Three American writers spent a fortnight in Besançon in May on the invitation of the University of Franche-Comté.
Mark Safranko (right on the photo) is sixty-one and is undoubtedly quite different from Ron Rash (middle) and Ron Carlson (left). He was born in New Jersey, more particularly in Trenton, which is supposed to be one of the toughest and most dangerous American cities. Maybe this is why characters with a difficult every day life background emerge from his four main novels Hating Olivia, Lounge Lizard, The Favor, and Hopler’s Statement. Safranko took to writing early while going through hundreds of various and unexpected jobs. He also published a few short novels and his writing talent has often been compared to either John Fante’s or Charles Bukowski’s.
Ron Rash is currently a professor in Appalachian studies at West Carolina University. He is a little younger than Safranko. He is fifty-eight. He was born in Chester, South Carolina. So he is deeply rooted in that part of the USA. He became known in 1994 when he published a collection of short stories entitled The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth. Since that time he has mainly dedicated himself to writing poems and short stories. But he also published four novels, One Foot in Eden in 2002, Saints at the River in 2004, The World Made Straight in 2006 and Serena in 2008. The four of them brought him awards and critical acclaim. The interview widely corroborates his attachment to nature.
Ron Carlson is the oldest of the three writers. He is sixty-four. He was born, grew up and graduated in Utah. He started a teaching career in 1985 as a professor in Arizona State University. Now he currently teaches at the University of California. He wrote his first novel in1977, Betrayed by F. Scott Fitgerald. Then he went on with Truants in 1981,and between that time and now he published Five Skies and The Signal. His fame came through the publication of brilliant short stories, which were released in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine and Esquire. Among those, News of the World in1987, nothing to do with the appalling Rupert Murdoch.
Though the three of them come from different walks of life, they have one obvious thing in common which emerged from their interview, their quiet and distant way of watching society.
Photo / JLL