” Which
books would you bring to a desert island? The library.
JS: What advice would you
give to someone, perhaps an aspiring writer, that you wish someone
had given to you, or had given to you?
AMP: Never trust your
first drafts. Ever. Read and write in general. People gave me
that advice. It’s hard for me to say, in retrospect, what someone
might have said to me at an early time that I would have been mature
enough to understand. My immaturity was very much active as I was
starting to write as a student of writing. That immaturity, I hope,
has faded although I’m still maturing I’m sure. Much to my delight
at some times and much to my horror at others. Maturity is, well,
overrated at times. As to what type of advice that someone might
have offered to me under certain circumstances, I don’t really
know.
For more
detailed information about Alan Michael Parker, his website may be
viewed here.
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Academic Course
Catalog for Fall 2005 and Spring 2006
By Megan Carlson
and Johnathan Skidmore
Fall 2005
English 110: Composition
and Literature
Taught by various members of the English faculty, this course is
a study of basic rhetorical strategies and their application in
thesis-based essays, as well as an analysis of literature
emphasizing the symbolic and expressive uses of language.
Students are introduced to the imaginative modes of literature
and demonstrate their understanding of those uses through
discussion and written work. (Four Credits)
English 126:
Print Media and Workshops
Taught by Tom Withenbury, this course is described as
an introduction to the print media, covering the basic elements
of journalism. Students will participate as staff reporters on
the Courier, the college’s student newspaper. Open to all
students. (One Credit)
English 180:
Introduction to Literature
This course, taught by Professor Mark Willhardt, is a general
literature course for non-majors, ENGL 180 seeks to encourage
life-long reading through appreciation of literary language and
form. The course will emphasize examination and comparison of
literary genres, structure and form in fiction and poetry, and
New Critical analysis (point of view, plot, setting,
characterization, diction, imagery, metaphor and symbol, theme,
etc.) In addition, the course will place a particular topic or
sub-genre in the context of pertinent historical and cultural
settings, while examining categorical assumptions about
"popular" and "serious" literary treatments.
(Three Credits)
English 210: Creative Writing
Taught by Professor Mary Bruce, this course promises to be a
practice in the writing and
critical analysis of imaginative literary forms, especially
poetry and fiction. (Three Credits)
English 220:
British Survey I
A historical survey, taught by Professor Marlo Belschner,
emphasizing literary and cultural developments in English
literature from the Old English period through the English
Renaissance. (Three Credits)
English 224:
American Survey I
This course, taught by Professor Mary Bruce, is one of two
introductory surveys in American literature emphasizing literary
movements, and cultural and historical developments in the
literature of the United States. Readings will include: native
American creation myths; explorer narratives; poetry, fiction,
and non-fiction from such writers as Bradstreet, Cotton Mather,
Edwards, Franklin, Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Poe,
Melville, Whitman, and Dickinson. (Three Credits)
English 226:
Advanced Print Media and Workshop
This course, taught by Tom Withenbury, is an advanced
study in print media, covering the more complex elements of
journalism. (Two Credits)
English 343:
20th Century British Literature
Taught by Professor Mark Willhardt, this course features studies
in various British authors of the 20th century. This year's
study will be called "Angry Young Men: British Literature After
World War II" This is a course which charts the growing
disaffection of youth, particularly working class youth, after
the close of World War II. Starting with Graham Greene's
Brighton Rock and ending with punk and post-punk, the course
will cross genres as it tries to encapsulate the varieties of
anger which drove youth movements in Great Britain during the
mid- to late-twentieth century. (Three Credits)
English 350
Section 1: World Literature in Translation
This course, taught by Professor Craig Watson, is a new offering
to the 300 level. It is a course on masterpieces of world
literature. The syllabus will feature poetry, fiction,
drama from India, Japan, China, South America, and Europe other
than the United Kingdom. In surveys that have been
conducted in the past, English major alumni have suggested that
the department offer more literature outside English and
American writings. Professor Craig Watson began as a GSTA
and Assistant Professor teaching a couple of courses like this
one and is excited about the return trip. (Three Credits)
English 350
Section 2: The Short
Story
This course, taught by Professor Rob Hale, will cover short
stories from the early nineteenth-century to the present (mostly
British and North American stories, but also some translated
European and South American ones). For some authors the
students will read a single story, but for others they will read
an entire collection. The students will also consider how the
short story began and has developed over time and how historical
circumstances have influenced stories. Authors that will
definitely be covered include Poe, Hawthorne, Maupassant,
Chopin, Hemingway, O'Connor, Joyce, Garcia Marquez, Carver and
Munro. (Three Credits)
English 430:
Methods of Teaching English
A study, lead by Professor Kevin Roberts, of the basic
approaches to the teaching of poetry, fiction, and drama and
their application in the classroom. Attention is given to the
teaching of composition, the marking of themes, and the
preparing and grading of examinations. May not be counted toward
a major in English. (Three Credits)
English 490:
Directed Study in English
Directed by Professor Rob Hale, this course is an experience
designed to allow the student to use writing, editorial and
professional skills developed during the major by working on
departmental publications. Will help prepare the student for
employment in various English-related fields. (One to Three
Credits)
Spring 2006
English 110:
Composition and Literature
Taught by various members of the English faculty, this
course is a study of basic rhetorical strategies and their
application in thesis-based essays, as well as an analysis
of literature emphasizing the symbolic and expressive uses
of language. Students are introduced to the imaginative
modes of literature and demonstrate their understanding of
those uses through discussion and written work. (Four
Credits)
English 126:
Print Media and Workshops
Taught by Tom Withenbury, this course is described
as an introduction to the print media, covering the basic
elements of journalism. Students will participate as staff
reporters on the Courier, the college’s student newspaper.
Open to all students. (One Credit)
English 180:
Introduction to Literature
This course, taught by Professor Mary Bruce, is a general
literature course for non-majors, ENGL 180 seeks to
encourage life-long reading through appreciation of literary
language and form. The course will emphasize examination and
comparison of literary genres, structure and form in fiction
and poetry, and New Critical analysis (point of view, plot,
setting, characterization, diction, imagery, metaphor and
symbol, theme, etc.) In addition, the course will place a
particular topic or sub-genre in the context of pertinent
historical and cultural settings, while examining
categorical assumptions about "popular" and "serious"
literary treatments.
(Three Credits)
English 200: Introduction to
the English Studies
A gateway to the English
major, this course, taugh by Professor Craig Watson, is
designed to introduce majors and minors to the broad range
of scholarship and practice within the discipline of
English. Included will be emphasis upon close reading and
research skills, as well as overviews of the history of the
discipline, creative writing, literary criticism and theory,
and vocational paths.
Dubbed
by others as “boot camp” for English majors. Professor
Craig Watson prefers to think of it as a romp in the park.
(Three Credits)
English 201:
Grammar
A course, taught by Professor Kevin Roberts, that gives
students practice in fundamental English grammar. Emphasizes
basic skills, not theory. (Three Credits)
English 221:
British Survey II
A course, taught by Professor Rob Hale, emphasizing major
literary movements, cultural influences, and historical
developments in English literature from the Neo-classical
through Victorian periods. (Three Credits)
English 225:
American Survey II
Taught by Professor Craig Watson, this is an introductory
survey focusing on poetry and fiction written after the
Civil War and before American involvement in the Second
World War. Included are works from such writers as Jewett,
Wharton, Twain, James, Kate Chopin, Crane, Pound, Robinson,
Frost, Anderson, Stevens, Eliot, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and
Faulkner. Emphasis on literary, cultural, and historical
movements. The course is a continuation of English 224, but
may be taken alone and without regard to sequence. (Three
Credits)
English 226:
Advanced Print Media and Workshop
This course, taught by Tom Withenbury, is an
advanced study in print media, covering the more complex
elements of journalism. (Two Credits)
English 299:
Writing Fellows
Taught by Professor Steve Price, this course is an
introduction to the tutoring process, as well as basic
pedagogical and developmental strategies for teaching
writing. Course requirements will include readings in
composition/tutoring theory and practice as well as tutoring
in the Mellinger Teaching and Learning Center. (Two Credits)
English 301:
Advanced Composition
A study, taught by Professor Mark Willhardt, of rhetorical
strategies and their application to assignments in
journalism, scientific writing, and essay writing. Open to
juniors and seniors or by consent of the instructor. (Three
Credits)
English 310:
Advanced Creative Writing
This course, taught by Professor Mary Bruce, is one in which
Students write intensively in fiction or poetry,
individually selecting their subject matter throughout the
course. Students sharpen their critical skills by evaluating
one another’s work and by investigating contemporary writing
and publishing. (Three Credits)
English 348:
Modern British Novels
This course, taught by Professor Rob Hale, will cover works
written from 1900-1945 and will likely include such novels
as Forster’s Passage to
India, Joyce’s
Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man, Waugh’s
Brideshead Revisited,
Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway,
and West's
The Return of the Soldier. The books will be
examined in historical context and such issues as visual
art, music, popular literature, the world wars, politics,
imperialism, sexuality, and gender will also be considered.
Professor
Rob Hale states that he is open to
considering
other modern British novels, if you have any requests.
(Three Credits)
English 350:
Early Modern Masculinities
A course, taught by Professor Marlo Belschner, which
will explore cultural
expectations for men in Shakespeare's time and considers the
early modern period's understanding of masculinity as
historically relevant to our own. The students will explore
constructs of masculinity as the world changes to a more
humanist, secular, and commercial world under the Virgin
Queen, Elizabeth I, and James I ( exploring the constructs
of their gender, also, as they related to masculinities).
The students will look at historical documents on
expectations for men such as The Book of the Courtier, in
which the gentleman of the court is instructed on how to
behave concerning attire, women, leisure activities, and
more. Consider the codpiece worn by Henry VIII in Holbein's
1540 portrait; the students will look at this and other
paintings as well as look at early modern poetry and plays
that deal explicitly with ideas of the gender and sexuality
of men including, perhaps, Twelfth Night or
Macbeth, Christopher Marlowe's Edward II (and
the Jarman film), and works by others including Andrew
Marvell and Philip Sidney. The students will interrogate
the political and sexualized concept of the early modern
sodomite, as well as discuss whether women really were
considered imperfect men with their "nasty bits" turned
inside out. The course will be run as a seminar, which
means that discussion will predominate, and that it will be
roughly 2/3 literature and 1/3 other cultural documents (art
and portraiture, books providing instruction on masculinity,
legal cases involving sodomites and cross-dressing). (Three Credits)
English 361:
Shakespeare I
Taught by Professor Marlo Belschner, this course is a survey
course studying the comedies and historical plays of William
Shakespeare. (Three Credits)
English 400:
Senior Seminar
Taught by Professor Mark Willhardt, this course is an
intensive study of key literary periods and subjects. Recent
seminars have focused upon: “Literature of the American
South,” “New England Women Writers of the Late 19th
Century,” “The Gothic Tradition,” “The American Expatriate
Experience in Literature” and “Arthurian Literature.”
Required of all senior English majors. This year's course
will focus on Literary Nonfiction, discussing links between
fiction and nonfiction as well as the specific distinctions
which memoirs provide while focusing particularly on the
rise of the memoir in the past thirty years, yet not limited
to those. (Three Credits)
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Click below to
Visit the Cultural Events Calendar
By Megan Carlson
The Cultural Events Calendar is a monthly update on the special
activities going on at Monmouth College and other campuses such
as Western, Knox, and Augustana.
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- The English department
party honoring graduating seniors will be on Friday, May 6th at
Professor Craig Watson's House. Invitation is extended to
all English Majors and minors.
- The honors convocation
will be held Tuesday, April 19th,
at the Dahl Chapel.
- President Giese is
leaving Monmouth College after 8 years. His resignation
will be tendered June 30.
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If you
could meet any author, living or dead, who would it be and
why?
The Printing Press was pleased
at the amount of responses that were submitted to this
question. There were several great answers and here
are a few of the submissions from fellow students:
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Karen Krautwurst --
I would want to meet Ernest Hemingway just to ask, "Jeez, is
life really so bad, dude?"
-- Mike Seufert
I would want to meet C.S. Lewis, hands down. He is
probably the greatest writer ever.
Probably.
Matt Engelhardt
--
I would like to meet the authors of the the books of the
bible. I think it would be awesome to get their entire
story, motivations, and thoughts on how their books should
be used and interpreted.
-- Kyle O'Keefe
I would like to meet Koushun Takami, the author of the
Japanese novel Battle Royale, because Battle
Royale is twisted, morbid, completely inhuman, and I
absolutely love it!
Brandon Athey --
Alive - Kurt Vonnegut, because he is the best sci-fi satire
writer of all time.
Dead - John Steinbeck, because he is the greatest writer of
all time.
-- Lindsey Markel
I'd like to meet Oscar Wilde, because he's totally my
homeboy. We'd go out to a gay bar and sip
cosmopolitans and wittily make fun of people together.
Jarred Mauck --
I would want to meet Shakespeare. He is not my
favorite author, but he is a legend. I would want
to figure out how, and if, he wrote so many great plays.
There are so many mysteries surrounding him, I would
want to find out the truth.
-- Lucas Gorham
George Orwell. Not only can his intelligence and
insight be seen in all of his novels and essays, but all
the personal level of his stories make the 'warning'
message of his stories even more important.
Alexandra Graves
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I'd like to meet John Irving. He's alive and
kicking and writing some pretty amazing things.
--Katherine
Neilson
Tennyson, because we all know that he was the best poet
ever!
Scott Hagen --
If I could meet any author, I would have to say James
Patterson as I personally believe him to be the best
novel-writer as far as thrillers/mysteries go.
Also, he's still living so that'd make meeting him
easier. I'm not sure I could hold much of a
conversation with someone six feet under...
-- Kelly Winfrey
I would have to say Anne Lamott, because she and I would
be the best of friends.
Teri Edwards --
J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter Series,
simply because I enjoy those books. I think she
has an amazing imagination.
-- Chris Maurer
I'd have to say Shel Silverstein, because he's a funny
guy, kind of like me.
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Freeze
Frame
Senior Garrett Balbach enjoys
a Monmouth College spring day in the courtyard of his dorm,
Cleland Hall, while catching up on some reading in between
classes. |
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Writing Labs |
Monday - Thursday 3:00-5:00 pm |
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Sunday - Thursday 7:00-10:00 pm |
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Math |
Monday - Thursday
3:00 - 5:00 pm |
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Sunday and Monday
7:00 - 9:00 pm |
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Wednesday and Thursday
7:00 - 9:00 pm |
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Spanish |
Monday and Tuesday
2:00 - 3:00 pm |
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Wednesday and Thursday
7:00 - 8:00 pm |
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French |
Wednesday and Thursday
7:00 - 9:00 pm |
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German |
Monday and Wednesday
8:00 - 9:00 pm |
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Communication |
By appointment Only
(3rd Floor of Wallace Hall) |
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