“What you see in popular culture is wrong: “An Interview with Ron Rash on Caring for Appalachia Through Fiction https://ift.tt/FrxHIv4
It’s 1950s small-town North Carolina. Billowing Appalachian Mountains hover ever-present in the background. This is the backdrop for Ron Rash’s newest novel, The Caretaker. The story focuses on Blackburn Gant, Jacob Hampton, and Naomi Hampton, three characters whose fates intertwines with the community of Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Stories and secrets are shared, but many remain unspoken and hidden.
Ron Rash currently teaches creative writing at Western Carolina University, where he serves as the Parris Distinguished Professor of Appalachian Cultural Studies. His novels include The New York Times bestseller, Serena, as well as The Risen, Above the Waterfall, The Cove, One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight, among others, and his other works include poetry and multiple short story collections. He has been awarded the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and has been a three-time time recipient of the O. Henry Prize, as well as a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. His works have been translated into 17 different languages.
We discussed what it’s like writing a novel, and what makes The Caretaker so unique and special, both for Rash and his readers.
The Caretaker is your first new novel in 10 years. How did this story begin? How long did it take you to write? Was there anything in your life that helped develop this story?
This story started when I was a child. There was a cemetery above my grandma’s farm near Blowing Rock. As a kid, wreaths and bouquets would get blown away and I would end up putting them back. I always wanted to write about that farm. I spent a lot of time there. However, I could never find a story that worked that fit with the farm and the area as a whole. I couldn’t find the right narrative landscape for the setting. Many of my short stories and novellas are set in the area, even Blowing Rock, but this was the first novel set there.
I started working on this story about seven years ago. I had heard a story growing up, though I’m not sure if it’s true or just a local anecdote, about a young man, from a prominent local family, marrying a young woman from a lower social standing. The young man ended up being drafted and killed in action during the Korean War, and after the son’s death, the young man’s family supposedly had the wife killed. The family’s sin was a community secret that was never spoken of for fear of reprisal from the prominent family. Again, I was never told if this story was true, but as a writer, I feel it works out better because I can create my own ending of the story.
The biggest departure from my first few drafts was that the character of Blackburn Gant was a secondary character, but I felt as I wrote that the story was more about Blackburn than Jacob and Naomi.
The Caretaker follows protagonist Blackburn Gant and his life and struggles in the early 1950s Appalachia with the Korean War as the backdrop. How does writing about the Korean War differ from writing about World War II or the Great Depression?
The Korean War is a war that seems to be forgotten here in America compared to others such as both World Wars and Vietnam. I had several family members serve in the Armed Forces during the Korean war and I heard stories about what it was like over in Korea.
Also, the early 1950s was a time when most communication happened face-to-face. There were telephones, of course, but there was no texting, emailing, or any other way to communicate other than letter-writing. When people had to confront each other during this time period, it wasn’t [from] behind a screen. It was right in front of each other. This setting also makes it much more dramatic for the reader. Instead of just describing a text on the screen, I can provide details about what their face looked like, what their voice sounded like, and all other sorts of details that create drama.
Naomi and Blackburn differ in almost every way other than each being ostracized by the community. What’s your process for creating such different yet emotionally impactful characters?
That’s the challenge and the pleasure of trying to handle someone very different from ourselves. A major goal of mine when I’m writing is to work hard to make individuals and not types. Each character is unique, and doesn’t need to fit into any kind of mold or stereotype. This novel took time and therefore, I got to know each of the characters intimately. There’s a scene in the novel where my brother, who is a fantastic reader for my drafts, thought a scene should be deleted, but I kept it because I felt that the inclusion of that scene made the story that much more complex, and even bittersweet.
Blowing Rock is a small town here in North Carolina. Blowing Rock has managed tomaintain its “small-town feel” even in 2023. How do you think small towns throughout Appalachia maintain their sense of community and small town feel even in 2023?
As with any place, there can be positives and negatives. Growing up in a literal one-stoplight town, there was a sense of community. You saw your neighbors every day and actually talked to them. You got to know not just their immediate family but their distant family, as well. That sort of intimacy is so valuable when there’s tragedy. The community comes together as a whole to support their neighbor. Even in my childhood, there was a time when the town came together to support my family. The people in town stepped up. The father of a friend helped get me to sports practices and after-school activities. Other people helped my mother by bringing food or just offering their support however they could. There was no expectation of being paid back for their kindness. That sense of community has always stayed with me. I worry about showing the negatives of Appalachia, but it’s my hope that people will see the positive. The sense of community continues even today. When my mother died last fall, everyone in the community checked on me and the rest of my immediate family to make sure we didn’t need anything.
Like Blowing Rock in The Caretaker, you use real world places in North Carolina and throughout Appalachia. What is the importance of using real-life locations rather than fictional places?
The location where the story is set is real. The community is real. If someone wanted to find that location, they more than likely could. I wanted to use the landscape of my grandmother’s farm and I wanted to try to keep as much as I could. I wanted to preserve that farm in art form, so that’s a reason for keeping the location a real place. I wanted to preserve the place where I hold so many cherished memories from my childhood. I did change some names, but mostly to make the story make more sense.
My family has been here in Appalachia since the mid-1700s. I actively feel that connection to the area and the land. If nothing else, this novel gives me the sense about writing about the place and history of my family.
The heartfelt relationship between Blackburn and Jacob feels like a departure from how men and their relationships are portrayed during this time period. What is the importance of showcasing this type of relationship during a time when it was considered less than masculine for men to be vulnerable to one another?
You don’t see many novels depicting authentic male friendships. It was very difficult for men to show their feelings whether it was towards each other or to the person that they loved. I wanted to highlight that men could experience these feelings, and how sometimes they wrestle with the idea of showing their true feelings. The love that each of the main characters, Blackburn, Jacob, and Naomi, feel are all extremely relevant to the story, and I needed the characters to be able to articulate those feelings, not only to each other, but also to themselves.
Many of your works, including The Caretaker, focus on Appalachia in the early to mid-20th century. What about this time period in Appalachian history makes it so conducive to such powerful stories?
This time period is important for several reasons including the unbridled economic power of post-World War II America. This period also has events that affected everyone around the globe, no matter their location. The Appalachian region was no different. It was during this time that deforestation was ramping up and destroying the culture and history of the not only the Appalachian people but the Eastern band of Cherokee Indians. Appalachia couldn’t hide from the expansion of the “modern” world anymore, and it was thrust into a time period that many didn’t want to be a part of. Questions arise like, ‘how does a culture absorb such sudden and radical changes in their society?’ Perhaps an even better question is, ‘what does it mean to be alive in this ever-changing world?’
Do you have a book tour or any upcoming events planned to help get the word out about the novel?
I am going on a small book tour in Western North Carolina and the Piedmont area. I’m also going to towns in Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. I will be doing speaking engagements at local and independent bookstores. I feel that these bookstores are vital to the community and are slowly going away due to places like Amazon. So, I always try to support local and independent bookstores.
What is one thing you would want someone who isn’t from the region to know about Appalachia?
What you see in popular culture is wrong. There’s most certainly poverty, but there’s also prosperity. We are no different from people anywhere else. We all have our flaws, but we are also fellow humans.
FICTION The Caretaker
Ron Rash
Doubleday Books
Published September 26, 2023
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