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| Title | Houstonian, 1989 |
| Contributor (LCNAF) |
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| Date | 1989 |
| Description | This edition of the Houstonian, published by the students of the university in 1989, is the official yearbook of the University of Houston. |
| Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
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| Subject.Name (LCNAF) |
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| Subject.Geographic (TGN) |
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| Genre (AAT) |
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| Language | English |
| Type (DCMI) |
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| Original Item Location | LD2281.H745 H6 v. 55 1989 |
| Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b1158762~S11 |
| Digital Collection | Houstonian Yearbook Collection |
| Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/yearb |
| Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
| Repository URL | http://info.lib.uh.edu/about/campus-libraries-collections/special-collections |
| Use and Reproduction | In Copyright |
| File Name | index.cpd |
| Title | People |
| Format (IMT) |
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| File Name | yearb_1989_085.jpg |
| Transcript | in this age of machine- made goods. Since Cyrus's spirituality is an important factor in the novel, a major facet of his character was his religion. Lopate tried several on Cyrus but none seemed to fit, until he went to a religious service and dinner party with Pakistani writer Bapsi Sidwa and her Zoroastrian friends. "Zoroastrianism was close enough to Judaism," Lopate says, "that I felt comfortable describing it." An ancient faith generally unkown in the West, it becomes a key element in the novel as Cyrus is tugged back into a world that he finds both comforting and strangling. As with Hirsch's writing, the form of Lopate's work grew out of its subject matter. "As soon as I determined Cyrus's religion, I knew I was going to write a novel — the religion was exotic enough that I could grow into the novel with it. The fact that I had to do research on it kept me going when I couldn't figure out what happened next. I read books about Zoroastrianism and persian rugs, reacted to what I read, and eventually the plot grew." Lopat's research involved more than simply library work. He visited a rug auction and rug shops, talking with owners and getting a feel for the retail business. He also met several Zoroastrians, attending religious and social events and taking copious notes. At one dinner party, he excused himself several times and rushed to the bathroom, where he jotted down what he could recall of the guests' stories, jokes and religious exclamations. There were other challenges. Cyrus's introspective nature, for example, made plot development difficult for Lopate. To create the needed tension, Lopate chose a theme most people can identify with conflict: money preessures. Cyrus constantly hangs on the brink of eviction or bankruptcy. The novel also called for a different kind of narrative voice than Lopate was accustomed to using. In his personal essays, Lopate had written in the first-person to express his thoughts and feelings. But in the novel, he needed to adjust the narrative tone to fit Cyrus's more subdued, internalized personality. He wrote The Rug Merchant in the third person, allowing Cyrus his polite distance. Writers are fascinated by technical matters like voice and form because technique is the key to meaning. "Ezra Pound said, 'Technique is a test of man's sincerity,'" Hirsch says. "I learned about meters and rhythm, and now they are second nature. I don't have to think about them any more. Now I listen for the sound that is more assertive, the underlying music." A thorough knowledge of technique can lead to some fascinating combinations. In the poem, "At Kresge's Diner, in Stonefalls, Arkansas," for example, Hirsch uses the sestina, a complicated 17th centruy verse form, to transcribe the thoughts of a truck stop waitress. "The trick for me was to make the poem sound as much as possible like a person speaking. It works because the repetitions sould like someone thinking aloud. It was fun for me to adapt such a traditional form to my own very different ends." But the process of writing, of merging technique and emotion, has its price. "Writing a novel is a gamble," Lopate says, " a major commitment — it can be like an illness." Ultimately the finished work is, as Hirsch calls it, a "human statement." It is the result of the writer taking something from our everyday experience and transcending it. Although it may have been thought or felt or seen a million times by as many people, the writer makes it resonate anew. ► Fran Dress- man Creative Writing ■ 95 |