Jason Brown '91, author of the recently published "Why the Devil Chose New England For His Work Stories," appeared rather unassuming as we sat down in Smith Union Café for our interview.
After his contemplative reading held in Lancaster Lounge on November 27, I invited him to discuss his life as an author and how Bowdoin influenced him.
Brown remembers Professor William Watterson in the English department, but doesn't recognize Smith Union.
Brown grew up in Hallowell, Maine, not too far from Brunswick. He is part of a large family, and he spent summers at his grandparents's.
His grandfather, who is 92 and still teaches English in Bath, attended his reading. It is clear that he has been one of Brown's role models throughout his life.
At Bowdoin, Brown was a member of the crew team, and he jokes that he was more of a "jock." At that time however, he is quick to point out that although he enjoyed crew immensely, it did not satisfy his artistic side.
For balance, Brown participated in theater. He graduated as a Comparative Religions major, and spent a semester abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Although Brown was interested in English, it wasn't until he was in grad school that he took his first transforming writing workshop.
Among his favorite authors are the more contemporary W.G. Sebald and the Canadian short story writer Alice Munro, both for their ability to sustain surface tension.
His own stories are filled with characters who have rather haunting, mysterious pasts, and an underlying theme of loneliness which seems to pervade the very air his characters breathe, overlaid with shadowy overtones of New England's rich Puritan history.
"His face was as pale as the moon in the daytime sky" is one lyrical sentence that he employs to paint his elegant, yet eerie, descriptions.
His imagery is full of the Maine outdoors, embodied in the cold raspy trunks of trees and the awkwardness of interior spaces. Brown's talent lies in succinctly portraying the insides of houses and the overpowering presences within them as well as the tension within and between the characters.
The traditional New England literary culture, which descends from the Puritans and ascetic, hardworking New World Anglo-Saxons, is often devoid of warmth, undemonstrative, reserved and yet familial. The spaces in which Brown's characters hold themselves apart from each other are conveyed with aching precision.
When asked about his advice to students, Brown said that fame and money should not be the goal.
"Don't be afraid of making writing an important part of your life if you enjoy it," he said.