Ken Rosenberger has sent me the unhappy news that Fred Chappell has died at the age of 87. I never imagined Ol Fred (as he used to refer to himself), who was anything but a valetudinarian, could last that long. Of the generation of writers a little older than I am, he was among the best poets and short story writers. I first published his work in my first abortive attempt at editing a serious magazine--Clyde Wilson and I were exploited and pushed out by Republicans--and later published his poems and reviews in a second magazine--but let's not get repetitive. He was, among the many writers who gathered under the wings of George Garret, perhaps the best, though it is little realized that Anthony Bukoski--or, as he prefers, my pal Tony--had an early volume blurbed by George.
Thinking back on the writers I have known over three decades, I think of Pound's opening to "Mauberley," which applies to so many serious writers in every field, since Pound:
For three years, out of key with his time,
He strove to resuscitate the dead art
Of poetry; to maintain “the sublime”
In the old sense. Wrong from the start—
No, hardly, but, seeing he had been born
In a half savage country, out of date;
Bent resolutely on wringing lilies from the acorn;
Ken was kind enough to add these flattering lines to his letter:
I always remember that Fred was perhaps the first writer you introduced me to (long before we ever met). Soon after I discovered Chronicles in the early 90's. I was impressed that a "conservative" magazine actually took an interest in good regional fiction and poetry.
I became a big fan of what came to be known as the Kirkman Tetralogy, Fred's four interrelated novels set in the Southern Highlands of Western NC (the most beautiful part of America, to me). This package includes the sublime Brighten the Corner Where You Are. But I got to like a lot of Fred's other work, like his Cthulhu-based short stories and his sly poetry.
Seems like it wasn't long after that, that you were writing about George Garrett (or maybe I was reading one of the essays that I know George wrote for the mag). Another winner. These were just the first two in a long list of selections of which I took heed, books that now help to overfill my bookcases.
On happier note, my old friend and colleague Stephen Presser wrote to say nice things about my little sqib on the 14th Amendment. It was a kind gesture from the former Raoul Berger Professor at Northwestern Law School and a serious student of the subject. He has a somehwat different piece, though animated by the same spirit, on
The Blaze:
Sad news. I bought the Fred Chappell Reader a decade or so ago…highly rewarding reading from a man of erudition. Blessed repose and eternal memory.