"Assassination of Jesse James" author to visit
Katherine Poythress
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: Arts
Next week Hillsdale College will welcome author Ron Hansen, who wrote a novel entitled "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," which served as the basis for 2007's Oscar-nomiated screenplay by the same name.
Another of Hansen's novels, "Atticus," was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1996. He has received numerous other honors and awards, among them a Guggenheim Foundation grant and two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Hansen is currently the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. Professor of the Arts and Humanities at Santa Clara University.
On March 10 and 11, Hansen will be presenting as part of the English department's Visiting Writers Series. On Monday evening, he will read from his fiction and on Tuesday he will deliver a lecture entitled "Making Things Up," in which he will discuss the factors that inspired and shaped him as a writer of fiction.
English Department Chairman Michael Jordan described Hansen's fiction as "powerful and gripping."
"I'm excited," junior Ryan Walsh said. "I'm reading 'The Assassination of Jesse James right now and I love it. I'm planning on watching the movie this weekend."
Senior Mike Hamiton is also enthusiastic about the novel.
"I'm really sold on this guy," he said. "Of all the contemporary American authors I've read, he's almost leading the pack."
Associate Professor of English John Somerville called Jordan's attention to Hansen's work, introducing him first to Hansen's short stories.
Jordan was particularly moved by the short sketch "Wickedness," which he explained is, "a powerfully told story of an unrelenting winter storm that sweeps across the countryside, killing people in its wake."
"The experience of reading it was almost like you were in the storm," he said.
Jordan said Hansen's writing is characterized by precision and economy with words.
"His sentences march with a purpose," Jordan said. "There's nothing extraneous about the sentence, it sort of rolls across your mind's eye. So somehow there's something in addition to precision and economy - there's an energy, I think, in his sentences."
Jordan participates in a reading group that just finished reading Hansen's third published novel, "Mariette in Ecstasy," in anticipation of the author's imminent visit, and they will take the author to dinner during his visit to discuss the work.
The novel tells the story of a 17-year-old postulate at a convent in New York, who has stigmata - "that is, her hands and her feet bear the wounds of Christ and she has ecstatic prayers where she's sort of out of her body, in ecstasy," Jordan said, explaining that the story turns on how the convent community responds to the young girl who has the experiences
Hansen, born in Nebraska, holds an undergraduate degree from Creighton University, a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa and another master's from Stanford University.
Another of Hansen's novels, "Atticus," was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1996. He has received numerous other honors and awards, among them a Guggenheim Foundation grant and two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Hansen is currently the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. Professor of the Arts and Humanities at Santa Clara University.
On March 10 and 11, Hansen will be presenting as part of the English department's Visiting Writers Series. On Monday evening, he will read from his fiction and on Tuesday he will deliver a lecture entitled "Making Things Up," in which he will discuss the factors that inspired and shaped him as a writer of fiction.
English Department Chairman Michael Jordan described Hansen's fiction as "powerful and gripping."
"I'm excited," junior Ryan Walsh said. "I'm reading 'The Assassination of Jesse James right now and I love it. I'm planning on watching the movie this weekend."
Senior Mike Hamiton is also enthusiastic about the novel.
"I'm really sold on this guy," he said. "Of all the contemporary American authors I've read, he's almost leading the pack."
Associate Professor of English John Somerville called Jordan's attention to Hansen's work, introducing him first to Hansen's short stories.
Jordan was particularly moved by the short sketch "Wickedness," which he explained is, "a powerfully told story of an unrelenting winter storm that sweeps across the countryside, killing people in its wake."
"The experience of reading it was almost like you were in the storm," he said.
Jordan said Hansen's writing is characterized by precision and economy with words.
"His sentences march with a purpose," Jordan said. "There's nothing extraneous about the sentence, it sort of rolls across your mind's eye. So somehow there's something in addition to precision and economy - there's an energy, I think, in his sentences."
Jordan participates in a reading group that just finished reading Hansen's third published novel, "Mariette in Ecstasy," in anticipation of the author's imminent visit, and they will take the author to dinner during his visit to discuss the work.
The novel tells the story of a 17-year-old postulate at a convent in New York, who has stigmata - "that is, her hands and her feet bear the wounds of Christ and she has ecstatic prayers where she's sort of out of her body, in ecstasy," Jordan said, explaining that the story turns on how the convent community responds to the young girl who has the experiences
Hansen, born in Nebraska, holds an undergraduate degree from Creighton University, a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa and another master's from Stanford University.
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