The Dry Grass of August (27 page)
Read The Dry Grass of August Online
Authors: Anna Jean Mayhew
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
At age forty-five, I left my hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, for the backwoods of Chatham County, seeking perspective: I couldn't write about Charlotte until I left it. That providential relocation resulted in my friendship with novelist Laurel Goldman, a fine teacher who is both a tough critic and an admiring fan; this skilled combination has brought out the best in the many writers who've studied with her for the past thirty years, including current and past members of her amazing Thursday morning writing group: Cindy Paris, Fabienne Worth, Melissa Delbridge, Mia Bray, Cat Warren, Eve Rizzo, Carter Perry, Christina Askounis, Jackie Arial, James Ingram, Carolyn Muehlhause, Maureen Sladen, Mary Michael, Phaedra Greenwood, Charles Gates, Betty Reigot, Mary Caldwell, and the late Wilton Mason and Knut Schmidt-Nielsen.
Thank you, Lee Smith, Angela Davis-Gardner, and Peggy Payne for your critical feedback and generosity of time. I'll pay it forward.
And the writers on whom I cut my teeth in Charlotte, NC: J. R. McHone (water brother), Dennis Smirl, Dick Bowman, Jerry Meredith, David Frye, Greg West, and Bill Barfieldâto you, I say: “Aardvarks forever!”
In New York: John Scognamiglio, my editor at Kensington Books, who guided me with care and consideration through the publication process, and my agent, Robert Guinsler, who continued to believe in my book when I'd all but given up. Thanks to you both for taking a chance on a seventy-one-year-old first-time novelist. Now there's a marketing angle!
Pat French, confidante and mother-confessor, thanks for hiking with Jean-Michel and checking on him when I'm away, for not telling me what you think I should do unless I ask you, and for sharing your editorial talents. I'll never forget your call from the airport when you finished reading my manuscript.
Thank you, Diana Hales, for packing your bags when I holler, “Road trip!”
Institutions: The North Carolina Writer's Network, for keeping wordsmiths connected in the Old North State; The Weymouth Center, for providing the peace and solitude scribblers need; The Carolina Room at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, and the Orange County Main Library, Hillsborough, NC.
For careful reading and critique: Kay Bishop, Robin and Mae Langford, Penny Austen, Kathryn Milam, Traci Woody, Tiffany Wright, Sofia Samatar, Richard Hoey-Bey, Gwendolyn Y. Fortune, Nancy Rosebaugh, Aimee Tattersall, and Daphne Wiggins-Obie. I'm grateful to Bob Conrow and Jamie Long, who gave me the use of their lake home, where my embryonic novel matured into a newborn. And to Taylin, the precocious strawberry-blonde angel who patiently asked me, in the locker room at SportsPlex, when she was eight, then nine, then ten, “When can I see your book?” She never doubted that she
would
see it in print someday.
would
see it in print someday.
Other writers from whom I learn so much, on Tuesday mornings: Mary Harrison, John Manuel, Leslie Nydick, Patricia Owens, and James Protzman; on Tuesday evenings: Beverly Meek, Jennie Ratcliffe, Sally Schauman, Virginia Tyler, and Cynthia Zava; on Wednesday mornings: Gabe Cuddahee, David Halperin, Ron Jackson, Susan Payne, and Sarah Wilkins; also to Joyce Allen, Poppy Brite, Sidney Cruze, Ray Harold, John Rhodes, and Mary-Russell Roberson.
My gratitude to the women who brought order to our home when I was a child, and when I matured into an inept house-keeper: Mary Leeper, Elizabeth Cureton, Verta Price, and Atlanta Feaster.
Family is all. Thank you, my childrenâHomer Jackson Faw III, Teresa Colleen Faw, and Scott Mayhew Pharrâfor your everlasting acceptance of the oddities that make me a writer, for putting up with my inattention and vacant stares, for accepting my absences when I'm off somewhere musing. I am likewise deeply grateful for the ongoing faith and support of my sisters: Mary Jane Mayhew Burns, Linda Mayhew Gore, and Susan Mayhew Devine.
Jean-Michel, you rock!
Please turn the page for a very special
Q&A with Anna Jean Mayhew.
Q&A with Anna Jean Mayhew.
Q.
Was there any one thing that compelled you to write the novel?
Was there any one thing that compelled you to write the novel?
A.
In 1957, something happened that changed the way I saw things; thirty years passed before I could write about the feelings it evoked in me. I was seventeen, working as a lifeguard during the summer, and had a deep tan (my hair was bleached almost white by the sun, and my eyes are pale blue; there's no mistaking my Caucasian genes). When the “color line” was removed from the Charlotte city buses, my parents told me that if “one of them” (a person of color) got on the bus and sat next to me, I should get off or at least move to another seat. One day a black woman sat down beside me, and my parents' words flashed through my mind. But I felt riveted to my seat, like it would have been so rude to move. So I sat there and eventually looked down to where our arms rested side by side. My skin was a lot darker than hers. That made a lasting impression on me.
In 1957, something happened that changed the way I saw things; thirty years passed before I could write about the feelings it evoked in me. I was seventeen, working as a lifeguard during the summer, and had a deep tan (my hair was bleached almost white by the sun, and my eyes are pale blue; there's no mistaking my Caucasian genes). When the “color line” was removed from the Charlotte city buses, my parents told me that if “one of them” (a person of color) got on the bus and sat next to me, I should get off or at least move to another seat. One day a black woman sat down beside me, and my parents' words flashed through my mind. But I felt riveted to my seat, like it would have been so rude to move. So I sat there and eventually looked down to where our arms rested side by side. My skin was a lot darker than hers. That made a lasting impression on me.
Q.
How long did it take you to write your novel?
How long did it take you to write your novel?
A.
Eighteen years from conception to final draft; while I wrote, I was working full-time as well, but I believe the novel would have taken me many years, regardless of the circumstances. It had to percolate, to find its center, and I had to be patient. I did not know, when I started writing the book, how it would end; I didn't know most of the characters, and only knew a few of the events.
Eighteen years from conception to final draft; while I wrote, I was working full-time as well, but I believe the novel would have taken me many years, regardless of the circumstances. It had to percolate, to find its center, and I had to be patient. I did not know, when I started writing the book, how it would end; I didn't know most of the characters, and only knew a few of the events.
Q.
Were you writing in isolation, or did you have support from other writers?
Were you writing in isolation, or did you have support from other writers?
A.
Tremendous support from writers in a small group I've been in since I began the novel in 1987. Several books have been published by other members of the group, and in one of them (
The Dream of the Stone,
Christina Askounis, Farrar Straus Giroux, 1993) the acknowledgments say, “This book might have taken half as long to complete without the help of writers in Laurel Goldman's Thursday-morning group, who drew the best from me through draft after draft. . . .” That's true for me as well.
Tremendous support from writers in a small group I've been in since I began the novel in 1987. Several books have been published by other members of the group, and in one of them (
The Dream of the Stone,
Christina Askounis, Farrar Straus Giroux, 1993) the acknowledgments say, “This book might have taken half as long to complete without the help of writers in Laurel Goldman's Thursday-morning group, who drew the best from me through draft after draft. . . .” That's true for me as well.
Q.
Did you start with an idea, with a character, setting?
Did you start with an idea, with a character, setting?
A.
Character, first and last. The narrator, June Bentley Watts, aka Jubie, was in my head long before I began the book. She's a year younger than I was in 1954, so readers might assume she's me at that age. Perhaps she was to begin with, but she quickly took on her own personality and led me through the story, as long as I was willing to listen to her. The false notes occurred when I stopped paying attention to Jubie or tried to write my own story. When I lost her voice, the book lost its heart, and I got back on the right path only by paying attention to her.
Character, first and last. The narrator, June Bentley Watts, aka Jubie, was in my head long before I began the book. She's a year younger than I was in 1954, so readers might assume she's me at that age. Perhaps she was to begin with, but she quickly took on her own personality and led me through the story, as long as I was willing to listen to her. The false notes occurred when I stopped paying attention to Jubie or tried to write my own story. When I lost her voice, the book lost its heart, and I got back on the right path only by paying attention to her.
Q.
Your protagonist is thirteen years old. Is your novel young-adult fiction?
Your protagonist is thirteen years old. Is your novel young-adult fiction?
A.
My novel is literary fiction; however, I hope young adults will read it, because it's set in a time long before their lives and can give them a look into history through the eyes of someone their age. I didn't want the book marketed as young adult because I didn't want it limited by that.
My novel is literary fiction; however, I hope young adults will read it, because it's set in a time long before their lives and can give them a look into history through the eyes of someone their age. I didn't want the book marketed as young adult because I didn't want it limited by that.
Q.
Your book is set in 1954 and is rich with details of that time. Did you have to do a lot of research?
Your book is set in 1954 and is rich with details of that time. Did you have to do a lot of research?
A.
Yes. I like to find out about things, to dig for information; I can lose myself, blissfully, in the happy task of research. My husband gave me a 1954 road atlas he found on eBay, so I was able to map the trip the Watts family took through the South. In May 2004, I went to Washington, DC, to exhibits on the fiftieth anniversary of
Brown v. Board of Education
at the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress. The Carolina Room at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County provided me with online maps of Charlotte in 1954. I bought encyclopedia yearbooks and studied them, also stacks of popular magazines of the time,
The Saturday Evening Post
,
Life, Look,
etc. I am still stunned at how white they all are; when writing, I searched period publications for pictures of blacks living their lives and found instead stereotypical stories such as President Eisenhower's golf caddy, and ads for Aunt Jemima pancake mix.
Yes. I like to find out about things, to dig for information; I can lose myself, blissfully, in the happy task of research. My husband gave me a 1954 road atlas he found on eBay, so I was able to map the trip the Watts family took through the South. In May 2004, I went to Washington, DC, to exhibits on the fiftieth anniversary of
Brown v. Board of Education
at the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress. The Carolina Room at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County provided me with online maps of Charlotte in 1954. I bought encyclopedia yearbooks and studied them, also stacks of popular magazines of the time,
The Saturday Evening Post
,
Life, Look,
etc. I am still stunned at how white they all are; when writing, I searched period publications for pictures of blacks living their lives and found instead stereotypical stories such as President Eisenhower's golf caddy, and ads for Aunt Jemima pancake mix.
Q.
Do you have advice for others who begin writing relatively late in life?
Do you have advice for others who begin writing relatively late in life?
A.
Listen to yourself; tell stories you've lived and craft them into fiction. To do that, you must believe that your experiences are valid and of interest to others. Negative thoughts about your talent as a writer will stop you in your tracks. I also suggest getting into a writing group.
Listen to yourself; tell stories you've lived and craft them into fiction. To do that, you must believe that your experiences are valid and of interest to others. Negative thoughts about your talent as a writer will stop you in your tracks. I also suggest getting into a writing group.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
The Dry Grass of August
Anna Jean Mayhew
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
The suggested questions are included to enhance
your group's reading of Anna Jean Mayhew's
The Dry Grass of August
.
your group's reading of Anna Jean Mayhew's
The Dry Grass of August
.
Discussion Questions
1.
What do you think about Paula's decision to take Mary on the trip, given the antipathy in the Deep South post
Brown v. Board
?
What do you think about Paula's decision to take Mary on the trip, given the antipathy in the Deep South post
Brown v. Board
?
2.
Why does Puddin so often try to hide or run away? What does her behavior say about the family?
Why does Puddin so often try to hide or run away? What does her behavior say about the family?
3.
Why didn't Paula try to stop Bill from beating Jubie?
Why didn't Paula try to stop Bill from beating Jubie?
4.
Is Uncle Taylor a racist?
Is Uncle Taylor a racist?
5.
Why did the clown at Joyland by the Sea give Jubie a rose?
Why did the clown at Joyland by the Sea give Jubie a rose?
6.
If you'd been Paula (or Bill), what would you have done when Cordelia failed to appear for dinner? How could they have handled that differently?
If you'd been Paula (or Bill), what would you have done when Cordelia failed to appear for dinner? How could they have handled that differently?
7.
Why does Paula take Bill back after his affair with her brother's wife?
Why does Paula take Bill back after his affair with her brother's wife?
8.
Did Bill and Paula act responsibly as parents when they allowed Jubie and Stell to go with Mary to the Daddy Grace parade in Charlotte? The tent meeting in Claxton?
Did Bill and Paula act responsibly as parents when they allowed Jubie and Stell to go with Mary to the Daddy Grace parade in Charlotte? The tent meeting in Claxton?
9.
Why didn't Paula punish Jubie for stealing the Packard to go to Mary's funeral?
Why didn't Paula punish Jubie for stealing the Packard to go to Mary's funeral?
10.
What drove Stamos to suicide?
What drove Stamos to suicide?
11.
Which major character changes the most? The least?
Which major character changes the most? The least?
12.
Which character in the book did you identify with the most? The least?
Which character in the book did you identify with the most? The least?
13.
If you could interview Jubie, what would you ask her? What about Mary? Paula? Bill? Stell?
If you could interview Jubie, what would you ask her? What about Mary? Paula? Bill? Stell?
14.
If Bill died at the end of the book, what would his obituary say if Paula wrote it? If Stell wrote it? If Jubie wrote it?
If Bill died at the end of the book, what would his obituary say if Paula wrote it? If Stell wrote it? If Jubie wrote it?
15.
Given that there's little hope for Jubie and Leesum to be friends in 1954, what would it be like for them if they met again today?
Given that there's little hope for Jubie and Leesum to be friends in 1954, what would it be like for them if they met again today?
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2011 by Anna Jean Mayhew
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-0-7582-6792-4
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