10/06/2014 03:33 PM
Touring LSU: A Literary History
Best-of-LSU-Fiction
Hundreds of students, faculty, staff and visitors walk by LSU landmarks each day,
but many don’t realize the importance areas of campus have played in literary history.
Places like Tiger Stadium, Middleton Library, Oscar K. Allen Hall and Chimes Street
have all played some part in helping shape novels, poems, essays and short stories
published by LSU authors.
To bring the university’s literary history to life, English Instructor Nolde Alexius
and her English 2025 class on LSU fiction set out to develop a tour focused on information
about university landmarks and their ties to LSU’s creative writing genres.
“The assignment was to create a literary tour of LSU’s campus based on the literary
history that the students learned by taking this course,” said Alexius, whose fiction
has been published in The Southern Review, Phoebe and So to Speak.
During the course, the students utilized “Best of LSU Fiction,” which presents 20
of LSU’s fiction writers from the 1930s through modern times. The students read the
writer’s works and studied their lives and time at LSU. A few of the writers were
able to stop by the class to read some of their work and to talk about their time
at LSU and how it influenced their careers.
“With all of that information, students were asked to tell the literary life through
a tour,” Alexius said.
The tour would be tailored to include fun facts and information about LSU authors
– information such as where they lived or where they had an office on campus, their
favorite places to hang out or to write and other information that may have inspired
their works.
“The idea for me for a literary tour for campus is just so exciting,” said retired
English instructor Judy Kahn, who spoke to the class about LSU’s literary history.
As part of their final project, student groups presented their ideas for a literary
tour of campus to the class, along with Kahn and MFA graduate Ronlyn Domingue, author
of “The Mercy of Thin Air” and the “Keeper of Tales” trilogy, who attended to show
their support and interest in the project.
A number of literary icons were touched upon during the presentations including Robert
Penn Warren, Jean Stafford and Robert Lowell.
Warren began work on his masterpiece of Southern literature, “All the King’s Men,”
while an English professor at LSU. He, along with Cleanth Brooks, author of “Modern
Poetry and the Tradition,” founded the Southern Review, and the pair shared an office
in 156 Allen Hall from 1939-1942.
The groups also talked about the rocky relationship among short story writer and novelist
Jean Stafford and poet Robert Lowell. Stafford and Lowell lived on Chimes Street above
Kean’s Landry. While Lowell was a graduate student in English literature, Stafford
worked as Warren’s secretary at The Southern Review.
“It was fun just to go through the stories and see that what we were reading was actually
places that we had all been to,” said Kristi Kay, an elementary education major from
Nashville, Tenn. “I didn’t realize how many people were from here – authors who wrote
here and the history behind it.”
There were a number of destinations highlighted by the groups, but each group agreed
that no tour of LSU would be complete without a stop at Tiger Stadium. Besides the
energy and allure the stadium provides for fans, it has also served as inspiration
for aspiring writers and accomplished novelist alike.
Novelist and LSU alumnus John Ed Bradley channeled that inspiration and his time on
the LSU football team to pen his bestselling memoir, “It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium.”
Bradley’s story at LSU goes beyond Tiger Stadium and the practice fields. While at
the university, he enrolled in creative writing classes to continue his dream of being
a novelist.
The class looked at a number of notable LSU writers including, but not limited to
Rebecca Wells, author of “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood”; David Madden, founder
of the LSU creative writing undergraduate program and the United States Civil Ward
Center at LSU; Valerie Martin, author of “Mary Reilly,” which was made into a movie
starring Julie Roberts; Vance Bourjaily, who was proclaimed by Ernest Hemingway as
the most talented of his generation; and Olympia Vernon, recipient of the Ernest J.
Gaines Award for Literary Excellence.
“It was pretty interesting looking at all the places you see every day at LSU and
actually taking that and making some historical significance to it,” said Sterling
Tiras, a biology major from Buffalo, N.Y.
Armed with this background and history, the students walked the campus to determine
the best way to facilitate the tour. They soon realized that programming information
would be important for people on the tour. Information on LSU Press, The Southern
Review and New Delta Review; “Readers & Writers” events; and upcoming novels being
published would all enhance the tour experience.
Actual guided walking tours are still in the works and in anticipation of that Alexius
is reaching out to colleagues to be able to include information on poets, screenwriters
and playwrights to develop a well-rounded literary tour covering all aspects of LSU’s
creative writing history.
For more information on the LSU English Department, visit www.english.lsu.edu.
MFA in Creative Writing Celebrating 30 Years of Literary Excellence
Nolde Alexius’ English 2025 class on LSU fiction set out to develop a tour focused
on information about university landmarks and their ties to LSU’s creative writing
genres.
The tour is being developed during an exciting time for the creative writing program as the Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2015. McElveen Professor of English Laura Mullen is taking over as director of the program, as James Wilcox is stepping down as director to focus on writing and teaching creative writing.
“LSU is so fortunate to have Laura Mullen as director of creative writing,” Wilcox
said. “Her incomparable dedication to excellence in everything she does has already
made such a huge difference to our program in the years since she arrived here.”
“Now, we can all look forward to even more success and innovative leadership thanks
to her remarkable skills, her international reputation as one of America’s most distinguished
poets, and her generous concern for making sure our students have the finest opportunities
and resources available at all times. I’m thrilled and so grateful that the program
is in such good hands,” Wilcox added.
Wilcox arrived at LSU in 2001 and had served as director of creative writing in 2002.
LSU’s MFA in creative writing graduate program was started up in 1984-85. Vance Bourjaily
was the founding director, and notable alumni include Virgil Suarez and Olympia Vernon,
among many others.
“It was a visionary move to make that degree available on this campus, and the program
that started strong just gets better every year, as good funding for our students
and a superb faculty-student ratio ensure the kind of mentoring that leads to success,”
Mullen said.
MFA students are publishing, teaching and making a difference in the field, and the
program has moved up into the top 25 nationally ranked programs in the last few years.
“We’re looking forward to celebrating our birthday with the community at large and
all our many supporters, as well as our amazing alumni,” said Mullen, who added that
more details would be coming soon, including a special Twitter feed on the celebration.
Mullen also said that the program is excited to have visiting Assistant Professor
Keija Parssinen join the faculty for the fall. Parssinen studied at Princeton and
Iowa, and her first novel, “The Ruins of Us,” has been translated into several languages.
“Attracting the finest students to study with superb faculty, the MFA in Creative
Writing at LSU can be very proud of its past – and look forward to 40,” Mullen said.
For more information on the program, visit http://www.english.lsu.edu/CreativeWriting/index.html.
Posted on Monday, October 6, 2014